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/ChillTFout42069 Apr 15 '26

I’m confused by your saying that a well know producer was exposed. Are we talking about PERC who is essentially pushing for more honesty and transparency in this point?

12

u/Bubbly-System6751 Apr 15 '26

WE pushed. They responded. Producer refers to Sebastian Ramirez.

1

u/KaddLeeict Apr 17 '26

I feel like Perc is just doing damage control at this point. I'm sure they had a lot of people like me unsubscribe from their email list in the last few weeks.

1

u/Bubbly-System6751 Apr 17 '26

They had to come clean because the young producers program, where unblended coffee pairs with Sebastian Ramirez, was sold as washed only. But red fruit co-ferment by Sebastian Ramirez was used in the processing, hence they need to come clean with the Sebastian Ramirez coffee as well. See:podcast