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        Transparency Is More Than Just Price

            The  push  for  flavors  never  seen  before  can  be
        credited  to  Sasa  Sestic  for  introducing  the  carbonic
        maceration fermentation technique when he collaborat-
        ed  with  winemakers  to  win  the  2015  World  Barista
        Championship in Seattle. It was the pinnacle of coffee
        experimentation and enabled many to think outside the
        box and push the flavor barriers.
            It all started when Sasa sipped on a coffee that had
        dominant notes of cinnamon at the 2018 Amsterdam World
        Barista Championship. The following year, spice and fruit-
        infused coffees started popping up. He knew, backed up
        with research and tests, that such distinct notes could not
        be  produced  in  coffee  using  natural  processing  alone.
        Hence, he put together a guide to check if green coffee has
        been artificially infused.
            Dr. Samo Smrke spoke to BeanScene Magazine on how
        to identify coffee when something was added to it, “When-
        ever a very distinctive profile or a specific aroma is per-
        ceived, it is possible to say that the coffee was adulterated.”
        There are advanced tools available such as gas chromatog-
        raphy or Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass Spectrometry to
                                                                                                                                                                    Photo / Drew Dennehy, General Manager of THREE Specialty Coffee Roasters
        test if the coffee has been infused.
            Drew recalls his trip to a farm in Colombia and intro-
        spects, “The problem arises when we have producers who
        are infusing coffee in certain ways and don’t want to tell
        the industry what they’re doing. There are famous farms
        in Colombia that infuse coffees not during the fermentation   ing infused coffees in the World Coffee Championships is   There is a ray of hope – an opportunity for this seg-  itself is not made known to the buyer breaching one of the
        stage but during drying. They place all of the green beans   beyond me. The coffees with the most distinct flavors and   ment to shine and propel the coffee industry forward. It’s   pillars  of  specialty  coffee  i.e.  transparency.  Imagine  the
        inside large drying boxes, and pump aromatics into them   aromas will always get the advantage here.”         clear that the pros can outweigh the cons if stakeholders   market misperceives a Panama Geisha and interprets it as
        as the coffee is drying releasing its moisture, and at the   The  whole  world  is  watching  when  our  favorite   in the value chain can label the coffees for what they are   the new norm exhibiting characteristics not seen before.
        same time absorbing those aromatics which can then be   baristas compete and the coffees they brew grow in pop-  otherwise it can detract from the ultimate goal of special-  The  fact  remains  as  Fredrick  stated,  “the  essence  of  the
        brought out during roasting and brewing.”      ularity amongst the specialty coffee fan following. Since      ty coffee – to present consumers with a cup of coffee that   origin is lost” when coffees are infused with flavors unusu-
            Many producers take it upon themselves to represent   the nature of infused coffee falls within a gray area and   meets their sensory requirements and also clearly display   al  to  the  terroir  or  varietal.  Irina  suggests  a  solution  of
        what the origin offers but when external flavors are added   is not clearly defined in the rulings of these competitions,   what great terroir, varietals, processing, farming, roasting,    “giving infused coffees a different nomenclature” to differ-
        and aren’t communicated, it leads to confusion. Information   many of them pass undetected. Judges are essential when   and brewing can do.                  entiate them from the rest.
        at the farm level needs to be shared with buyers and roast-  it comes to evaluating performances in coffee competi-  Customers are much more aware now and are paying
        ers, and the value is passed to the customers to experience   tions and should be trained in recognizing infused coffees   attention to the latest innovations happening in the coffee   An Investigation Is in Order
        the origin of what it is. Trust is a huge part of the transac-  in certification programs.                    industry, but if the right information is not passed on to
        tion process and it is the producer’s responsibility to be   Drew competed in last year’s UAE National Barista   them, they can get an inflated idea of what coffee can be.   Diving deeper into the rabbit hole, I was invited by
        transparent about their coffee.                Championship and he is well aware that infused coffees are     To this, Drew had an eye-opening point to add, “Because   Drew to his roastery and tasted a coffee that was processed
            Continuing  my  conversation  with  Fredrick,  he  ex-  being used on the world stage. “Competitors are incentiv-  higher  yielding  and  lower  quality  varietals  are  used  for   using a *proprietary technique* with a special mix of mi-
        panded on why he has a love-hate relationship with infused   ized to turn a blind eye even if they think that it could be   infused coffees, consumers will start to  question why they   crobes – the producer claims it is not infused, but Drew
        coffees  reasons  he  explains,  “It  pains  me  to  see  infused   potentially infused because the incentives for winning with   pay so much for traditionally processed coffees when an   knew  better.  Having  visited  numerous  farms  and  being
        coffees being used in competitions. To see the same coffee   a coffee that is labeled as a naturally processed coffee (not   alternative  that is more aromatic and flavorful is available.”   involved  in  many  fermentation  processes,  Drew  has  an
        governing bodies that prioritize quality whilst also accept-  infused) is high.”                              The problem could escalate when the process of infusion   acute understanding of what happens at the farm level.


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