La fermentación láctica mejora la calidad de taza del café (Coffea arabica L.)

Improving the cup quality of coffee in Peru can increase its competitiveness and sustainable recognition at the international level. The objective of this study was to improve this quality in the Catucaí variety by means of a controlled fermentation process, using lactic bacteria extracted from the coffee itself as inoculums. A selective harvest was performed followed by washing, flotation and disinfection, and then the fruits were fermented in tanks at room temperature (21 - 25 °C), monitoring acidity, pH and bacterial content. Subsequent rinsing used less than one liter of water per kilogram of coffee and drying was carried out under shade for ten days until 10.5% humidity was reached. Four replicates and a control were used. During the seven days of fermentation, the acidity increased from 1.49% to 5.63% and the pH decreased from 5.1 to 3.48. The fermented samples achieved an average score of 86.33 according to the card SCAA, highlighting fruity and sweet sensory notes. The main finding was that controlled lactic fermentation improved cup sensory quality with significant water efficiency, using 19 times less water than the traditional process.