From cherry to bean
Coffee Processing Methods
Washed, natural, honey and newer fermentation methods: how coffee cherries become green beans, and how each method changes the taste.
After harvest, the seed inside each coffee cherry has to be separated from the fruit and dried before it can be shipped and roasted. How that is done, whether the fruit is washed off first, dried on the seed, or partly removed, has a large effect on flavor.
These entries explain the main methods, where each is common, and how they compare with the washed process used for Jamaica Blue Mountain.
Entries (7)
- Anaerobic and Carbonic Maceration CoffeeAnaerobic fermentation ferments coffee in sealed, low-oxygen tanks, producing bold, fermentation-driven flavors that divide specialty coffee opinion.
- Cascara: The Coffee Cherry as a DrinkCascara is a tea brewed from the dried skin and pulp of the coffee cherry, with roots in Yemen and Bolivia and a 2022 EU novel food safety opinion.
- Green Coffee Beans: Buying and Storing Unroasted CoffeeGreen coffee is unroasted coffee, graded by screen size and defect count, sold internationally at around 12% moisture and best used before it goes past crop.
- Honey Process CoffeeHoney process coffee keeps some fruit mucilage on the bean during drying, giving it more sweetness and body than washed coffee with less risk than natural.
- How Decaf Coffee Is Made: Swiss Water, CO2 and SugarcaneDecaf coffee is made by removing caffeine from green beans using water, CO2, ethyl acetate or methylene chloride, to a US standard of at least 97% removal.
- Natural (Dry) Process CoffeeNatural process coffee dries inside the whole cherry, producing a fruit-forward, heavy-bodied cup with a higher risk of defects than washed coffee.
- Washed Coffee: The Wet ProcessWashed coffee has its fruit removed and washed off before drying, a method prized for producing a clean, bright, variety-forward cup.