What is the flavor of anaerobic fermented coffee beans and the operating elements of anaerobic fermentation

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Human beings have been using bacteria to control food fermentation for more than thousands of years. In ancient times, there was no refrigerator, so the preservation of food fermented with different strains was developed; it was accidentally found that fermentation can not only prolong the eating time, but also make the food more rich and diverse, and even better for the body (such as vinegar, kimchi, etc.).

Japanese coffee scholar Dan Bu clearly pointed out that coffee is a kind of fermented food. The three common post-processing methods of coffee beans, sun exposure, water washing and honey treatment, are all post-fermentation methods, and they all use bacteria of different mechanisms and fermentation principles to create different flavors.

Fermentation is the interaction between food and bacteria, which makes the enzymes and bacteria in the food produce new decomposition changes. it also allows macromolecules and ingredients that cannot be directly absorbed by the body to transform small molecules such as monosaccharides and amino acids into small molecules such as monosaccharides and amino acids. make the aroma more diverse and the ingredients more abundant.

We explain it in terms of diversity and richness, because fermentation does not necessarily make food better. Together with bacteria that are beneficial to the body, the direction in which they become good is called ripeness, and it is also what we generally refer to as fermentation. bacteria that are not in the right direction and do not belong to the common prosperity and mutual benefit of the body are corrupt and decaying. Therefore, in the process of fermentation, we should be very careful about the choice of ingredients (maturity, freshness), the environment for treatment (whether it is clean or whether it is easy to breed bad bacteria), the length of fermentation time and the level of temperature, because there are suitable growth conditions for beneficial bacteria that are compatible with human beings.

What is anaerobic fermentation?

Anaerobic fermentation is not a new term in fermented food. Anaerobic bacteria are involved in the fermentation process of kimchi and wine. Now that we know that the post-processing of coffee beans is a fermentation process, the rest is the principle of fermentation.

What is meant by "anaerobic fermentation / lactic acid fermentation" = carbon dioxide treatment

100% ripe fruit is manually harvested to the treatment plant to carry out "anaerobic fermentation". The average fermentation time of the whole fruit is 24-48 hours and then sent to the greenhouse for 4 days to remove the pectin layer, and then placed in the African scaffolding bed for 18-20 days. carry out the final drying operation, and finally put the coffee in a bucket and sealed.

The four main elements of this approach are:

1. Shade system

The shade system can effectively block out the sun, so that the pulp can produce more sugar, thus making the final coffee more sweet and wonderful and shiny sour.

2. Stainless steel container

Coffee beans are fermented in stainless steel containers as soon as they are picked, instead of using traditional cement or tile containers, which absorb the flavor of coffee beans rather than retain more of the flavor in the pulp of coffee. The flavor of coffee can be made cleaner by using stainless steel containers.

3. Carbon dioxide

The container in which the coffee beans are placed is then sealed and pressurized with carbon dioxide so that there is no oxygen in the container. This ensures that the flavor and aroma of all the coffee are retained in the coffee, and the flavor of the coffee is more obvious.

4. Controllable temperature

In the end, these containers of coffee beans are placed in a controlled environment to control more of the factors that replicate the same flavor of coffee beans. However, the traditional treatment methods are affected by weather, humidity and other factors, so it is difficult to ensure that the flavor of beans treated each time is consistent.

Anaerobic fermentation treatment (Anaerobic/Carbonic Maceration) is mostly translated into carbon dioxide impregnation, anaerobic fermentation or red wine treatment, and the literal translation of production areas is also translated as pressure honey treatment. Just like brewing wine, the removed coffee pulp and pectin coffee beans are fermented in a bucket, and the pressure in the bucket slows down the fermentation rate, so the taste of those cinnamon biscuits is also the product of anaerobic fermentation.

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