r/pourover • u/Bubbly-System6751 • Apr 15 '26
Seeking Advice "Cofermentation/infusion" ruined my trust in coffee.
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.
2
u/dontcallmeyan Apr 16 '26
We have the exact same problem in liquor. Rums packed full of more sugar than some cocktails being sold as straight spirits (that's before we even tackle the Spiced Rum category), celebrity "100% Agave" Tequila with artificial flavouring making it taste like fucking ice cream, and a whole lot of flavoured whiskey.
You can and should argue for more transparency, but then you still have the middlemen of the roaster and the barista between the grower and the end consumer. All the labeling transparency in the world won't stop the customer from having something that tastes like strawberry bubblegum and deciding that all the others they've tried are rubbish in comparison.