What is Honey Processing? What's the Difference Between Yellow, Red, and Black Honey?

What is the "Honey" in Honey Process?

Honey Process, translated from the English "Honey Process" and also known as "Miel Process," gets its "honey" name from "Miel," which means honey in Spanish. The term Honey Process first emerged from Costa Rica, where locals referred to the sticky, gelatinous layer inside the coffee fruit as "Miel."

This processing method, which sounds sweet just from its name, originated from Brazil's Pulped Natural process. It was initially invented to save water during production. Regarding how Honey Process became popular in Costa Rica, FrontStreet Coffee identified two key time periods.

In the second half of the 20th century, Costa Rica primarily produced washed coffee. With pioneering coffee fruit pulping equipment and wet processing facilities, they were pioneers in modern washed processing technology. Between approximately 1997-2000, international coffee prices continued to decline. To earn more income to sustain their livelihoods, many growers stopped selling coffee fruits directly to large processing stations and instead sold their products through self-production and direct sales. Because of this, farmers gained control over processing stations and naturally could experiment more. The pulped drying process was introduced into production under these circumstances.

Honey Process first appeared in the public eye in 2006, when a coffee farmer named Juan Ramón Alvarado won first and second place in the Costa Rica GOLDEN HARVEST green bean competition organized by SCAA with two honey-processed coffees. The following year, honey process coffees appeared in the first Costa Rica Cup of Excellence, with three of the top five coffees being honey processed.

In 2008, Costa Rica experienced a major earthquake that caused severe power outages and water shortages in many areas. To address these immediate problems, local farmers began adopting this "water-saving" process. Although many people initially resisted it, believing that this processing method of drying pulp and pectin together could easily lead to uncontrollable fermentation, many farms not only achieved positive results after trials but also significantly reduced water consumption. Later, various honey processing methods were developed by controlling the degree of pectin fermentation to extend different flavor expressions.

Why Are There So Many Classifications of Honey Process?

The drying time for honey process ranges between 2 to 4 weeks, intermediate between natural and washed processes. Similarly, the flavors often tend to fall between natural and washed, mostly leaning toward the aromatic profile of natural processing, often carrying sweet notes of ripe fruits and dried fruits, but accompanied by solid, bright acidity—characteristics that traditional natural processing rarely possesses.

Compared to washed processing, honey process can reduce freshwater usage by about 40% and avoids defect flavors that come from prolonged exposure to direct sunlight. Coffees processed using honey method generally present full, delicate fruit sweetness and sophisticated, complex floral aromatics in cupping, with an overall clean and fresh mouthfeel. Thus, being water-saving, environmentally friendly, and flavor-rich made honey processing popular throughout Central and South America, and honey-processed coffee flavors became beloved in the specialty market. The New Oriental Geisha coffee from Guatemala on FrontStreet Coffee's menu is produced using honey processing, presenting flavors of sweet orange, white orchid, bergamot, and toffee when brewed, leaving a deep impression with its rounded sweetness.

FrontStreet Coffee: Guatemala New Oriental Geisha Coffee Beans

Region: Guatemala New Oriental Region

Altitude: 1500-2050 meters

Processing Method: Honey Process

Variety: Geisha

Flavor: Sweet orange, toffee, bergamot

Coffee pectin is mainly located beneath the skin and pulp, above the parchment, and consists of water, protein, reducing sugars, and pectin. In fact, pectin is also part of the pulp. When coffee fruits mature, they produce pectinase internally. The enzyme breaks down pectin bonds, softening the originally hard pulp fibers into a hydrogel mucilage rich in sugar and pectin. When machines are used to remove the skin and most of the hard pulp, the remaining mucilage layer wrapping the parchment is what we call "pectin."

In the world of coffee processing, pectin is a very sweet substance with characteristics of high moisture content and high sugar content, and it's not easily separated from coffee seeds. Therefore, the key to creating refined fruit flavors through honey processing lies in the amount of pectin retained and the degree of sugar fermentation utilized. Farmers can use specialized quantitative mucilage removal equipment or adjust daily manual turning frequency to obtain different honey-colored green coffee beans.

Black Honey

Black Honey retains the highest amount of pectin. Since almost no pectin is removed, it takes the longest to dry, generally requiring more than 14 days. During the process, to avoid drying too quickly, coverings are used to block excessive sunlight, allowing more thorough sugar conversion. In some regions, black honey-processed coffee beans also use shade-drying methods, which ensures timely sugar conversion into the coffee beans, though correspondingly, the drying time will be extended. FrontStreet Coffee observed that black honey-processed green coffee beans have obvious color unevenness due to the retained pectin, with a rich fermented aroma.

Red Honey

Red Honey retains about 50-80% of pectin, making it intermediate between washed and natural processes, and it's also the most common honey color type on the market. Darker-colored beans require fewer manual turnings, so black honey is typically turned only once a day, red honey needs several turnings a day, while yellow honey requires hourly turning. Coffee fruits take about 12 days to completely dry. FrontStreet Coffee observed from red honey-processed green beans that the color is lighter than black honey, with a light fermented fruit aroma.

Yellow Honey

Yellow Honey generally retains 15-50% of pectin, requiring the most direct sunlight for heat absorption, taking about 8 days to reach stable moisture content. Yellow honey-processed beans retain very little pectin, appearing relatively uniform yellow-green to the naked eye, with a grassy aroma carrying brown rice fragrance.

White Honey

White Honey retains only about 10-15% of pectin. It's usually dried in open air and requires frequent turning to maintain upper limits of enzyme and bacterial activity. When spread thinly on drying beds, the drying time is shorter. Compared to other honey processing levels, white honey green beans have the lightest color, with an elegant herbaceous plant aroma.

Theoretically, dark-colored black honey and red honey coffees are closer to natural processing than light-colored yellow honey and white honey, with more noticeable fermentation. However, even today, there is still no precise standard in the industry to define different colors of honey process, mostly depending on the producer. This leads to naming confusion, where one producer's "red honey" might be called "yellow honey" by another.

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