Coffee processing explained

Processing is how the coffee seed gets separated from the cherry around it and dried after picking. It changes flavor almost as much as roast does. Washed coffees taste clean and bright, naturals taste fruity and heavy, honey sits between, wet-hulled tastes earthy and full, and anaerobic tastes intense and winey.

The methods compared

Method	What happens	Flavor tendency	Body	How hard to get right
Washed	Fruit and sticky layer removed before drying	Clean, bright, shows the origin clearly	Light to medium	Low
Natural	Whole cherry dried with the seed inside	Fruit-forward: berry, tropical, sometimes winey	Medium to heavy	High
Honey	Skin removed, some or all of the sticky layer left on while drying	Sweet, rounder than washed, less wild than natural	Medium	Medium
Wet-hulled (giling basah)	Parchment removed while the bean is still wet, then dried	Earthy, herbal, spicy, low acidity	Heavy	Medium
Anaerobic	Fermented in sealed, low-oxygen tanks before drying	Intense, boozy, tropical, very distinct	Medium to heavy	High

First, what's in a coffee cherry

A coffee bean is the seed of a fruit. From the outside in: a thin skin, a layer of fruit pulp, a sticky sugary layer called mucilage, a papery shell called parchment, a thin silverskin, and then the seed, usually two of them facing each other. Every processing method is a different way of getting from ripe red cherry to a dry green seed ready to export. The choices along the way, especially how long the seed stays in contact with that sugary fruit, shape what ends up in your cup.

Washed

The cherries are run through a depulper that strips the skin and pulp. The seeds, still coated in mucilage, either sit in tanks of water to ferment for a day or two until the mucilage loosens, or go through a machine that scrubs it off (called mechanical demucilaging). Then they're rinsed and dried in their parchment.

Because the fruit comes off before drying, washed coffees taste like the seed itself: clean, bright, clear acidity, and a direct read on the altitude, soil and variety. Most of the high-grown coffee from Central and South America is washed. It takes a lot of water and equipment, but it's the most consistent method.

Natural

Also called dry process. The whole cherry is laid out on patios or raised beds and dried in the sun, fruit and all, for a few weeks, turned regularly so it dries evenly. Once it's dry and shriveled, the dried fruit is hulled off.

All that time in contact with the fruit pushes fruit sugars and flavors into the seed. Naturals taste like blueberry, strawberry, tropical fruit, sometimes wine. They're heavier and sweeter. They're also harder to get right: dry them unevenly or let them sit wet and you get mold, over-ferment and off flavors. A great natural is great. A bad one is very bad.

Honey

A middle path, common in Costa Rica and elsewhere in Central America. The skin and pulp are removed like washed coffee, but some or all of the mucilage is left on the seed while it dries. Producers often name it by how much is left and how dark it dries: yellow, red, black honey, from least to most. There's no honey involved; the name comes from how sticky the beans get.

Honey coffees are sweeter and rounder than washed, cleaner than most naturals.

Wet-hulled (giling basah)

This is the Indonesian method, and it's how our Bali coffee is processed. "Giling basah" is Indonesian for wet grinding. The cherries are depulped and partly dried, but instead of drying fully in parchment, the parchment is stripped off while the beans are still wet, well above the moisture of finished green coffee, and then the bare beans finish drying.

It's fast, and it suits a humid climate where drying coffee slowly is hard. It also gives a very particular cup: heavy body, low acidity, and earthy, herbal, spicy notes you won't find in a washed Central American coffee. That's a big part of why Indonesian coffees taste the way they do.

Anaerobic

One of the newer methods. Cherries or depulped seeds are sealed in tanks with the oxygen pushed out, and fermented under controlled conditions for anywhere from hours to days before drying. Without oxygen, different microbes do the work, and the flavors get pushed hard: tropical fruit, cinnamon, rum, sometimes things you'd swear were added. They weren't.

Anaerobic coffees are polarizing and vary a lot lot to lot. When one comes through Venus' Rare Ground, the monthly post will say so.

What our coffees use

Coffee	Process (from the product page)
Summer's Costa Rica Single Origin	Fully washed, mechanically demucilaged, dried to 11%, rested one month before milling
Colombia Single Origin	Washed and sun-dried
Lucca's Peru Decaf	Washed, then decaffeinated by water process
Nemo's Bali Single Origin	Wet-hulled (giling basah)
Cairo's Breakfast Blend	Blend; not stated (see below)
Stubby's Boston Cowboy Blend	Blend; not stated (see below). Post-roast blend of medium and dark roasts
Chopper's Zero-Dark Espresso	Blend; not stated (see below)
Venus' Rare Ground	Changes monthly

We don't state a green-coffee process for the blends, because their components change often.

Of the coffees where we list the process, none is a natural, honey or anaerobic right now. That's where the monthly coffee comes in. None of the coffees on these pages are flavored; the tasting notes come from the coffee itself.

FAQ

What is the most common coffee processing method?

Washed and natural are the two big ones. Washed is standard for most high-grown Central and South American coffee; natural is traditional in drier places such as Ethiopia and Brazil.

Which process tastes the cleanest?

Washed. Removing the fruit before drying leaves a clean, bright cup that shows the origin clearly.

Is honey process coffee made with honey?

No. The name comes from the sticky mucilage left on the beans while they dry.

What is giling basah?

It's Indonesian wet-hulling, where the parchment is removed while the bean is still wet. It gives heavy body, low acidity and earthy flavors, and it's how our Bali coffee is processed.

Are natural and anaerobic coffees lower quality?

No. They're riskier to produce, so bad ones are more common, but a well-made natural or anaerobic coffee can score as high as anything.

Next: read How to read a coffee label, or try this month's Venus' Rare Ground. Shipping is free on every website order.

Coffees this applies to

Washed: Summer's Costa Rica Single Origin, Colombia Single Origin, Lucca's Peru Decaf. Wet-hulled: Nemo's Bali Single Origin. Changes monthly: Venus' Rare Ground.