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Fermentation Atlas

Cocoa, coffee and spice

Cocoa, coffee, vanilla and spices whose flavour comes from a fermentation step.

6 entries listed here.

Compare them

FermentRegionMain stepTemperatureSaltpH
Cocoa bean fermentationWest Africa7–14 daysup to 65 °C6.5 → 4.7
Coffee fermentation and processingcoffee belt worldwide8.9 days24–42 °C
Coffee wet-process (washed) fermentationCoffee-growing regions worldwide, mainly for arabicaup to 5 days4–4.5
Self-induced anaerobic fermentation (SIAF) of coffeeBrazil
Vanilla curingMadagascar, Réunion, Comoros, Mexico, Tahiti, Indonesia, Uganda, India
White pepper rettingIndonesia7–14 days

Bold names have a full page with the animated steps. Blank cells: no sourced value yet.

Short entries

What the sources record about each of these so far.

Self-induced anaerobic fermentation (SIAF) of coffeeBrazil

specialty coffee (all lots ≥84 points); longer fermentation improved aroma, flavour, acidity and body

  1. Seal in a tank with an airlock24 h standard; 48 or 72 h extended
  2. Dry
  • Vale A.d.S., Balla G., Rodrigues L.R.S., de Carvalho Neto D.P., Soccol C.R., de Melo Pereira G.V. 2022. Understanding the Effects of Self-Induced Anaerobic Fermentation on Coffee Beans Quality. Foods 12(1):37. doi:10.3390/foods12010037. PMC9818356
Vanilla curingMadagascar, Réunion, Comoros, Mexico, Tahiti, Indonesia, Uganda, India

Also called sweating, Bourbon curing, Mexican curing.

cured vanilla beans

  1. Killinghot water: 63–65 °C for 3 min or 80 °C for 10 s; oven: 60 °C for 36–48 h; sun or freezing also used
  2. Sweating7–10 days
  3. Slow dryingabout 3–4 weeks
  4. Conditioning5–6 months

Safety: Mould if drying is uneven.

White pepper rettingIndonesia

white pepper

  1. Soak in running or still water7–14 days
  2. Rub off pericarp, wash, dry

Safety: Dirty water causes microbial contamination; off-odours.

  • From memory; verify in round 2

Numbers come from cited sources and carry a label that says how each is known. How this atlas is made