The Taste Before The Taste: Coffee Processing Basics
A detail often found on a solid bag of coffee is the process. Why is this useful into your journey down the deep coffee hole ? Flavor! Before the fancy sauces and syrups (if that’s your cup of tea) are added, that coffee that you're going to drink does have a flavor.
Image 1: Layers of a Coffee Cherry
Washed
Process:The coffee fruit has its outer skin removed and possibly its mucilage , then typically fermented for X amount of hours in a tank. It than gets washed with water and then dried.
What to expect: Consistent, clean taste. Cocoa and chocolate with possible fruity sugars.
If you're looking for a safe bet, a standard cup of coffee. Go with the washed.
Image 2: Washed Colombia Green (Not Roasted) Beans
Image 3: Washed Colombia Roasted Beans
Natural
Process: Fermentation happens first in a natural, with the ripe coffee fruit being left alone, to dry intact, until a certain moisture level is met. A lot of flavor comes from this. Then the coffee bean is separated from the rest of fruit.
What to expect: Quite the opposite of a washed process. Berry, floral, with nutty and cocoa flavors. Possibly fermenty or earthy with strong aromatics.
Want something different? Naturals are a great coffee to try if your bored of your everyday coffee. My personal go-to if I go out and purchase coffee. A tell tale sign of a naturally processed roasted coffee are the lighter colored beans (aka quakers). Naturals will have more than other processes.
Image 4: Natural Uganda Green (Not Roasted) Beans
Image 5: Natural Uganda Roasted Beans
Honey
Process: The skin is removed and a percentage of its mucilage is left on to ferment during drying.
What to expect: I like to think of honey’s as somewhere in between washed and a natural.The fruitiness tends to be more than a washed but not as prevalent as a natural. Brown Sugars, nuts, honey, fruit flavors and a nice mild acidity.
The common misconception is that there is bee honey used in the processing. There is no actual honey involved. The name comes from the coloring the beans get after they are dried. The colors can be different dependent on the amount of mucilage left on during drying from a yellow, to a red , to a black.
Image 6: Honey Processed Nicaragua Green (Not Roasted) Beans
Image 7: Honey Processed Nicaragua Roasted Beans
Is there more to be said about coffee processing, sure is. But for now let's keep it simple. The next time you're out or online trying to pick up a bag of coffee for home, try to pay attention to the coffee's processing. It's a wealth of information about your daily cup of coffee.
