Experimental Process Coffee

The specialty coffee industry is full of innovators, always searching for new ways to get the best from coffee beans and impart unique flavours. These passionate farmers use experimental new post harvest processing techniques on micro lots to show off skills and reach a whole new market that has flourished on the competition scene.

While this is definitely a niche in coffee production, we've been lucky enough to try out a whole host of experimental methods.

Carbonic Maceration - a technique borrowed from winemaking where coffee cherries are fermented in a carbon dioxide rich environment, breaking down the fruit in a different way to produce rich flavours.

Lactic Fermentation - where the producer creates an ideal space for lactobacillus bacteria, yep the same used in dairy production, and leaves the sugary coffee cherry to ferment within this environment.

Double fermentation/ double washed - a process perfected in Kenya, coffee undergoes a second fermentation where it soaks underwater. This process makes a cleaner cup and can also reduce defects.

Extended fermentation - a process necessitated by small lots where they rarely make up a full fermentation tank and longer time is taken to break down the mucilage. 3-5 days worth of cherries are fermented underwater for 24 hours, before a second lot is added on top to ferment for another day. The introduction of the second lot raises the PH in the tank allowing for fruit forward flavours.

Co-Fermentation - a divisive trend in specialty coffee that involves producers adding natural products like fruit to green beans during fermentation. These additions can add a whole new world of flavour to the coffee, complementing existing tasting notes.