Co-Fermentations
Some of the best ideas show up late at night at a cluttered desk, when you're willing to try the combination that shouldn't work. Co-fermentation is that same instinct applied to a fermentation tank β pineapple in with the coffee cherries, just to see what happens.
If anaerobic fermentation is coffee producers controlling the environment, co-fermentation is them actively adding to it. It means introducing something else β usually a fruit, sometimes a specific yeast strain or spice β directly into the fermentation tank alongside the coffee cherries.
The added ingredient doesn't end up in the final bean physically, but the compounds it releases during fermentation absolutely show up in the cup. Ferment coffee with pineapple and you can end up with pineapple-adjacent esters in the final flavor; use cinnamon and you get warm spice notes that have nothing to do with the coffee variety itself.
It's controversial in some corners of specialty coffee β purists argue it's more flavoring than terroir. We think it's just an honest extension of what fermentation always does: microbes and added sugars interacting to create new compounds. Co-fermentation just gives the producer more control over which compounds show up. Royal Coffee β one of the importers we work with β has a great writeup on the trend, controversy included.
Our current limited release lineup is about as far as the style goes β look for co-fermented lots bursting with notes like pineapple, mango, coconut, star fruit, kiwi, lychee, and tamarind, developed during fermentations built specifically to produce them. These coffees don't taste like a "clean" coffee. That's the point.
Taste something genuinely different β SHOP OUR LIMITED RELEASE LINEUP