How Was Your Coffee Processed?

After coffee is picked it is processed. How your coffee was processed affects the flavor and aroma of the final brew. Eater.com published a concise description of natural, washed and honey coffee processing.

A number of factors result in a bean’s suggested notes of caramel, stone fruit, pine nut, and sesame. Coffee flavor profiles have to do with genetic cultivars-Bourbon, Caturra, Castillo, and Gesha all carry distinct tastes. Elevation, also plays a role. Lower levels of oxygen in the air create a dense, more complex bean. But to tap into those flavors, coffee must first be transformed from its original state, as the seed of a fruit, into a roast-ready green bean. And how producers handle this transition has a lasting effect on the coffee.

The three processes are as follows:

Natural Process

During the natural drying process, the entire cherry is left intact. The soon-to-be coffee beans still nestled in the center absorb some of the characteristics of that sweet pulp and flavorful cherry skin, until the milling stage when the dried fruit and parchment layer surrounding the bean are hulled.

The pitfall of the natural process is that strong off-flavors known as ferment can happen if processing is not done with care and so-called stinkers are not removed. The flavor profile of natural processed coffees is commonly described as fruity, diverse and bold.

Wet Process

Washed process separates the bean from the cherry in a procedure called de-pulping. Coffee beans are placed into fermentation tanks, also known as wet mills, and the beans are de-pulped as they pass through a series of stations. First, directly after harvest, coffee cherries are dropped in a hopper at the top of a mill, and water carries the cherries to a holding tank. Any damaged, less dense floating cherries are skimmed off. The good cherries sink and are sent through a de-pulping device. From there the seeds are directed to a fermentation tank to rest for 36-72 hours.

A drawback to the wet process is excessive acidity if the processer does not watch the pH of the fermentation tank. Wet process coffee has more bean flavor and less flavor of the cherry. Common descriptors are well-balanced, complex and pronounced acidity.

Honey Process

Also known as pulped natural this process washes the coffee to loosen the mucilage but skips fermentation. The bean and clinging fruit are left to dry together.

The result is the sweetness consistent with the natural process but without the distinct fruit flavors. Commonly descriptors are jammy, sugary and creamy.

How Does Processing Affect Fermentation?

According to Dark Matter Coffee fermentation refers to the microbial action of yeasts and bacteria breaking down the sugars in the coffee berry or mucilage. How your coffee was processed determines the degree of fermentation.

Low Fermentation

The washed, or wet, process is a common practice all over the world. This process greatly controls fermentation.

Medium Fermentation

Pulped natural, semi-washed or honey processing are all moderately fermented to highlight sweetness and body.

High Fermentation

In the natural process producers pick ripened coffees and immediately spread them on patios or raised beds to be dried. This allows for fermentation to occur within each individual bean. Each cherry will have slight variances in sugar content, and therefore slight variances in fermentation will occur. To be successful, coffees must be picked at uniform ripeness to ensure that sugar content within each cherry is similar.

So long as your coffee was competently processed, all manners of processing are good. Just make sure that you ask for healthy organic coffee no matter how it was processed or roasted.




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