Processes

5 bases and 7 modifiers. Every preparation on this site is exactly one of the first and any number of the second.

02 · FERMENTATION MODIFIERS

ZERO OR MORE
Anaerobic

The ferment is sealed away from oxygen.

DOES NOT CLAIM

A duration, a dominant microbe, or a base: an anaerobic washed and an anaerobic natural are both ordinary.

Carbonic maceration

Properly: whole intact fruit under carbon dioxide, fermentation running inside the fruit, the method borrowed from Beaujolais winemaking.

DOES NOT CLAIM

That the trade means this. In use it is often any CO₂-flushed tank, so we record the claim as it was made and print the distinction here rather than adjudicating a roaster’s vocabulary.

Extended fermentation

A duration claim, and only that, independent of oxygen.

DOES NOT CLAIM

Anything about air. An open-tank seventy-two-hour ferment is extended and aerobic, which is why this axis is a set and not a tree.

Lactic

A claim about which microbes dominated, usually pursued with low oxygen and temperature control.

DOES NOT CLAIM

A seal or a duration, though both are often claimed alongside it. Steering toward an outcome is not the same as naming the method.

InoculatedOR CULTURED

Selected yeast or bacterial strains added to the tank in place of the wild population.

DOES NOT CLAIM

Which strain, unless the roaster names it; a named strain is text on the offering, not a modifier of its own.

Co-fermentedOR INFUSED

An exogenous flavour substrate added to the ferment: fruit pulp, spice, must, cascara.

DOES NOT CLAIM

Where processing ends and flavouring begins. That argument is content; the record says only that a substrate was added.

Thermal shockOR TEMPERATURE-CONTROLLED

Managed hot–cold cycling through the ferment.

DOES NOT CLAIM

Oxygen, microbes or duration; it describes the handling, not the biology.

HOW A PREPARATION IS STATED
NaturalANAEROBIC · EXTENDED FERMENTATION
WashedNO MODIFIER STATED
Undisclosedthe roaster’s silence, recorded as silence
THE MARK CARRIES THE BASE AND NOTHING ELSE; A MODIFIED PREPARATION IS NOT A NEW BASE
MODIFIERS RUN IN MODEL ORDER, NOT THE ORDER THE ROASTER WROTE THEM
UNDISCLOSED TAKES NO HUE: AN OPEN MARK IS THE ABSENCE OF A CLAIM, NOT A FIFTH COLOR
OFF BOTH AXES
DecaffeinationSwiss Water, sugarcane EA, CO₂, all applied to finished green coffee, after both axes have closed. A separate treatment: neither a base nor a modifier.
Drying vesselRaised beds, patio, mechanical dryer. Recorded when a roaster states it, and not a category of preparation.
Named protocols“CM76”, a house recipe, a lot number. Text on the offering; naming a recipe is not naming a method.

03 · THE MODEL AGAINST THE RECORD

OBSERVED
observed across 26 of 26 tracked catalogues · 455 current offerings · last ingest 2026-08-14 06:47 UTC
BASES · ONE PER OFFERING
Washed215 of 304
Natural53 of 304
Undisclosed19 of 304
Honey16 of 304
Wet-hulled1 of 304
151 NO PROCESS PUBLISHED
MODIFIERS · 0 OR MORE PER OFFERING
Anaerobic14 claims
Carbonic maceration4 claims
Co-fermented3 claims
Thermal shock2 claims
Inoculated1 claim
Extended fermentationnone in the current record
Lacticnone in the current record
23 OF 304 STATED PREPARATIONS CARRY AT LEAST ONE
FIG. 1Both axes counted as they are claimed, not as they are inferred