On Saturday the 3rd of October we invite you to join 1000s of coffee enthusiasts from around the world as we taste the coffees from The Fermentation Project, by James Hoffmann and Lucia Solis. 

We’re incredibly proud to be part of a worldwide coffee tasting event created by James Hoffmann and fermentation specialist Lucia Solis. In partnership with Caravela coffee the lot created for the Fermentation Project is from the same harvest, of the same varieties, from the same farm, processed with the variable of fermentation being the only difference. These 4 specific uses of fermentation will enable a huge number of coffee enthusiasts around the globe to explore how fermentation affects our tasting experience and influences the flavours we encounter.

The Fermentation Project Tasting will involve tasting the 4 coffees, one of each of the processing variants listed below. If you’re curious to dig deeper before the tasting we highly recommend watching this video from James in which Lucia takes us through some processing basics and explains how these coffees have been processed; it's not necessary but it could add some extra value to the experience.

1.      Mechanically Demucilaged – the mucilage surrounding the seed was removed mechanically, rather than through a fermentation so this coffee acts as the control.

2.     Wild Fermentation – this coffee has undergone a 48 hour submerged fermentation with local, wild microbes. This is the traditional method used on most coffees.

3.     Lactobacillus Inoculated Fermentation – This coffee has gone through a 48 hour submerged fermentation with Lactobacillus; this selected Lactobacillus culture steers the fermentation.

4.     Yeast Inoculated Fermentation – The final coffee also went through a submerged 48 hour fermentation but this time with a selected saccharomyces yeast culture added. 

Origin: Guatemala
Farm: Finca San Miguel Urias
Producers: Lillian & Hector Leal (operated under Rueda Farms)
Varieties: 85% Caturra, 15% H1, <1% Bourbon
Altitude: 1450 - 1550m.a.s.l.

Tasting notes: This is the fun bit - we'll discover and discuss these on the day alongside thousands of other participants around the world!

All the processing protocols were overseen by Lucia Solis, working closely with the farm team throughout all stages of processing.

TICKETS ARE FREE, WE WANT AS MANY PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO JOIN IN THE TASTING AS POSSIBLE, BUT IT WILL HELP US HAVE ENOUGH BOWLS TO GIVE EVERYONE LOTS OF CHANCES TO TASTE THEM. 

THE TASTING WILL LAST ABOUT AN HOUR.