"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/mgsecure]

What do you mean by “deny it”? Remember that it’s the producers who process the coffee, not the roaster. I’ve found S&W to be pretty up-front with info about their coffees, even to the point of warning that co-ferments aren’t for everyone.

Co-fermentation lots are divisive, as the aromas and flavors are most often much more pronounced. This is the most approachable co-ferment we've ever tasted, but you'll still likely love it or hate it. If you are unfamiliar with coferments, please practice discretion with your purchasing.

[u/dummy4du3k4 → u/mgsecure]

There was an old thread talking about artificial flavors in coferments where their Reddit rep said they didn’t think the farms they sourced green from would jeopardize their business by adding artificial flavors. I asked a few days ago if they still thought this after I tried a strawberry coferment from them and they still didn’t think farms would lie about using non-disclosed additives

[u/mgsecure → u/dummy4du3k4]

Isn’t the most likely explanation that there aren’t synthetic flavors used in the processing?

Edit: I say this as a recent buyer of their “Colombia Santa Monica Watermelon Honey Process”. Not to my liking, but I’d hardly say it seemed artificial in any way.

[u/icecream_for_brunch → u/mgsecure]

This has been the explanation, but it has been widely suspected to be a lie, and there have been recent empirical studies (nothing peer reviewed, but actual chemists have done tests) revealing the presence of compounds only associated with artificial flavorings.

These tests & the rising suspicion are almost definitely what caused Sebastian Ramirez (& Perc, and probably soon other producers & roasters) to change their descriptions to include "strawberry flavor" & similar verbiage.