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Is Kopi Luwak Coffee Halal?
Are we allowed to drink “kopi luwak (civet coffee)”
Civet coffee is an expensive type of specialty coffee made from beans consumed and excreted by Asian palm civets; then collected by humans who make coffee from them. Each bean has an unique taste due to being partially digested before excreted again as excrement in its original form; washing and roasting must occur prior to consumption – which makes this form of civet coffee one of the world’s most expensive coffee varieties!
Luwak coffee has recently gained widespread appeal worldwide, but its Islamic food halalification (halalan tayyiban) has not yet been extensively discussed. This article attempts to further the discussion by detailing halalan tayyiban through case study and participant observation at a farm near Bandung in Indonesia. Our research identified three critical control points related to its halal status: 1. Civets are fed only civet coffee beans 2. All coffee beans fed into their digestive systems 3. Civet coffee beans will be washed and cleaned prior to roasting for use as beverages
Islamic dietary law (ayatan adalah) prohibits consumption of anything found within an animal’s intestines or colon, and organs from dead animals. However, this law does not forbid eating anything which has been excreted from an animal’s stomach and remains undamaged or intact despite such being excreted from an animal’s digestive system.
Conclusion of Ayatan Adalah The Ayatan adalah asserts that excreted coffee beans from the stomach of civets that remain undamaged are considered mutanajjis or tayyiban and therefore halal for consumption; roasting and grinding such beans to produce Tayyiban Kopi Luwak would also be permissible.
Indonesia’s top Islamic body has declared the world’s most expensive coffee to be permissible for Muslims to drink after one of their preachers suggested it may be forbidden because its beans come from civet cat droppings. Step Vaessen reports from Jakarta.
The Muslim University Institute ruled that Kopi Luwak coffee, commonly referred to locally, was halal, but there were some Ulama who disagreed with this ruling. According to their statement, coffee beans extracted from civet cat faeces that do not exhibit holes or defects are considered tayyiban and must be washed before being ground and made into cups of kopi. Produced on small farms throughout Sumatra, Java, and Bali in Indonesia as well as exported overseas with costs reaching hundreds per kilogram per kilogram for these exotic beans!