In recent years, the importance of controlling coffee fermentation in the final quality of the beverage has been recognized. The literature review was conducted in the Science Direct and Springer databases, considering studies published in the last ten years, 74 references were selected. Several studies have been developed to evaluate and propose fermentation conditions that result in sensory improvements in coffee. So, this review aims to describe detailed the different protocols for conducting the coffee fermentation step and how they could influence the sensory quality of coffee based on the Specialty Coffee Association protocol. We propose a new way to identify coffee post-harvest processing not based on the already known wet, dry and semi-dry processing. The new identification is focused on considering fermentation as a step influenced by the coffee fruit treatment, availability of oxygen, water addition, and starter culture utilization. The findings of this survey showed that each type of coffee fermentation protocol can influence the microbiota development and consequently the coffee beverage. There is a migration from the use of processes in open environments to closed environments with controlled anaerobic conditions. However, it is not possible yet to define a single process capable of increasing coffee quality or developing a specific sensory pattern in any environmental condition. The use of starter cultures plays an important role in the sensory differentiation of coffee and can be influenced by the fermentation protocol applied. The application of fermentation protocols well defined is essential in order to have a good product also in terms of food safety. More research is needed to develop and implement environmental control conditions, such as temperature and aeration, to guarantee the reproducibility of the results.