The Fundamental Problem with Carbonic Maceration

The Fundamental Problem with Carbonic Maceration: Small differences become magnified. Coffee that is already hard to homogenize is made dramatically more different by this style of processing. This is "fun" for the consumer but a headache for the producer.
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[@kevinhu7684]

Purchased a bag of whole bean coffee marketed as having had an “anaerobic fermentation” process. Baristas described it as having undergone an enclosed fermentation minimizing exposure to oxygen. First thing that struck me when I opened the bag of coffee was that it looked like a mix of some more lightly roasted and some more darkly roasted beans - like a blend of two separate roast batches. Taste after doing pourover was also like a blend of a sweeter more acidic coffee with a more bitter coffee. Thanks for this video!

[@VictimOfTheParanoid]

I am so glad I found your channel. So underrated. Please keep doing more, I could listen to this for days.

[@fincarosenheim]

I understand the problem and maybe there is a way around it. Writing it down to do a fermentation experiment next harvest. We will give it a super complicated scientific name and use it for marketing purposes ;)

[@scottOlsonsoulson]

The problem isn't with carbonic maceration, but in the way it's done. The current process produces uneven results. Perhaps agitation during fermentation is needed; shaking, or stirring. Experimentation with the fermentation process may improve uniformity.

[@Kuchenrolle]

Agreed. And there is sorting. Going through all grapes by hand, even multiple times, to select the best ones is standard in high quality wine making - why in the world wouldn't people do this for coffee as well. It seems this could fairly easily be done by a machine, too. After the best and most even ones have been selected, the rest wouldn't need to be thrown out, it could either undergo more fermenting or just be aggregated into a lower quality batch. This would raise the costs, sure, but I doubt it would be by too much for it to sell.

[@atticustay1]

Could it be because of some of the coffee being at the bottom of the bag and some floating at the top?

[@vinpaw808]

Could it be possible ma'am that the level of ripeness during picking affects the fermentation thus making it color pink with sticking mucilage?

[@kcokeefe9639]

Great observations. Does variation between beans always imply the inability to replicate cup profile of a lot? Can there/is there a level of bean variation consistency batch to batch given the same farm ect?

[@agungdk9688]

I'm Indonesia cofffe