Carbonic Maceration

Whole, un-depulped cherries are placed in a sealed tank that is flushed or flushed-and-filled with CO₂. Fermentation then happens inside the whole fruit under carbon-dioxide-rich conditions, typically for days at controlled temperature, before processing continues as washed, natural or honey.

The CO₂ atmosphere suppresses oxygen-dependent microbes and slows the ferment. Intracellular fermentation begins inside each intact cherry — the fruit's own enzymes break down its sugars — while yeasts work in the low-oxygen environment. The producer controls duration, temperature, and whether cherries are whole, or later depulped for a second stage.

Very juicy, bright, wine-like, carbonic-flavored cups — often described as candy-like or 'Pop Rocks' fruity, with intense clarity of fruit and a sparkling, almost effervescent acidity.

It's a high-control way to create the vivid fruit-forward profiles that experimental buyers pay premiums for — and its wine-world pedigree makes for a compelling story on the bag.

Juicy red fruit, wine, candy sweetness, bright carbonic character — noticeably different from both classic washed and classic natural profiles.

Temperature mismanagement produces vinegar or solvent-like off flavors; tanks that lose their seal behave unpredictably. As with any sealed fermentation, one bad batch is unrecoverable.

Nothing but carbon dioxide — a gas, not a flavor. Some producers add cultures, but plain carbonic maceration does not.

CO₂ creates the environment; it doesn't flavor the coffee. Nothing is added to the seed or the finished roast.

Pioneered for coffee by Colombian producers (famously Luna and Mariano Vargas' Cafe Inmaculada family's 'Symbiosis' lots) and now used by producers across Latin America.

Colombia especially; also Ecuador, Peru, Costa Rica and beyond.

Cafe Inmaculada's 'Symbiosis' carbonic-maceration lots helped popularize the method; many experimental Colombian lots now carry the label.