The one thing that surprised me was how effective the natural wild yeast fermentation was in producing a great cup of coffee. I’d assumed the naturally fermented coffee would have a less defined character, but I didn’t find that to be the case. All three 48h ferments added different complexities to the machine washed, but similar degrees of complexity.
Maybe there are coffees or terroirs where specific inoculations would allow for dramatic improvement. Perhaps one region, or even just farm, has a microbial environment that doesn’t suit a specific coffee, and just the right inoculation would have a transformative effect. But that might all be so linked to varietal selection and regions that grow “good” coffee maybe there aren’t. If a region has ambient microbes don’t work well for fermentation, is there any incentive to spend millions trying to fit a round peg in a square hole when we know regions where coffee grows well?
Lucia did also speak at some length about the use of inoculation to optimize yields, shelf life, and consistency, so inoculation from a business perspective. In a way that’s interesting because coffee for me is almost purely a luxury rather than a commodity. I am perfectly happy for farmers to care about coffee as a commodity, I think farmers deserve good quality of life, but I’m personally interested in fermentation for how it makes the most enjoyable cup possible.