Can fermented coffee be evaluated as a specialty coffee?

I had an offer for Brazilian beans at TYPICA, so I was looking at the list, and while I thought that natural or honey-processed beans were on the rise in Brazil, there were a lot of fermented beans listed.

Fermented beans, such as anaerobic beans, can be appreciated as beans that reflect the farmer's ingenuity, enhancing the beans' inherent characteristics or adding other characteristics, but on the other hand, I wonder whether the act of deliberately adding flavors does not really ruin the taste of the coffee.

This list includes some innovative coffees that have added lemongrass or that have been fermented using wine yeast, but at this point I think it becomes necessary to categorize them as fermented coffees in a different way.

Our store is gradually increasing the number of beans we handle, such as Anaerobic. Basically, we make sure that the fermentation process does not use anything other than coffee-derived beans. As for yeast, there is no way to check it, so I can't say anything for sure.

Not long ago, barrel-aged and infusion coffees were popular. This is a method of steeping raw beans in barrels used for brewing alcohol or in the alcohol itself to impart aroma. There are still some places that sell them. These are processed coffees, so they must be evaluated on a different scale than so-called specialty coffees. Kopi Luwak, which uses civet cat, is one such category.

Our store specializes in specialty coffees, so we don't sell infusions or other types of coffee, but I'm often left wondering whether fermented coffee, which is evaluated along the lines of specialty coffee, is really a specialty.

Although I'm confused, the flavors that Anaerobic creates are really amazing, and I would like everyone to experience them, so I plan to gradually increase the number of products I handle. I'm probably planning to purchase something from this Brazilian list.

I hope to be able to talk to you about how we decide how to handle our beans at some point.