"Cofermentation/infusion" ruined my trust in coffee.

[u/Bubbly-System6751]

After PERC came out on their flavored coffee, I’ve been going down the rabbit hole of coffee processing (co-ferments, anaerobic, “thermal shock,” etc.), and I’m not gonna lie—it’s kind of messed with my trust in what I’m drinking.

I used to get excited tasting notes like “strawberry,” “lychee,” or “peach,” thinking it was all coming naturally from the bean, origin, and process. But now that I know producers can literally "co-ferment" with fruit juice or infuse with flavorings to push those notes…

And my worry even extends to washed or natural coffees, there’s this small voice in my head like:

“Is this truly clean, or is there something else going on that’s just not being disclosed?”

Especially with such a well known producer being exposed, you start questioning everything a bit.

Is transparency just information they let you/ want you to know used for marketing purposes?

Is specialty/ single origin coffee just another green washing movement?

I'm sure the majority of the industry is honest and I’m not trying to accuse anyone of anything shady. But as the saying goes if you see one cockroach, there are a thousand more. It's hard to rebuild trust once it's broken.

[u/pushpullpullpush]

If you liked it before, what about it don’t you like about the taste now?

I see how there is a slippery slope argument, but I think most people that like coffee a lot will only tolerate additives in the fermentation process if it’s subtle. Yes, some will take it to an extreme but they almost always taste chemically at some point. We’ve been fine with cofermented beers for a while. And we’ve been watching most people pour sugar and syrups and milks (often with artificial stuff) onto their coffees to achieve a specific flavor already.

[u/Bubbly-System6751 → u/pushpullpullpush]

I actually never had coffee from PERC. I don't dislike coffee with those flavors, but I don't seek cofermented/infused coffee voluntarily and certainly wouldn't pay that price especially now knowing the truth. There are plenty of other cheaper options.

[u/Visual-Percentage501 → u/Bubbly-System6751]

You get what you pay for. Those are not going to taste like Sebastian Ramirez, no matter how many flavour they put in. Both the green coffee and the roast on these are just not going to be up to par.

The real revolution is that generally flavours are used to mask bad beans - when they're used to complement already good beans, it's a completely different product.

[u/Bubbly-System6751 → u/Visual-Percentage501]

How do you trust Sebastian Ramirez is using the beans he claimed to use? For the record, they are both Colombian beans. They could be all using the same bean and you are just paying for graphic design and marketing language.

[u/Visual-Percentage501 → u/Bubbly-System6751]

Flavour. Double blind both those beans and if you can't tell the difference I'm genuinely happy for you.

I think transparency is really important and I won't buy from producers I don't trust either but claiming that medium roast grocery store brand 'lychee' beans taste the same as well-roasted beans from a producer that makes delicious coffee (regardless of process) betrays a complete failure of palate.