title. Coffee Fermenting Egg
date. 17 January 2022
city. Ho Chi Minh & Dak Mil
Growing up in a country that accounts for the world’s second biggest coffee exports, has made me an avid coffee drinker. Unfortunately, the flavours of robusta beans - the main variety produced locally, are often deemed inferior to that of arabica beans the majority of which are cultivated overseas. It is not surprising that the former fetches a lower price. When I learnt that through fermentation processes, new flavours can develop, I wondered whether the taste of robusta beans can be enhanced with carbonic maceration, a method commonly employed in wine-making industries. If we can make robusta beans more flavourful this way, it could potentially increase their values and income for local farmers, thereby improving their livelihood.
Hence my idea is making a controlled carbonic fermentation chamber for coffee beans, which might as well be used for other food. Essentially it allows coffee beans to ferment in the absence of oxygen, while allowing CO2 released in the process to get out. I also wanted to capture the change in fermentation through light and colours.
For more details, take a look at my project documentation site.
