#What'sInYourCup - Anaerobic Coffee

#WhatsInYourCup? Anaerobic Coffee

Coffee is always evolving and one of Granito’s more experimental producers, Erwin Chayax, has been playing with something called anaerobic coffee. The what you say!?

The anaerobic process requires fermenting the coffee without any oxygen and lends itself to lots of tinkering and testing. The result is a unique mix of exotic flavours with no two anaerobic coffees ever tasting exactly the same.

In contrast, more traditional washed coffees like Granito’s Café La Voz, San Miguel, and Santa Anita use a process called aerobic fermentation. This is just a fancy way of describing how yeast and microorganisms break down the yummy sugars that come with the coffee beans when they’re given plenty of water and oxygen like in an open tank or container. 

In contrast, anaerobic washed coffees are fermented in sealed containers that become pressurized from the buildup of CO2. This pressure squeezes the surrounding juices and sugars into the bean (or at least that’s the idea) producing distinct acids that give the coffee its bright flavours.

Fun Fact:

Anaerobic coffee generally needs to be fermented longer because the oxygen free vacuum makes the yeast and bacteria lazy, so the coffee takes longer to ferment.

Erwin monitors his anaerobic coffee constantly—sometimes he ferments it for as little as 90 hours or as much as a week! His curiosity and constant experimentation with such a unique process has produced a delicious coffee!

*Picture of Erwin fermenting his anaerobic coffee in sealed drums. The bottle with water connected by the hose allows air to exit the barrel without allowing air in. 

Your average washed green coffee beans can smell a little like hay before its roasted but Erwin’s latest harvest of anaerobic washed coffee is super fragrant from the start with hints of real fruit. And once it has been roasted, its flavour is rich and creamy with notes of sweet chocolate, brown sugar and vanilla.

Get a bag of this very special micro-lot from Erwin at http://granitocoffee.com