A naturally processed Ethiopian coffee, for example, can genuinely remind you of blueberry, strawberry or other ripe fruit even though nothing has been added after roasting. Those tasting notes describe flavours and aromas people recognise in the cup, much like describing wine as citrusy or chocolate as having berry notes.
Processing can push those characteristics even further.
That is why some Single Origin coffees taste clean and floral, while others can be intensely fruity, wine-like or almost confectionery in their sweetness.
The flavour is already there. Our job is to roast the coffee in a way that gives it room to come through.
Natural and Experimental Processing
How a coffee cherry is handled after picking has a major influence on the finished cup.
Natural Process
In natural processing, the coffee cherry is dried with the fruit still surrounding the seed.
As the cherry dries, extended contact between the fruit and seed can produce a fuller, sweeter cup with pronounced fruit character. Berries, tropical fruit, wine like notes and deeper sweetness are all commonly associated with well produced natural coffees.
Our Finca Zarza Natural from Jhonatan Gasca in Huila, Colombia is a good example, using anaerobic natural processing to build a profile around ripe fruit, sweetness and body.
Honey Process
With honey processing, the skin of the coffee cherry is removed while some of the sticky fruit layer, known as mucilage, remains on the seed as it dries.
That gives producers another way to influence sweetness and texture. Honey processed coffees can sit somewhere between the clarity of a washed coffee and the richer fruit character of a natural, often producing a syrupy, rounded cup.
Anaerobic Fermentation
Anaerobic fermentation places coffee into sealed tanks or containers where oxygen is limited during fermentation.
Producers can control variables such as time and temperature to shape how fermentation develops. The result can be particularly expressive, with pronounced fruit, florals, sweetness or fermentation driven character depending on the coffee and the method used.
Extended Fermentation
Giving fermentation more time can create further complexity, but longer does not automatically mean better.
The producer needs to carefully manage the process so the fermentation complements the coffee rather than overwhelming it. Done well, extended fermentation can create exceptionally distinctive cups with layers of fruit, sweetness and aroma.
You will often find some of Axil's most adventurous processing in our Signature Series, where rare varieties and carefully controlled fermentation techniques have featured alongside competition grade lots.
Flavoured Coffee vs Naturally Flavourful Coffee
There is more than one way to put pronounced flavour into a cup of coffee.
Conventional flavoured coffee typically starts with roasted beans and applies flavouring afterwards. Vanilla, caramel, hazelnut and similar flavours are added to create a specific and immediately recognisable profile.
There is nothing complicated about the distinction. It is simply not the style of coffee Axil makes.
Our focus is on flavours developed through the coffee variety, where it was grown and the decisions made by producers during fermentation and processing.
That means a bag described as cherry, peach or blueberry is not trying to recreate those flavours with syrup after roasting. They are tasting notes that describe what we experience in the coffee itself.
Experimental processing can make those characteristics particularly bold, but the goal remains to show what the producer has achieved with the coffee.
If added flavoured coffee is what you enjoy, that is a different style of cup. If you are curious about how intensely fruity or sweet specialty coffee can become through origin and processing, this is ours.
For an easy everyday format, you can also explore our coffee pods.
Why Axil Coffee?
We have been roasting coffee in Hawthorn, Melbourne since 2010. Across the Axil team are two World Barista Championship titles and seven Australian Barista Championship titles. Those titles have sharpened the way we taste coffee, understand consistency and work with producers, but the same thinking is applied to the coffee we serve every day.
Our sourcing starts with specialty grade green coffee bought close to harvest. We work directly with producers, with some relationships spanning more than a decade,, giving us a closer understanding of the farms, people and coffees behind each lot. Once the green coffee reaches Hawthorn, we roast to order.
We also serve what we roast across Axil's own venues every day, keeping our roasting and café teams connected to how those coffees actually perform once people start drinking them.
For expressive coffees, that connection matters. The aim is not to make every coffee taste louder. It is to understand what makes each lot distinctive and roast accordingly.
Taste the Difference
Start with a natural or experimentally processed coffee and see just how much flavour can come from the bean itself.
You might find berries, stone fruit, florals or something you were not expecting at all. That discovery is part of the fun.
If you would rather keep exploring than settle on one coffee, our coffee subscriptions can keep new releases arriving regularly, including rotating Single Origin options for drinkers who enjoy seeing what comes next.
