This is an interesting topic and great read from the Tasmin Grant at Perfect Daily Grind. It brings up some thoughtful concerns and interesting questions around co-fermented and infused coffees.
I’m honestly not sure how I feel about these coffees. I’ve been pretty critical in my opinions of these categories historically but when I consider how I’ve felt much more positively toward things like anerobic processing, carbonic maceration, and fermentation using proprietary yeast strains, I find myself asking: where am I drawing the line - and why?
A few thoughts:
1. When I first read about these fermentation practices, I’d often see them positioned as ways for producers to mask defects, enhance cup scores, and increase revenue. Seems like a noble enough mission, right? Fast forward and almost all the coffees fermented using these methods that I see in the marketplace are geshas and other designer varieties. Is this just another case of Specialty Coffee justifying things in the context of advantages to producers while, in practice, just doing what they want to do and - more often than not - doing it much less accessibly than they’d like to admit (ie. $$$$)? While there may be producers out there barely breaking even that, by employing these practices, achieve greater profitability, I typically see them coming from boutique producers with plenty of cash backing their operations.
2. Specialty Coffee still tends to look exceptionally critically at more traditional “flavored coffees,” while many of the same folks doing so celebrate these experimental processes - is there truly a distinct difference?
3. A quote from the article - “‘I don’t think infused coffee is specialty coffee,” says Jason. ‘It’s processed and artificially flavoured coffee. Co-fermentation, controlled fermentation, and terroir-focused coffees are more in line with the values of the industry.’”
Is it really not Specialty Coffee? Can it be? Who decides? By what metrics? More importantly, does that even matter? If so, why?
Ultimately, if consumers demand and enjoy these coffees, I’m not sure my opinions, or anyone else’s, hold much water against that reality. And, if these practices can increase profitability for producers (the average producers that struggle to be profitable at all, to the extent they are even able to surmount the barriers to entry for these practices, see item 1 above) - that’s a net positive for sure.
The most relevant concern I see, again, from the article:
“‘It’s an issue of integrity,” Vicente says. “Producers’ reputations could be harmed when they try to hide that their coffees are infused or co-fermented. In the end, consumers will decide whether they like these coffees or not, but the real problem lies in misleading them.’”
Ultimately, there’s a lot to consider.
The question I’m most curious about in posting this is: what do you think?
The terms “infused” and “co-fermented” coffees pique the interest of many people in the industry, but not always for positive reasons. While some celebrate these processing methods for their innovation, others dismiss them under claims of inauthenticity.
Regardless of opinion, there is a tendency to group the two together. When talking about infused or co-fermented coffees, the other is usually included in the conversation. For some, this may be instinctual. The two processing methods found the spotlight in specialty coffee roughly around the same time as each other.
However, despite a lack of formal or universal definitions, many agree that infusion and co-fermentation are not the same. This then raises the question of whether we need to treat the two processing methods differently and if grouping them together causes more harm than good.
In today’s article, Tasmin Grant speaks to Jason Kew, Marketing Business Development Manager at Sydney Coffee Business, and Vicente Meija, founder and CEO of Clearpath Coffee, for their insight.
https://lnkd.in/dtHPkiUz
#PerfectDailyGrind #InfusedCoffees #CoFermentation
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Human First Insights & Strategy
2moI think the packaging did its job in that it caught your attention - but the problem is they don't lean into why it is so different. You googled this brand, if when you clicked into their page they told a compelling story about why they chose this pack over the traditional, you might have been drawn in. To me, the breakdown here is that they dont differentiate in their storytelling. I had to dig around in the FAQs to find out why they were using plastic packaging.