Whenever James Hoffmann gets involved in a project I sit up and take notice...
James is an award-winning coffee professional, author, and communicator known for his influential work in specialty coffee. He won the World Barista Championship in 2007 and has since become one of the industry’s most respected voices through his educational YouTube channel, books, and global projects. He's a joy to listen to.
He's organising a global tasting event called the Fermentation Project. Green coffee beans from Guatemala processed using four distinctly different methods are sent to 120 coffee roasters globally who will then roast these coffees and provide access to their local customers. Those customers can participate in a live global tasting event where the flavour nuances of these different processes are explored!
The event is run in collaboration with Lucia Solis, a Fermentation Consultant, who spent nine years working in wine production in Napa Valley before transitioning her focus to coffee in 2014. Today, she is a coffee fermentation and processing specialist with over 12 years of international experience, having worked alongside producers in more than 15 countries.
The four different processing methodologies we'll have access to are: mechanically demucilaged, wild fermentation, lactobacillus inoculated, and yeast inoculated. We expect the coffees to arrive in Australia in late June barring any shipping delays (an ever present danger in these troubled times). We shall keep our fingers crossed.
As you're probably aware, advanced coffee processing is a topic I'm completely smitten by. It's the basis of Coffee Prototypers which, in its monthly rotation of experimental coffees, tends to focus on coffees produced using a variety of non-traditional processing techniques. Often the Coffee Prototypers coffees follow on to become limited edition single origin espressos. I find these coffees simply amazing, with a taste profile that surprises and delights.
I'm sure that you can tell that I'm thrilled to be part of the Fermentation Project and I'm really looking forward to presenting these exciting coffees when they arrive at the roastery.
You can access Coffee Prototypers here.
To hear about roasting blends of premium green beans click here
To learn about supernatural coffee processing click here