What is Simon's Special Treatment? What is the specific process for processing bagged fermented coffee?

Whether it is sun-exposed or washed, post-processing of coffee was originally just a step to dry the coffee beans and make them easy to store. But until people discovered that different treatments would make different changes in the taste of coffee, more and more treatments that serve flavor emerged. For example, various special treatments that are now in full swing are new generations of players who can make coffee flavors more diverse. What Front Street wants to share today-"Simon's Special Treatment Method" is one of the special treatment methods that may be small but very interesting. The coffee beans processed through it have a recognized distinctive characteristic-eating lotus root (ugly).

It can be seen from the above picture that the beans specially processed by Simon do not look very pleasant. It is neither good-looking nor has a great color difference. In case a friend with OCD sees it, you can't "pick" them up. But as the saying goes,"beans" cannot be judged by their appearance! It is such a strange-looking coffee bean that can exude rare coffee flavors such as watermelon, mint, and guava. Many friends were captured by the strong watermelon flavor in beans and became loyal fans of Simon beans (coffee beans that use Simon's special treatment method).

In addition to the appearance of beans and the flavor of coffee, the name of this treatment method is also very unique. Because so far, there have been few processing names like this that contain very little information. Most treatment methods try their best to condense the information about the treatment process or the processing process into names. For example, the whole process of sun-drying is called sun-drying, the process of removing the peel and meat and soaking the beans in water and fermenting is called washing, or semi-sun-drying, wet planing and other treatments adopt this naming method. Then the reason why this treatment is named Simon's Special Treatment is because it was a treatment created by Mr. Semeon Abay.

Mr. Simon Abai is Ethiopian, and his life is the same as this treatment. It can be said to be very extraordinary. Because he studied film when he was young, his earliest job was as a film actor. Later, he went to the United States to develop, where he met the owner of his Bole Novo Coffee, and then "by accident" became Novo's chief baker. But not long after the good days had just begun, Simon Abai was diagnosed with cancer. This was his fifth year at Novo! As the doctor declared himself hopeless, he ended his work at Novo, told the United States to return to his hometown, and returned to Ethiopia to wait for the end of his life. Unexpectedly, he would miraculously survive! So, he began to stir up the coffee industry in Ethiopia again, and this time he was the processing director of Ninety Plus (90+)!

I believe everyone is no stranger to 90+. It is one of the first companies to apply special treatment methods to rose summer. With his astonishing talent and hard work, Simon Abai mastered all aspects of 90+ coffee processing, so he became the processing director of 90+ coffee. Moreover, his innate spirit of bold experimentation and in-depth research on processing have led him to create many novel processing methods! Simon's special treatment method is one of them! Simon's special treatment method is also known as "Bag Fermentation" because this treatment method uses polypropylene bags to assist the fermentation of beans. (Picture is for reference only)

The specific process is like this: fresh coffee fruits are immediately sent to the treatment plant after being picked. Bad fruits, unripe fruits and sundries are first screened out by soaking in water, and then those high-quality fresh fruits are sub-packed into plastic bags. Seal them in and stack them in a cool and dry place for 5 days. During these five days, the plastic bags will be flipped every 12 hours, in order to change the position of the coffee beans, so that the coffee beans originally at the bottom will become the coffee beans at the top. By strictly restricting the flow of air in the bag, lactic acid bacteria will increase significantly, allowing the coffee to develop a unique and charming flavor. Because the coffee cherries in the bag will undergo different degrees of fermentation depending on their location, the appearance color of the resulting beans is quite inconsistent. Fresh fruits at the top and bottom of the bag will be more fermented and their bean color will be relatively darker; while fresh fruits in the middle of the bag will be less fermented, so their bean color will be relatively lighter. When 5 days pass, the fresh coffee fruits that have been fermented in the bags will be transferred to a drying bed for thin drying. At the hottest part of the day, workers at the processing plant cover the coffee cherries with a sun protection layer to protect them from strong direct sunlight, thereby extending the drying and fermentation time of the beans. Then it will be covered again at night. The purpose at this time is to leave it moist and dry the coffee more evenly.

Generally speaking, this drying process takes about 20 days. When the coffee is dried, it is put into yellow sacks for storage. Before being exported, the coffee is sent to a peeler to remove the dried bean shells. At this point, the processing of coffee beans can be officially completed.

The picture above shows raw coffee beans specially treated by Simon. You can see that the colors of the beans are uneven and have a huge difference. Although the degree of fermentation varied, Mr. Simon did not screen them accordingly. Because he believes that it is precisely because a batch of coffee beans are mixed with coffee beans with different degrees of fermentation that the flavor of coffee can have a richer sense of hierarchy and a higher degree of recognition. This is the case, but for bean roasters, it is not a small challenge. In order to highlight the explosive fruit flavor brought by this treatment and improve the sweetness of the coffee, Qianjie chose a classic medium and shallow baking curve for cooking. The following is a comparison chart of raw beans and cooked beans. You can feel the difference between coffee beans before and after roasting ~

Front Street Coffee: Guji Simon handles native species

Country: Ethiopia

Production area: Guji

Variety: Native species

Altitude: 2000 meters

Treatment method: Simon special/bag fermentation treatment method

Flavors: Lemon, watermelon, guava, sweet orange, spice

Eight hours after the baking was completed, Qianjie used a cup test to taste the beans. Then Qianjie discovered that compared with the watermelon flavor in my impression, the flavor displayed by this bean actually preferred the flavor of watermelon peel... From the dry aroma, we can clearly feel that the coffee is very rich in layers. It not only has strong fermented aromas such as spices, jackfruit, and dried berries, but also has a fresh aroma similar to lemon and mint. When you enter the coffee, you can feel the high-sweet flavors of guava, orange, and preserved fruit. After swallowing, you will have a mint-like coolness, followed by the fresh aftertaste of watermelon (skin) and lemon. In addition, there is a classic 90+ specially processed cinnamon spice flavor throughout the entire process, with rich layers!

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