If utilizing priced fetched at public sale as the only real indication of high quality, the most effective coffees on this planet are produced in Panama. They’ve persistently elevated the ceiling of what people are keen to pay for the exceptionally uncommon, ultra-high-end coffees. And it’s not all advertising bluster; Panama Geshas routinely rating within the 90+ vary; on the 2024 Better of Panama competitors that came about earlier this month, 4 coffees scored 95 factors or greater.
However the newest Better of Panama competitors was not with out controversy. Particularly, some entries had undergone fruit infusions/co-fermentation. These coffees have been disqualified from competitors, and it led to the Specialty Espresso Affiliation of Panama releasing a press release the place they denounce in no unsure phrases the usage of co-fermentation and infusions in Better of Panama coffees.
Posted on the Instagram account of Wilford Lamastus of Lamastus Household Estates—who received the Pure Gesha Class this yr—the assertion was penned by J. Hunter Tedman, the president of the SCAP (who additionally posted it on the account of Black Moon Farm, which he owns). Tedman describes the disqualified coffees as “altered from their pure DNA expression, with the intent to attain greater and win by utilizing international components” in an “try and cheat.”
He goes on to explain the phrases “co-fermented” and “thermal shock” as “misleading” and used “to mislead consumers.” Tedman calls on different international competitors our bodies to do the identical, stating the explanation for the stance to be to “[ensure] meals security and [prevent] the bogus homogenization of various terroirs and varietals worldwide.”
Tedman suggests a brand new class be created for “altered or infused coffees… clearly distinguishing them from real Specialty Espresso.”
Infusions and co-ferments characterize a brand new wave of post-harvest processing that has gained appreciable traction over the previous few years. They usually definitely change the flavour profile of a espresso, a lot in the identical manner the extra conventional washed and pure processing strategies do. (One might definitely argue that if thermal shock processing permits a espresso to attain excessive sufficient to be specialty grade, then it’s in truth real Specialty Espresso, a designation that has traditionally been dictated solely by the cupping rating.) This assertion from the SCAP represents the primary occasion of a governing physique taking a stance on the novel fermentation technique come what may.
For extra data or to learn the total assertion, go to the Specialty Espresso Affiliation of Panama’s official web site.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Community and a workers author primarily based in Dallas. Learn extra Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
