Scientists from Nestle Proclaim the
Importance of Natural Fermentation During Post-harvest to Create Fruity Coffee
Taste
May 28 - 2021 Coffee Geography Magazine
The exquisite taste of a cup of coffee is the
result of much more than perfect roasting and brewing. Many steps along the
value chain contribute to highlighting unique flavors and creating ultimately a
differentiating and authentic coffee experience.
It all starts with farming high-quality
coffees and growing them in their native environment where they can reveal
their natural characteristics and flavors. It is also about harnessing
post-harvesting practices that lead to a fine modulation of the coffee quality
and to expand the range of natural flavors and aromas of the final brew. One
example of such post-harvesting practices is fermentation.
Leveraging Nestle’s long-standing scientific
and technical expertise in fermentation, sensory and flavor analysis its
scientists gained a deeper understanding of coffee post-harvesting conditions,
and their impact on the quality of coffee.
Fermentation is the natural process that
takes place at the farm just after coffee cherries are picked. It starts
spontaneously thanks to the activity of microorganisms that are naturally
present in the environment and on the green coffee beans. Controlling this
fermentation is an important post-harvesting practice that is increasingly
being adopted in coffee production, although it has been used for many years in
other categories of the food industry such as yogurt and cheese for example.
"We engaged in a deep scientific
investigation into the microbial ecosystem involved in coffee fermentation and
the range of flavor molecules in the coffee beans. This enables us to highlight
the flavors that are being naturally produced during fermentation and that are
maintained in the final cup", says Cyril Moccand, the scientist at Nestlé Research who led the work. "For the first time we were able to reveal a
direct link between fermentation and the flavor attributes of a coffee brew.
This knowledge can be leveraged to tailor specific fermentation conditions to
different coffee varieties, allowing us to highlight new distinct natural
flavors and sensorial notes and to consistently maintain their quality, while
avoiding raw material loss due to uncontrolled fermentation."
The Nespresso limited
edition La CumplidaRefinada coffee, produced in small coffee
farms of the Matagalpa region in Nicaragua, is the first coffee to leverage the
scientific findings that link fermentation with sensory properties. Through hundreds of fermentation trials, a multidisciplinary team
of Nespresso coffee experts, Nestlé researchers and local
farmers have been working side-by-side to identify and apply tailored
fermentation conditions to the harvested coffee beans.
"The team found that while carefully
monitoring the natural process, it was possible to unlock a differentiated
sweet and light coffee profile with wild fruity notes", says
FrédéricMestdagh, Coffee Research Manager at Nespresso. "We
successfully scaled this post-harvesting process to larger quantities to
produce this limited-edition coffee, ensuring the same sensorial quality in
each cup."
Mastering this on-farm post-harvest
fermentation technique brings smooth notes of candied cherry and pomegranate to
the Nespresso La CumplidaRefinada coffee, entirely natural,
sustainable and consistent, cup after cup.