Check out our new coffee... Co-Fermentation Coffee. Check out each flavor to learn how it was made.

Peach Mossto Co-Fermented Process 

You know you’re writing about a complicated process when you need to start with an abstract. Here goes. Edwin’s processing for this particular lot involved two distinct whole cherry fermentations: one of fresh picked cherry on its own; and a second one in which the cherry was accompanied by a carefully formulated solution of coffee cherry must (a biproduct of the first fermentation) and dried fruit. Finally, the twice-fermented cherry is depulped and moved immediately to raise screen beds to dry, just like a traditional honey would be. Each stage adds a particular bit of uniqueness to the final coffee, so that by the end the coffee is truly one of a kind in the world. 

The first fermentation was with fresh coffee cherry only, carefully hand-sorted for ripeness and consistency, washed clean, and immediately moved into 2,000kg tanks to ferment for 24 hours with limited oxygen. During a fermentation like this (which we would consider an “anaerobic maceration” of the cherry) the fruit becomes dramatically softer, sweeter, and more acetic, while also leaching out a concentrated sticky, sugary runoff, the mossto or “must”, not unlike the must from freshly smashed grapes and skins in winemaking.  

After this first fermentation was complete, the fermented cherry was separated from its must and moved into much smaller tanks, of 200kg capacity each. The must was then fermented on its own, along with brewer’s yeast to inoculate the process and ample quantities of dried fruit for flavoring. The fermented and flavored must was then mixed into the coffee cherry, at a ratio of 10mL per kilogram. The cherry and must were sealed into the smaller tanks to ferment again for 72 more hours. 

In the final step the fermented cherry was lightly depulped leaving most of the mucilage intact (similar to what a “black” honey would be in Costa Rica) and moved directly to Edwin’s greenhouse to dry on raised screen beds, where it dried for 10 days. 

The fully dried coffee is then conditioned for 8 days in a warehouse, allowing for humidity to stabilize inside the seeds, and then moved into GrainPro bags for long-term storage, where it is cupped numerous times over the next few weeks for quality analysis. 

Edwin used a high-quality cultivar here but still a very common one: caturra is considered a “classic” Colombia genetic, having dominated much of the landscape prior to the coffee rust outbreaks of the 2010s. In other words, the arabica genetics themselves are not exotic to Colombia. Rather, the achievement is in the husbandry of the trees, the harvesting, precise blend of the different cherries, and of course the very exacting processing approach created entirely by Edwin. Some “experimental” coffees scream their processes crudely in the cup; the best ones are so symphonic as to seem effortless, the way a well-made bonsai tree can be both a specimen of nature and a monument to an extraordinary amount of work, study, and concentration. 

 

Raspberry Co-Fermented Process 

You know you’re writing about a complicated process when you need to start with an abstract. Here goes. Edwin’s processing for this particular lot involved two distinct whole coffee cherry fermentations, both of which were oxygen-deprived to different degrees. The second fermentation was very long and included the use of a complex formulation of coffee cherry must (a biproduct of the first fermentation) pure glucose, dehydrated fruit and fresh raspberry pulp, all of which was blended into a solution and circulated through the coffee cherry as it sat. Finally, the coffee cherry was moved directly to raised screen beds to dry as a full natural. Each stage adds a particular bit of uniqueness to the final coffee, so that by the end the coffee is truly one of a kind in the world. 

The first fermentation was a simple anerobic fermentation of fresh coffee cherry only, carefully hand-sorted for ripeness and consistency, and washed clean. This stage lasted 24 hours. During fermentations like these, even when short, the coffee fruit becomes softer, sweeter, and more acetic, while also leaching out a concentrated sticky, sugary runoff—the mossto or “must”, not unlike the must from freshly smashed grapes and skins in winemaking.  

After the first coffee cherry fermentation was complete, the fermented coffee was separated from its must and packed into the fermentation tanks again. The must was then fermented on its own, along with brewer’s yeast to inoculate the process and ample quantities of both pure glucose (sugar solution) and dehydrated fruits, and fresh raspberry. The coffee spent 120 hours in oxygen-deprived fermentation, during which this fermented and flavored must was circulated through the coffee cherry every 24 hours, for 5 total circulations.  

In the final step the co-fermented coffee cherry was moved, unwashed, directly to Edwin’s greenhouse to dry on raised screen beds, where it dried for 10 days as a traditional natural process coffee—with the mucilage still clinging to the parchment. 

The fully dried coffee is then conditioned for 8 days in a warehouse, allowing for humidity to stabilize inside the seeds, and then moved into GrainPro bags for long-term storage, where it is cupped numerous times over the next few weeks for quality analysis.