Two 48-Hour Anaerobic Ferments Compared: Laos Xam Tai and Brazil Fazenda Reis
We sell two coffees fermented the same way, for the same length of time, and they taste almost nothing alike. Both are 48-hour anaerobic naturals. One lands on strawberry jam and nougat. The other lands on raspberry, dark chocolate and a dry finish, and it is not sweet at all.
That gap is the most useful thing we can show you about fermented coffee, because it answers a question the label never does: how much of the flavor comes from the process, and how much comes from the place?
Side by side
| Laos Xam Tai | Brazil Fazenda Reis | |
|---|---|---|
| Process | 48-hour anaerobic natural | 48-hour anaerobic natural |
| Origin | Xam Tai District, Houaphanh, Laos | Tres Pontas, Sul de Minas, Brazil |
| Elevation | Around 1,200 meters | 900 to 970 meters |
| Cup | Strawberry jam, wafer, rhubarb, nougat | Raspberry, dark chocolate, dry white wine finish |
| Sweetness | Sweet for a coffee | Deliberately not sweet, not jammy |
| Body | Round | Bold but silky |
| Roast | Medium only | Medium only |
| Supply | Single shipment, no second lot | Very small lot |
What the two coffees share
Both went into sealed tanks with the oxygen pushed out and stayed there for 48 hours before being dried whole with the fruit still attached.
Removing oxygen changes which microbes do the work. Lactic acid bacteria and certain yeasts take over, and they build aromatic compounds that open-air fermentation does not produce. Drying the cherry on afterward pushes the remaining sugars and aromatics into the bean rather than letting them evaporate.
Both are roasted medium and stay there, because the fruit in each came from fermentation and heat destroys it.
Where they diverge, and why
Xam Tai grows at roughly 1,200 meters under forest canopy in northern Laos. Higher elevation slows the cherry down, which concentrates sugar and acid. The result is the sweeter of the two, with jam and nougat and a tart rhubarb snap that cuts across the top.
Fazenda Reis sits at 900 to 970 meters in the Mantiqueira de Minas region, on land the Reis family has farmed since 1933. Flavio Reis, the third generation working it, is the family's processing specialist and has won the Taste of Harvest competition three years running. His lot reads darker and drier: raspberry up front, chocolate underneath, and a finish closer to wine than to fruit.
Same process, four hundred meters of elevation apart, different varietals, and a completely different microbial population living on the fruit. That is where the difference comes from.
Which one should you buy?
Pick the Laos if you want the fruit loud and the cup sweeter, or if you have never had an anaerobic natural and want to understand what the fuss is about. It is the more immediately striking of the two.
Pick the Brazil if you like dry finishes, if jammy coffee usually puts you off, or if you want something that works as an everyday cup rather than a novelty. The chocolate underneath gives it more range.
If you are torn, note that the Laos is a single shipment with nothing behind it, and the Brazil is a recurring relationship with a named farm.
The wider point
Processing method is the most prominent thing on a specialty bag right now, and it is genuinely useful information. It is also incomplete. Anaerobic tells you the coffee was fermented in a sealed tank and will probably taste fruit-forward. It does not tell you whether that fruit is strawberry or raspberry, sweet or dry, jammy or structured.
For that you need the origin, the elevation and the farm. Anyone selling you a fermented coffee should be able to give you all three.
Shop Laos Xam Tai · Shop Brazil Fazenda Reis
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is general information, not medical advice.
