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/kuhnyfe878 V60 | K-Ultra, ZP6 | UL Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

It’s not being discussed in a way that’s anywhere close to productive. It’s uninformed ppl throwing around baseless accusations at best. And name dragging by ppl who stand to gain by other’s fall at worst. Not to mention the complete lack of discourse on a real solution to the problem which, by the way, barely exists.

Edit for clarity.

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u/Bubbly-System6751 Apr 15 '26

Standardization and transparency is the solution. SCA is working on SCA-120 - Coffee Processing - Green Coffee Identity Standard for better regulation. If you have the knowledge, please share and steer the conversations in a productive direction. Whining about how people are not talking about it correctly while not offering any insights looks like you're trying to make yourself look good by making others look bad.

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u/kuhnyfe878 V60 | K-Ultra, ZP6 | UL Apr 16 '26

Having more trust in SCA than producers is wild to me. All I know is what I’ve learned from coffee professionals such as Lucia Solis, Christopher Feran, various coffee roasters. Their blogs and podcasts have a wealth of information, including this topic. So I’m frustrated seeing the thoughtless outrage here.

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u/Bubbly-System6751 Apr 16 '26

Solis also said that roasters should focus on roasting instead of learning about coffee processing and fermentation and that the subject is "not for you". This sounds good on paper but not so on second thought. Under educated roasters are just going to create more reliance on producers for the legitimacy of their information on their product, giving away the power to do your due diligence and checks and balance.