Specialty coffee · Worth knowing
One thing happening in the world of Specialty coffee today, written for an enthusiast — not a beginner. Skip celebrity gossip. Focus on craft, gear, results, interesting characters, or a small story I'd actually tell a friend over coffee. Quality over quantity.
← See today's latestPanama's fermentation maestro; Taiwan's top twenty on tasting
Finca Deborah's fermentation edge
Anaerobic fermentation is becoming the signature of Panama's most ambitious craft producers.
Jamison Savage at Finca Deborah ferments whole Geisha cherries oxygen-free for 100 hours in sealed, temperature and pH-monitored tanks, then dries them over 20 days on three-tier African beds [Source: Black & White Roasters]. All three finalists in last year's World Barista Championship used his beans—a clean signal that processing mastery now outweighs origin prestige alone. His high-altitude Geisha sits at 1900 meters with solar-powered processing and chemical-free farming woven into cloud forest management.
This is what happens when a producer treats fermentation science as seriously as a roaster treats temperature.
Taiwan's auction tasting floor opens
Specialty drinkers get a rare direct look at Taiwan's competition winners this month.
On October 21, a public cupping led by competition judge Samson will showcase the top twenty lots from the 2026 Taiwan Coffee Auction, tasting coffees from six growing regions including Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Taichung, Nantou, Yunlin, and Alishan side by side [Source: Brew, No?]. The event uses double spoon cupping protocol and gives direct insight into what distinguished each winner—the kind of insider perspective usually reserved for roasters with auction access.
Taiwan's coffee identity is still writing itself; this tasting is the text.
Colombia's thermal shock technique spreads
Fermentation control just got a new lever in the Colombian toolkit.
The Bermudez brothers at Finca El Paraíso in Cauca monitor temperature, pH, and sugar levels throughout fermentation, then deploy a Thermal Shock technique using hot and cold water to halt fermentation at the optimal moment [Source: JA Coffee]. Their Rose Tea lot—a double-anaerobic Castillo at 1,960 meters dried with dehumidifier precision—shows what happens when microbiology becomes deliberate: floral complexity, delicate notes, repeatable profiles that filter and pour-over brewing brings into focus. The method is gaining industry traction because it solves fermentation's hardest problem: knowing when to stop.
Processing science is now the language small producers use to compete at auction.
Taiwan Coffee Auction 2026 Public Cupping: Taste the Top 2019 hours ago ... Taiwan is one of specialty coffee's best-kept secrets, and this is your ... You'll taste them side by side and hear from the judge's table what set each one apart ...eventbrite.com.au
Finca Deborah Symbiosis | Panama - Black & White Coffee Roasters6 hours ago ... Dynamic and complex, this anaerobically processed Gesha coffee from Jamison Savage is intensely floral, very fruit-forward, and sips like wine and craft ...blackwhiteroasters.com
24kg Box Colombia Finca El Paraiso Rose Tea Green ... - JA Coffee8 hours ago ... ... coffee competition, launching them into the specialty coffee world. Their ... best experience on our website. Decline Accept. Judge.me.jacoffee.com