A Quick Guide to Anaerobic Coffee

You’ll typically see comparisons drawn between anaerobically processed espresso and pure wine. However the parallels lengthen past the acquainted taste notes—mainly, to the extent of confusion surrounding the title and course of that was additionally seen within the early days of the pure wine growth.

“Anaerobic processes have been used as a fermentation software within the beer and wine industries for a really very long time. The motion of this type of course of into espresso is a pure transition, as espresso cherries and inexperienced beans are additionally fermented,” explains Andrea Allen, co-owner of Arkansas-based Onyx Espresso Lab. “There’s a myriad of various methodologies behind this course of from farm to farm, nation to nation, nevertheless it produces wild and sudden flavors in espresso.”

In our Could/June 2024 concern, we requested Allen to advocate 5 anaerobically processed coffees from completely different roasters. The roundup highlights the spectrum of flavors and approaches to the method. However it additionally begs the query: What precisely is anaerobic espresso? Identical to pure wine, there is no such thing as a simple—or authorized—definition.

A part of the Course of

“Since about 10 years in the past, we now have been experiencing what I name the ‘processing revolution’ by which increasingly strategies are developed and branded by espresso producers,” says Mario Fernández, a technical officer with the Specialty Espresso Affiliation and an eighth-generation member of the family of espresso growers in Mexico. “As a result of there is no such thing as a standardization round espresso processing strategies, there is no such thing as a consensus about what any given processing technique truly means. I feel the time period ‘anaerobic’ might be the most effective examples of the confusion.”

What we now name the “pure” course of has been used for 1000’s of years and easily includes letting your entire espresso cherry dry, sometimes within the solar.

It helps to first perceive a number of the primary and historic strategies used to course of espresso. What we now name the “pure” course of has been used for 1000’s of years and easily includes letting your entire espresso cherry dry, sometimes within the solar. The “washed” technique started getting used within the nineteenth century, whereby the fruit of the espresso cherry was eliminated, and the beans had been fermented within the remaining mucilage earlier than being washed clear. Within the ’90s, the “honey” course of was created by which the espresso cherries are pulped and the beans in mucilage are dried instantly with out fermentation.

What’s the goal in processing beans a method or one other? “Quite a lot of completely different variations on these strategies have been developed as a result of producers have realized they’ve a solution to impression the espresso taste by means of processing,” says Fernández. “We have to begin by acknowledging that espresso producers battle rather a lot with low costs and low profitability. And lots of, many espresso farms are usually not worthwhile. They’ve only a few alternatives so as to add worth to their espresso.”

New Frontiers

Enter anaerobically processed espresso. “It’s one other leap within the strategy of espresso fermentation that each wows and delights lovers of specialty espresso,” says Allen of Onyx Espresso Lab. Thus it’s no shock that increasingly producers are experimenting with the method that always creates or emphasizes flavors just like these present in ever-trendy pure wine. These flavors are created within the fermentation course of, which, at its most simple degree, happens in a low- or no-oxygen surroundings (akin to carbonically macerated wine grapes), therefore the anaerobic label.

“Normally these flavors for the anaerobically processed coffees are excessive on the fermented word. They present a number of wine-like notes or sourness…”—Mario Fernández

“What producers are attempting to attain is a sure, distinct taste,” says Fernández. “Normally these flavors for the anaerobically processed coffees are excessive on the fermented word. They present a number of wine-like notes or sourness, for instance.” However once more, how this course of is achieved varies broadly between producers. Some might merely be sealing the recent espresso cherries into plastic sacks to ferment earlier than processing, whereas different producers are constructing specialty vessels and changing the oxygen with an inert gasoline like CO2. The size of fermentation time may even differ, as does any following processes, comparable to whether or not the espresso is washed and the way it’s dried.

Fernández sees the method as having specific potential so as to add differentiating traits for producers working with typical, lowland-grown coffees. “It’s a legit solution to search for added worth in your espresso,” he says, however notes that the method wouldn’t be helpful for all beans, particularly if the fermented notes find yourself obfuscating the espresso’s naturally occurring fascinating flavors.

“My perception is that we are able to get extra refined within the methods we course of espresso to discover a center level between processing savvy that provides to the character of the product and in addition the character from the terroir,” says Fernández. “However I like the truth that we live in a time of a number of innovation on the processing degree.”