THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY (V.O.C.) 

They discovered that the coffee processed by the Luwak had an extraordinary flavor.

The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC) was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. It is often considered to have been the first multinational corporation in the world and it was the first company to issue stock. It was a powerful company, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.

The Dutch East India Company brought the coffee beans and plants from India and started to grow and cultivate coffee in Indonesia. During the colonial era, the farmers must handover all the coffee to The Dutch East India Company, native farmers and plantation workers were forbidden from harvesting coffee for their own use, and were left to scrounge around for it. They discovered that the civet cat would eat coffee cherries and pass the seeds—the coffee beans—without digesting them. When the farmers collect, process, clean and roast to consume, they discover that the coffee processed by the Luwak has an extraordinary flavor. The Dutch plantation owners learned about the civet coffee and it soon became everyone’s favorite. This is how the Kopi Luwak legend started.
The civet coffee has been around since the colonial era and was the most expensive coffee even in the 18th century. The Western society has only recently discovered this rare, unique and unusual coffee.