How do you brew an anaerobic, fruit co-fermented coffee?

That's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? And that's actually the short version of this coffee's processing 😅

The full story goes something like this:

Anaerobically fermented for four days and co-fermented with blended oranges & Koji culture (Aspergillus oryzae).

The coffee comes from Lot 20 in Kenya and was sourced through our friends and importers at Omwani Coffee Co. in York.

When we first cupped the sample, we picked up notes of orange cordial and caramel. On paper, that sounded a little... uninspiring.

But we bought the coffee anyway, mainly because it's the first co-fermented coffee we've genuinely enjoyed!

Most co-ferments we've tasted (in our opinion) lean a little too synthetic, or remind us of being a kid who's eaten far too many sweets before deciding to play football for an hour... only for all that sugary goodness to start making an unwelcome return journey. Yikes 😆

And on the subject of synthetic flavours — it's becoming increasingly common knowledge that some producers are adding flavour compounds or synthetic ingredients during processing rather than using real fruit additions.

Thankfully, that's not the case here.

The Brew Lab

We tested this coffee across five brew methods:

• V60
• AeroPress
• Clever Dripper
• Commercial Espresso (Conti NGC)
• Domestic Espresso (Sage Barista Pro)

One thing became clear very quickly.

This coffee shines at a relatively low extraction of around 17% for filter brew methods and 18% for espresso brew methods.

Push it beyond 18% extraction and things started to become muddier, with herbal and liquorice-like notes creeping in that we weren't particularly fond of.

Keep the extraction lower and grind slightly coarser than you normally would, and the coffee stays bright, juicy and clean, with pecan pie and caramel sweetness sitting underneath a rich chocolatey body.

Brew Guides

V60

15g coffee / 250g water / 96°C

Grind: EK 12.5 / Comandante 27 clicks (medium-coarse)

• Rinse filter paper.
• Add coffee and pour 50g water in a gentle circular motion.
• Swirl gently to ensure all grounds are saturated and allow to bloom for 45 seconds.
• Pour a further 100g to reach 150g total.
• At approximately 1:30, pour the remaining 100g to finish at 250g.

Target brew time: 2:30

Approximate extraction: 17%

AeroPress

17g coffee / 220g water / 96°C

Grind: EK 9 / Comandante 21 clicks (medium-fine)

• Use two rinsed filter papers and brew inverted.
• Add coffee, then 50g water and stir thoroughly to wet all grounds.
• Pour up to 220g total water.
• Stir gently for 10 seconds.
• Fit the cap and remove excess air.
• At 1:30 begin a gentle plunge lasting around 40 seconds.

Target brew time: 2:10

Approximate extraction: 17%

Clever Dripper

20g coffee / 220g water / 96°C

Grind: EK 10 / Comandante 23 clicks (medium-fine)

• Rinse filter paper.
• Add 220g water to the brewer.
• Add coffee and stir to ensure all grounds are saturated.
• Leave to steep for 3 minutes.
• Give the brewer a gentle swirl and place onto your server to drain.

Target brew time: 3:30

Approximate extraction: 16%

Sage Barista Pro Espresso Machine

Grind: setting 13 (in-built grinder)

Conti NGC espresso

Grind: 1.9 (Compak I6)

Final Thoughts

This coffee rewarded restraint.

The temptation with heavily processed coffees is often to push extraction harder in pursuit of more flavour. In this case, doing the opposite produced the best cups.

With a typically 'lower than your average' extraction, the coffee stayed vibrant and expressive, delivering exactly what we hoped for from the roast:

Tasting notes - Dark chocolate orange, pecan and caramel.

Stick it in a flat white and it starts tasting remarkably like orange honeycomb and pecan pie.

Mega stuff 👌🏽

If you'd like to grab a bag while it lasts, have a look at our Kenya Orange Co-Fermented Coffee