Cupping
The Fermentation Project — Sofia Tasting
Saturday, 3 October 2026 · 19:00 · Flying Frog x Sofia · Sofia, Bulgaria
The same four ferments, the same evening, a second table — the Frog hops to Sofia, Bulgaria for The Fermentation Project.
Quick overview
One farm. One harvest. One lot of coffee, split into four and fermented four different ways. Everything else — the picking, the drying, the roast — stays the same. Whatever changes in the cup is fermentation, and nothing else.
It is the cleanest experiment our industry has run in years, built by James Hoffmann and fermentation scientist Lucia Solis with Caravela Coffee, and tasted on the same day by roasteries and drinkers all over the world.
The lot: Finca San Miguel Urias, Antigua Valley, Guatemala. The Frog is tasting it in Sofia, Bulgaria — same coffee, same day, same four cups as everyone else on the planet.
Cup Nº 01
Control
The washed baseline. No intervention — the reference point every other cup is measured against.
Cup Nº 02
Wild
Whatever microbes were already on the fruit and in the air at the mill. Unpredictable by design.
Cup Nº 03
Lactobacillus
A lactic ferment — the family behind yoghurt and sourdough. Usually rounder, softer, dairy-sweet.
Cup Nº 04
Saccharomyces
A cultured yeast, the wine and beer workhorse. Often louder and more aromatic in the cup.
The tasting video will play right here, on this page, the moment it goes live.
The Fermentation ProjectFour cups of the same Guatemalan coffee from Finca San Miguel Urias: control, wild, Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces. One variable, four very different cups.
We taste along with the global livestream from James Hoffmann and Lucia Solis, then compare notes with the Amsterdam table afterwards.
Seats are limited — write to info@flyingfrogcoffee.com to hold one.
Afterwards — the Frog's verdict
Once the bowls are empty we will write down what we actually tasted — favourites, surprises, and the one cup that made somebody pull a face. Honest notes, no diplomacy. It appears here.
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