A customer tastes our SUPERPOSITION Coco. He sets the cup down and says, almost disappointed: "It's good, but it's flavored, right?" No. No flavoring, no syrup, no powder. The coconut you taste comes from the coffee itself, born during its fermentation. We hear this confusion every week, and it deserves a proper answer, once and for all.
Flavored or co-fermented
A flavored coffee is an ordinary coffee sprayed with an aroma (natural or synthetic) after roasting. The taste is laid on top. It's the "vanilla-hazelnut coffee" of the supermarket shelf.
A co-fermented coffee is the opposite. The flavor is born inside the fruit, on the farm, in the days that follow the harvest. We don't perfume the bean; we steer its fermentation so that it develops those aromas on its own. Nothing is added to the finished product. It's the work of a farmer, not a laboratory.
Fermentation, in a minute
Coffee is a fruit: a cherry. Beneath the skin, a sweet pulp surrounds the beans. From the moment it is picked, that pulp ferments, as yeasts and bacteria transform its sugars. This step has always existed, even in the most ordinary coffee. What changes today is that we steer it, instead of leaving it to chance.
There are countless methods: the natural process on African raised beds, lactic fermentation, thermal shock, sealed-tank anaerobic fermentation. We'll cover them one by one. Today, we start with ours: co-fermentation. We add a co-ferment (a fruit, a spice, a chosen yeast) into the tank with the cherries. The ingredient guides the fermentation; the bean is then washed and dried. What remains is the aromatic imprint, never the matter itself.
In the hands of Jairo Arcila
Here is how our coconut coffee actually comes to life, at Finca Santa Monica, in the heart of Colombia's Quindío. Jairo Arcila is a third-generation producer; he runs his fermentations alongside his sons, the way a winemaker tends his cuvées.
- Whole cherries. Picked perfectly ripe, they go into the tank whole, without being depulped.
- 72 hours anaerobic. A dry, oxygen-free fermentation, inoculated with wine yeast and enriched with coconut. This is where the coconut imprint takes hold.
- Rinsing and sorting. The beans are rinsed, then sorted to keep only the best.
- Slow drying below 35 °C. On raised beds, gently, to lock in the aromas without forcing them.
The cup that results: toasted coconut, white chocolate, a sweetness that recalls a macaron. Not one of these words is an aroma poured into the bag. Each is the fruit of those 72 hours.
Co-fermentation doesn't lie about what coffee is. It reveals a version of it that nature alone would never have dared.
Why "SUPERPOSITION"
Because we don't stop at Jairo's coconut coffee. We superimpose it onto a second coffee: a high-altitude Peru of rare cleanliness, crafted by Eudis Orosco. Cherries water-sorted, fermented in the cold mountain air, then fully washed. That clear, cocoa-driven Peru is the backbone. The Colombian brings the exuberance. Two coffees, two states of a single cup, held together until the very first sip.
Recognizing a true co-ferment
A good co-fermented coffee doesn't "smell like candy." The aroma is integrated, not laid on top: it evolves from the nose to the cup, then in the aftertaste, and leaves a clean finish. Our advice: taste it first as a filter or a tight espresso, without milk, letting it drop in temperature. It is as it cools that a co-ferment reveals its full complexity.
Frequently asked questions
Is a co-fermented coffee a flavored coffee?
No. Flavoring adds an aroma after roasting. Co-fermentation steers the fruit's fermentation on the farm, and nothing is added to the finished coffee.
Is there coconut in the bag?
None. The coconut guided the fermentation, then the bean was rinsed and dried. The bag contains nothing but coffee.
Does it have more caffeine?
No. Fermentation barely changes the caffeine content. What changes is the aromatic intensity.
How should I brew it at home?
As a filter (V60) for finesse, or a tight espresso for intensity. Without milk first, to taste the work in its raw form.
Written in Paris by Grégoire Bonnet, specialty coffee roaster. We only speak well of what we truly work with.