My kit came from Brass Horn in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I’ve tried to get in on James’ large scale tastings in the past, so I’m glad I got a crack at the last one.
I’ve cupped coffee before, but tasting four of the same beans processed differently and roasted the same is delightfully novel. I’ve just done an initial round of tasting and some of them are remarkably different.
The London team mixed up the bags, which makes me feel seen.
I’m familiar with Lucia Solis from her podcast, which I enjoy a lot and offers great perspective on coffee from a manufacturing side. It gets as deep as any coffee podcast I’ve heard.
Edit 1: Just finished the evaluation and grading process, which was fascinating. I found the coffees to be discernibly different but not in ways that were easy to break down 1-5. But the entire process, with as many people as took part, was incredible!
I can’t blame James for not planning to do this again; with how difficult and costly I assume this process is I’m shocked it happened once, much less multiple times with me catching the last one. Everyone responsible executed it beautifully. If James or Lucia attached themself to someone else who handled the logistics I would be there.
Edit 2: A few final thoughts.
One, the fruit and the terroir are paramount. Manipulation after picking uses the building blocks already present from the farmer. I knew that, but I will be able to point back to this tasting as the most stark possible example. No base flavor absent in the mechanically washed coffee was present in the others.
Obviously darker roasted coffees can exhibit roast flavors. Those have their own value, but in third wave/specialty coffee that’s usually as a compliment to the bean’s natural flavor.
Two, and this one surprised me, the native yeast produced something incredibly polished and similar to the saccharomyces inoculation. I’m aware of our many ambient microbes, but I expected a clarity or focus out of the more heavily manipulated coffee. Not the case.
The one thing that surprised me was how effective the natural wild yeast fermentation was in producing a great cup of coffee. I’d assumed the naturally fermented coffee would have a less defined character, but I didn’t find that to be the case. All three 48h ferments added different complexities to the machine washed, but similar degrees of complexity.
Maybe there are coffees or terroirs where specific inoculations would allow for dramatic improvement. Perhaps one region, or even just farm, has a microbial environment that doesn’t suit a specific coffee, and just the right inoculation would have a transformative effect. But that might all be so linked to varietal selection and regions that grow “good” coffee maybe there aren’t. If a region has ambient microbes don’t work well for fermentation, is there any incentive to spend millions trying to fit a round peg in a square hole when we know regions where coffee grows well?
Lucia did also speak at some length about the use of inoculation to optimize yields, shelf life, and consistency, so inoculation from a business perspective. In a way that’s interesting because coffee for me is almost purely a luxury rather than a commodity. I am perfectly happy for farmers to care about coffee as a commodity, I think farmers deserve good quality of life, but I’m personally interested in fermentation for how it makes the most enjoyable cup possible.
Very interesting, thank you for taking the time to write that out! I don’t have much experience with fermented coffees but I’m definitely interested in trying some. While I’m a bit disappointed I couldn’t take part in this experiment, I’m glad you could, and are able to share your experience.
Most roasters don't go into detail on fermentation because people either think it sounds gross or consider it too arcane.
Natural and honey process coffees rely a lot on fermentation. The Pilot Ethiopian coffee you posted a little while back went through the natural process. After that coffee was picked it was dried for several weeks on raised mats, during which ambient microbes went ham on the flesh of the fruit. Once those microbes had largely broken down the flesh and its water had evaporated, the farmer milled off the remaining dried husk to reveal the coffee beans, which were then bagged, shipped, roasted, and sold to you. Because Pilot roasted the coffee lightly, the compounds the microbes left behind heavily impacted its flavor.
Even washed processed coffee is fermented. It's an economical method of removing mucilage, the goo left behind after mechanically stripping most of the fruit off the bean. Mucilage is sugary and microbes love sugar, after a day or so of fermentation the mucilage can be washed off.
Even the coffee included in this kit that was mechanically demucilaged, to minimize fermentation as much as possible, fermented a little bit. Microbes did their level best in the time it took for the coffee to get from the tree to when the machine stripped off the flesh, which would have taken at minimum several hours for the first beans picked in a given load. More realistically it took sixteen to twenty four hours, the lot was probably picked and then demucilaged the next morning.
8 replies
My kit came from Brass Horn in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. I’ve tried to get in on James’ large scale tastings in the past, so I’m glad I got a crack at the last one.
I’ve cupped coffee before, but tasting four of the same beans processed differently and roasted the same is delightfully novel. I’ve just done an initial round of tasting and some of them are remarkably different.
The London team mixed up the bags, which makes me feel seen.
I’m familiar with Lucia Solis from her podcast, which I enjoy a lot and offers great perspective on coffee from a manufacturing side. It gets as deep as any coffee podcast I’ve heard.
Edit 1: Just finished the evaluation and grading process, which was fascinating. I found the coffees to be discernibly different but not in ways that were easy to break down 1-5. But the entire process, with as many people as took part, was incredible!
I can’t blame James for not planning to do this again; with how difficult and costly I assume this process is I’m shocked it happened once, much less multiple times with me catching the last one. Everyone responsible executed it beautifully. If James or Lucia attached themself to someone else who handled the logistics I would be there.
Edit 2: A few final thoughts.
One, the fruit and the terroir are paramount. Manipulation after picking uses the building blocks already present from the farmer. I knew that, but I will be able to point back to this tasting as the most stark possible example. No base flavor absent in the mechanically washed coffee was present in the others.
Obviously darker roasted coffees can exhibit roast flavors. Those have their own value, but in third wave/specialty coffee that’s usually as a compliment to the bean’s natural flavor.
Two, and this one surprised me, the native yeast produced something incredibly polished and similar to the saccharomyces inoculation. I’m aware of our many ambient microbes, but I expected a clarity or focus out of the more heavily manipulated coffee. Not the case.
Very jealous! I missed my chance to get the beans unfortunately. Enjoy it on my behalf.
Thank you, I did!
I hate to rub salt in the wound but it was absolutely incredible.
I’m glad to hear it. I bet it was great.
What did you learn, if anything? I’d love to hear your experiences.
The one thing that surprised me was how effective the natural wild yeast fermentation was in producing a great cup of coffee. I’d assumed the naturally fermented coffee would have a less defined character, but I didn’t find that to be the case. All three 48h ferments added different complexities to the machine washed, but similar degrees of complexity.
Maybe there are coffees or terroirs where specific inoculations would allow for dramatic improvement. Perhaps one region, or even just farm, has a microbial environment that doesn’t suit a specific coffee, and just the right inoculation would have a transformative effect. But that might all be so linked to varietal selection and regions that grow “good” coffee maybe there aren’t. If a region has ambient microbes don’t work well for fermentation, is there any incentive to spend millions trying to fit a round peg in a square hole when we know regions where coffee grows well?
Lucia did also speak at some length about the use of inoculation to optimize yields, shelf life, and consistency, so inoculation from a business perspective. In a way that’s interesting because coffee for me is almost purely a luxury rather than a commodity. I am perfectly happy for farmers to care about coffee as a commodity, I think farmers deserve good quality of life, but I’m personally interested in fermentation for how it makes the most enjoyable cup possible.
Very interesting, thank you for taking the time to write that out! I don’t have much experience with fermented coffees but I’m definitely interested in trying some. While I’m a bit disappointed I couldn’t take part in this experiment, I’m glad you could, and are able to share your experience.
This might blow your mind.
All coffees are fermented.
Most roasters don't go into detail on fermentation because people either think it sounds gross or consider it too arcane.
Natural and honey process coffees rely a lot on fermentation. The Pilot Ethiopian coffee you posted a little while back went through the natural process. After that coffee was picked it was dried for several weeks on raised mats, during which ambient microbes went ham on the flesh of the fruit. Once those microbes had largely broken down the flesh and its water had evaporated, the farmer milled off the remaining dried husk to reveal the coffee beans, which were then bagged, shipped, roasted, and sold to you. Because Pilot roasted the coffee lightly, the compounds the microbes left behind heavily impacted its flavor.
Even washed processed coffee is fermented. It's an economical method of removing mucilage, the goo left behind after mechanically stripping most of the fruit off the bean. Mucilage is sugary and microbes love sugar, after a day or so of fermentation the mucilage can be washed off.
Even the coffee included in this kit that was mechanically demucilaged, to minimize fermentation as much as possible, fermented a little bit. Microbes did their level best in the time it took for the coffee to get from the tree to when the machine stripped off the flesh, which would have taken at minimum several hours for the first beans picked in a given load. More realistically it took sixteen to twenty four hours, the lot was probably picked and then demucilaged the next morning.
Microbes are relentless.
Thank you very much for the info! Really interesting to read.