Experimental processing guide - carbonic maceration

In our ongoing guide to the kind of experimental coffees you will find at Sticky Toffee Coffee, we take a look at carbonic maceration

Carbonic maceration feels to us like the upcoming cool cousin to anaerobically fermented coffees. It is a far less mainstream processing method but is gaining momentum in the industry and we either have a coffee processed this way in our shop now or we soon will do! What, though does this process mean and what flavour profile can you expect?

Named after the winemaking practice once common to the Beaujolais region of France in which whole grapes are fermented prior to crushing, this process was popularized by Saša Šestić during his WBC presentation in 2015. In carbonic maceration, the whole coffee cherry is placed into a sealed vessel which is then flushed with carbon dioxide. The process is not that dissimilar from “Anaerobic processing” in that both are intended to be low-oxygen environments—but in carbonic maceration the fermentation must always happen in cherry, and carbon dioxide is always added to the environment, sometimes for several days.

In the cup, we have tasted some similar notes to anaerobic coffees but also some wildly different ones. Acidity is always maximised (in a good way!) and we have even tasted cakey, gingerbread notes. It is our current favourite process and we cant wait to taste more!

Why not try our Guatemala Carbonic Maceration lot? Available now in the store.