Can Coffee taste like a Mango
- basics
How are you doing coffee lover? Hope this week has been good and you were decently caffeinated throughout.
I had an absolute blast of coffee having at least two cups a day this week. I probably have to dial down a bit on caffeine next week.
Recently, a friend of mine, while coming from UK, helped me get hold of these coffee beans. On the pack, the taste notes said “passion fruit” and “mango”. I was like pfft...., these guys say too much.
When I opened the pack and started grinding these, was shocked with a strong aroma of mango. It clearly stood out. I got very excited.
I brewed my regular V60 pour over, which is how I start any new bag of coffee with, and the mango clearly shined. It was more like mango bite chocolate. It was as if you mix a mango slush into the coffee after you brew it.
I was curious to know how this was possible. Because these fruit notes are not something you find typically in coffee. I though they might have stored the coffee beans along with cut pieces of mango which would have absorbed the taste.
Well, I was partially right.
Fermentation of Coffee
It turns out, after coffee is processed (which we talked about in the last email), in a few methods, they ferment it before drying it out.
There are different use cases for coffee fermentation.
One of the major use case is during the washed process. We know that here, coffee beans are de-pulped and the mucilage is removed before drying them out. In this specific step of removing the mucilage, it needs lots of water, energy etc. So instead, if you put the de-pulped beans in citric acid for about 30 minutes, it breaks down the mucilage.
Yeast is also used sometimes. It’s called anaerobic processed coffee.
On to the interesting part now...
Co-fermentation - this is where you add fruits / fruit juice to the mix while fermenting the coffee, which imparts those flavours on to the beans.
Isn't this crazy! I honestly feel you should try this type coffee and taste the difference. I wont say you will love it, but just knowing something like this exists and experiencing it blows my mind.
Let me leave you with some YouTube videos related to fermentation and anaerobic processing to actually see how things are done.
What’s brewing this week
Lots of experimentation with Colombia El Placer the coffee with the mango notes I was talking about.
And also the natural processed ones from Ethiopia called Sunshine. It’s been hard to get a consistent cup with these as they leave me with a few fines after grinding. Aeropress worked out to be the best.
That’s all I have. Have a caffeinated weekend.
See you.
Keep on brewing!