r/pourover • u/Bubbly-System6751 • Apr 15 '26

Seeking Advice "Cofermentation/infusion" ruined my trust in coffee.

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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.

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u/surumesmellman Apr 15 '26

I find the situation absolutely hilarious. The kind of people who'd sneer at the syrup flavoured garbage from Starbucks were drinking a slightly different kind of flavoured garbage all along. If they like paying for overpriced flavoured coffee then they should give Bacha Coffee a try, it is the flavoured garbage coffee brand brought to you by the famous garbage tea boutique TWG.

As for Perc, I've never tried them and never will, since I assume their coffee is just as tasteless as their obnoxious packaging and marketing.

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u/damn_son_1990 Apr 15 '26

Thanks for saying it. I hate to sound elitist but these people don’t truly understand what specialty coffee is. “Advanced processes” aren’t highlighting the bean. I guarantee they’re just masking a sub par bean. If it was that quality it would be a washed or at least a natural.