Interesting thanks for the background I’ll read more about it! I didn’t know that the farmers did it I thought the roasters bought the raw beans and did them very illuminating
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Wow, that’s actually pretty shocking. I do not like most co-ferments I’ve had and now I feel very vindicated for my coffee palate; they’ve almost always come across super artificial, like the fruit flavoring in those instant oatmeal packets - turns out I might have been right on the money!
(With that said, I’m sure some folks are doing this the right way, lots of people like them, I philosophically appreciate new processes that push boundaries of flavor, no judgement if you’re into this. They just have very rarely worked for me in the cup.)
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Yeah not an expert but I’ve learned so far that a good amount happens even before it hits roaster. Natural, washed, processed… all that typically happens at the farm. Dark, medium, light… that happens at the roaster is my understanding.
The current topic highlights issues with the lack of transparency in the supply chain of coffee. I think I’m closer to PeonyWarrior where I enjoyed a few but don’t really drink anymore out of principle. Tastes so different that it’s closer to caffeinated juice than coffee.
@Srsly yeah the second thread I linked goes deeper and it sounds literally like some places are practically doing that. Food grade additives straight into the coffee fermentation for a bit. Some are more transparent and there’s some screenshots in that thread which show how they do it.
Do agree that I’m sure there are folks doing it “right”. It does feel messy though. For example, they mention Endinson Argote as one producer doing this. I realized that I had an SL28 from this producer and it wasn’t marked as a coferment. I think it might have been Advanced Natural? But it tasted just like a coferment would, very very fruit forward flavors.
Still reading and wondering what the full effects of this are besides mismarketing. The thread discusses cross contamination. The tanks might soak in some of the additives. So its possible the infusions might contaminate and impact the results of traditionally less processed coffees.
Another thought I had is how much this adds to the coffees in terms of… stuff. These things can be so sweet and fruity. I’ve traditionally thought of coffee as no sugar but with all these processes I wonder if it changes nutritional content (even if minor). The threads do express a concern with other additives (since they might use artificial flavorings/concentrates vs actual fruit) though I’m still reading.
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if you want to understand how coffee is actually produced, the Making Coffee podcast from Lucia Solis is a good reference Making Coffee with Lucia Solis - Podcast - Apple Podcasts
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I had my suspicions about coferments after trying a few bags but wanted to trust the process. I had a watermelon co-ferment that tasted so overwhelmingly of artificial watermelon that I threw out the entire bag.
Also there was/is a famous case of a coffee by Dak called Milky Cake using a bean from Diego Bermudez that has a very distinct note of cardamom. Both roaster and Diego claim that there is absolutely no flavor additives to the bean but after all this coming to light about producers adding flavors to their beans I am very skeptical that they aren’t adding spices or some kind of cardamom flavor to the beans. I don’t really believe you can take a coffee bean and make it taste like a completely different flavor, especially a very distinct and specific spice.
So for now I’ve stopped purchasing any bean that has any type of co-ferment or very obvious flavoring note since I don’t believe it is what they say it is. Perc has also started labeling their coffees as “flavored” which to me defeats a lot of the point of specialty coffee which to me is more about supporting better farming practices, better control of the coffee beans, etc.
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This new bag of quat is some of the best coffee I’ve had in the last 4-8 bags that I purchased. I googled and apparently the basha is from one farm in ethiopia single origin instead of blended. Tasted of fruit but not overly acidic still preserving strong coffee flavors great for a daily drinker I’ll probably go back for another bag
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drinking it right now and quite agree with great balance of fruit/acidity and coffee flavors. Very nice coffee, thank you for alerting me to this!
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Glad you’re enjoying it! Let me know if you find anything new always look for new coffees to try
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Beautiful balance between fruit, acidity, and savory notes. No idea what the actual beans are! Can’t remember where I got them either! Maybe Lynx in studio city or document in K-town, but awesome stuff anyway!
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Thanks for sharing sounds interesting I’m gonna have to take a look
I’ve had some beans from Hex and really enjoyed them all! Impressive roaster imo.