Can Honey Processing Improve Coffee Bean Quality? Flavor and Texture Changes in Honey Processed Coffee Beans

Understanding Honey Processing: A Unique Coffee Processing Method

There is a newer way to process coffee beans called honey processing.

We also call it de-pulped natural processing.

After the thick skin of the coffee cherry is removed, the mucilaginous pulp layer beneath it is left in place.

Rather than using fermentation to strip away that mucilage, the beans are dried with the layer still on them, and the mucilage and parchment are removed afterward.

The Challenges of Honey Processing

The difficulty lies in the drying.

Because the mucilaginous pulp layer is still on the beans, they have to be turned frequently during the first few days.

This keeps the beans from clumping together, which means more manual labor than a typical washed process. Labor costs rise.

Advantages of Honey Processing

The advantage of honey processing is that it boosts the coffee's body and sweetness.

It relatively reduces the acidity, while the aroma becomes more delicate.

The green bean quality can be comparable to washed processing — but only when honey processing is perfectly executed.

If it is not handled well, the flavor will be worse than either washed or natural processing, giving an unclean taste with a heavy earthy flavor.

Understanding the Honey Processing Method

Simply put, honey processing means removing the coffee cherry skin, leaving the sticky pulp, drying the beans, then removing the pulp and pectin layers.

During drying, though, the beans need frequent, continuous turning to stop the pulp from sticking together and molding, and over-fermentation must be avoided as well.

That is why it takes more labor and time than other processing methods.

Different Levels of Honey Processing

This time, let's look at honey processing in detail. By the proportion of pulp retained, it can be roughly divided into the following types:

30%~40% pulp [Yellow Honey]

50%~60% pulp [Red Honey]

70%~80% pulp [Black Honey]

Basically, the more pulp retained, the more enhanced the sweetness and the fuller the body.

Generally, honey processing refers to [Yellow Honey]. The more pulp retained, the more meticulous and careful the processing has to be.

The Flavor Profile of Honey Processed Coffee

Fellow coffee lovers often ask our editor what honey processing tastes like.

Based on our own experience and perception:

Honey processing produces coffee with a distinct coffee pulp flavor.

Most people probably don't know what coffee pulp tastes like.

Honestly, if I hadn't eaten real coffee pulp myself, I couldn't explain it either.

Coffee pulp is very sweet, and after drying it gives a feeling similar to fermented wine notes. That may help make it clearer.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste how far honey processing can push sweetness, three FrontStreet lots cover the range. FrontStreet Costa Rica Blackberry uses a black honey process that removes almost none of the mucilage and dries for at least two weeks under cover, turned by hand to keep fermentation even; roasted medium-light, it opens with intense fresh-flower aroma and drinks with grape, berry and ripe blackberry flavors. FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend pairs Panama Geisha with a Costa Rican raisin-honey coffee that keeps 100% of the mucilage, giving Geisha's orange-honey florals plus grape, dried blueberry, soft fruit acidity and an almond finish. FrontStreet Mozart, also from Costa Rica, is a raisin-honey lot with the sweetness of Kyoho grapes, pineapple and osmanthus. All three carry honey processing's signature round body and lifted sweetness.