What is coffee innovation and why you should care

At Small Batch, we pride ourselves on sourcing great-tasting coffees from around the world, not just for flavour, but also for innovative approaches to processing and the development of agriculture and beans.

When sourcing coffee, we work with importers who specialise in finding farms with innovative growing and processing techniques, using what they have or developing equipment that allows them to expand the possibilities of future production technology. 

We look at these processes to help create the unique, award winning speciality coffees we’re known and loved for, and when it comes to developing a showcase coffee that stands out from the usual flavour profiles, we go even further to find farmers that are challenging the status quo and using creative, innovative techniques on small crops to develop limited edition coffees that will help shape the industry for years to come – and give all of us coffee lovers something to get excited over! 

For our showcase range, we focus on 3 key traits and indicators that guarantee exciting flavours and coffee development:

1. HIGHLIGHTS GLOBAL COFFEE INNOVATION

When discussing innovation, many people think of flavour, but there is also the growing demand for innovative growing, processing and harvesting with means to reduce carbon and improve agricultural practises.

Innovating coffee farm productivity is top priority for enhancing climate resilience and can reduce GHG emissions by up to 32% . Coffee agricultural R&D (research and development) innovation emphasises the need for resilience and growth within the entire global coffee sector, staving off supply instability, consolidation, and loss. 60% of global coffee supply comes from smallholder farmers across 5 countries, and farmers who have access to high-quality trees that thrive on their land are more likely to be profitable and stick with coffee farming and production long-term, therefore reducing the risk of low supplies and diversifying coffee sourcing in line with the changing climate. (via World of Coffee Research.)

2. UNIQUE PROCESSES

Unique coffee processing aims to enhance flavour complexity and differentiate profiles outside the traditional methods. Anaerobic fermentation and carbonic maceration, borrowed from winemaking, create unique profiles through controlled fermentation in oxygen-free or CO2-rich environments, whilst honey processing preserves the coffee cherry mucilage on the bean during drying, developing sweetness and body.

In the future, we will see more coffees using these processes, highlighting the evolving landscape of coffee production and the pursuit of unique and complex flavour experiences, whilst working with new and evolving weather patterns.

3. CHALLENGES OUR TASTE BUDS

Palate development is key to full understanding a coffee’s profile, helping you detect all the nuances of a coffee (even when enjoyed with milk!) When we sip, we use our senses to unravel layers of flavour and on the tongue, each layer hits a different part of the mouth to create a unique profile for each roaster.

With a showcase coffee, the flavour profile needs to take you on a journey with each cup and challenge what we drink on a regular basis, so profiles that lean heavily into funky, complex or invigorating notes or have depth and varied body are winners when cupping microlots and small harvests. 

Our new Ethiopia Aricha showcase ticks all the boxes in this case, with top notes of floral hibiscus and rose brightened with lemon zest and strawberry, all balanced together with a smooth chocolate body. A small crop from the Yirgacheffe region, this anaerobic coffee is innovative, exciting, and a true standout from the region that helped make coffee what it is today.

Click here to shop Ethiopia and learn more about our Showcase Range.