What are the Process Steps of Honey Processing for Coffee Beans? How Do the Flavor and Taste Differ from Washed and Natural Processing Methods?

Coffee Bean Processing Methods: The Three Major Categories

Coffee bean processing methods can be divided into three major categories: natural processing (dry method), washed processing (wet method), and honey processing (semi-dry method). Below, FrontStreet Coffee will explain each method in detail.

Method One: Natural Processing / Dry Method

This is the ancient method commonly known as "natural processing." Simply put, the harvested coffee cherries are not stripped of any layers at all and are directly exposed to sunlight until the bean's moisture content drops to 10.5-12%. If there is sufficient sunlight, this method saves the most energy. However, if sunlight is insufficient or due to other reasons, drying machines may be used for the entire or partial process.

Since the drying process doesn't necessarily require sun exposure, it is professionally called "dry processing method" rather than "sun-drying method." Of course, sun exposure remains the mainstream of dry processing. Major coffee-producing countries like Ethiopia, Yemen, and Brazil all use natural processing for over 80% of their production, and many other producing countries also adopt this method, especially in water-scarce regions.

Additional Points About Dry Processing:

If sun-drying is used, it typically takes 2-4 weeks or even longer, depending on weather conditions and desired flavor profiles. During drying, careful attention must be paid to avoid excessively high temperatures while preventing mold growth or off-flavors from over-fermentation.

If drying machines are used, various variables are easier to control, and drying speed is faster than sun-drying, but this increases machine and energy costs, and the flavor is usually inferior to beans dried entirely by natural methods. The dried processed cherries are typically stored with all their protective layers intact until ready for shipment, when all outer layers of the coffee beans are mechanically removed. This process is called dry milling.

The duration and temperature of drying affect coffee flavor to varying degrees. For example, in strong sunlight and drier environments, without special control, the mucilage may dry before fermentation completes, lacking the fruit notes and sweetness brought by moisture and slight fermentation into the coffee beans. Such beans lack distinctive characteristics, much like most commercial Brazilian beans, which is one reason why natural-processed beans once had a poor reputation. However, if the drying time is extended with appropriate temperature control, allowing the coffee cherries to undergo slight fermentation, the beans will develop diverse fruit aromas.

After cupping multiple natural-processed coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee found that properly sun-dried coffee beans from complete coffee cherries typically exhibit complex fruit aromas accompanied by gentle fermentation notes, with overall smooth mouthfeel and noticeable sweetness.

Method Two: Washed Processing / Wet Method

This is the commonly known "washed method," developed by the Dutch in the 18th century. The Dutch developed this method because their colonies (like Java) were humid and rainy, lacking consistent sunlight, making natural processing difficult (in that era, drying machines probably didn't exist yet). The traditional approach is: first remove the outer skin and pulp of coffee cherries, then place the parchment beans with adhered mucilage in water tanks for fermentation, allowing sugars in the mucilage to break down and viscosity to disappear. Next, rinse off all residues outside the parchment with clean water, and finally dry them. Without the skin, pulp, and mucilage, drying time is significantly reduced.

Additional Notes About Wet Processing:

Fermentation completion time varies from 12 hours to 6 days, depending on temperature, yeast quantity, and method used. For example, the Kenyan washing method requires multiple fermentation and rinsing cycles, taking several days.

Determining when to stop fermentation is a crucial key in the washed method. If fermentation is incomplete, mucilage is difficult to wash clean, while over-fermentation causes coffee to acquire sour, off-flavors.

Traditional washed methods require large amounts of clean water when rinsing residues outside the parchment, easily causing environmental pollution. However, industrial technology has now innovated with solutions like filtering and recycling water, or replacing water rinsing with friction machines, both of which significantly reduce water usage. This is why it's professionally called "wet processing method" rather than "washed method."

Wet-processed coffee has a characteristic: some acids produced during mucilage fermentation enter the beans, and since no pulp or mucilage remains attached to the parchment during drying, it lacks the distinctive fruit notes of natural-processed coffee. The flavor tends toward clean and bright, with more noticeable acidity.

After cupping multiple washed-processed coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee found that due to the fermentation step, the overall character of coffee beans is very clean and bright, and this method truly tests the quality of a coffee bean. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the quality of a coffee bean is fully revealed under washed processing and can effectively express the unique flavors of coffee growing regions.

Among the multiple coffee beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee, there is a series of selected daily coffee beans from various regions. Except for Brazil and Indonesia regions where conditions don't allow washed processing, the selected daily beans from five other regions—Ethiopia, Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Yunnan—are all washed. We hope friends can recognize the basic flavors of popular coffee-growing regions in the most cost-effective way.

Method Three: Semi-Dry Processing Method

This is a method between dry and washed processing, which can be further divided into two categories: pulped natural and honey processing. Both processing methods are fundamentally very similar—both first remove the outer skin of coffee cherries like wet processing, but skip the "tank fermentation and clean water rinsing" steps of wet processing, going directly to sun drying. Although the methods appear similar, an important difference creates two distinctly different flavors, worth explaining separately.

(A) Pulped Natural Method

This method was developed in the 1980s-90s by Pinhalense, a Brazilian coffee equipment manufacturer. After numerous experiments, Pinhalense developed the modern depulper (also called pulp separator), which extracts seeds from mature coffee cherries through squeezing, using high-tech pressure washing machines to remove as much mucilage as possible, then drying them to the desired degree.

Without the fermentation process, risks of both over-fermentation and under-fermentation are reduced, making coffee bean quality more consistent. However, precisely because this step is missing, the coffee flavor tends to be somewhat monotonous. Therefore, high-quality coffee is rarely processed using this method. This processing method uses much less water than washed processing, with some aspects similar to wet processing (removing skin and pulp) and others similar to dry processing (no tank fermentation), so it's also called semi-washed method. Incidentally, one or two companies in Brazil and Colombia have patents for high-pressure automated cleaning equipment, creating a near-monopoly in the market.

(B) Honey Processing Method

The honey processing method (often written as "honey process" in English) is a method partially improved upon the pulped natural method, currently popular in Costa Rica and El Salvador, gradually spreading throughout Central America and even expanding to coffee-producing countries worldwide. The name comes from intentionally retaining some mucilage (honey) on the beans during drying.

Its origin and method are as follows:

In the 1990s, Costa Rica developed the demucilager to replace Brazil's depulper. The difference between the two machines is that the demucilager can adjust pressure and aperture size, allowing it to retain part or all of the mucilage while removing the skin. The beans are then sun-dried with the mucilage (beans with mucilage cannot use machine-assisted drying and must bear the risk of over-fermentation or mold).

During drying, the mucilage ferments briefly, adding some acidity to the coffee beans, while some sugars from the mucilage seep into the beans, giving the coffee a bit more sweetness—something Brazil's pulped natural method lacks. Some processors even label their coffee as 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100% honey processed based on mucilage retention, though this claim should be viewed with skepticism as such precision is practically impossible.

Nowadays, more popular terminology uses colors instead of percentages, with distinctions between black honey, red honey, yellow honey, and white honey. The more mucilage retained, the darker the dried beans' color, and the coffee flavor becomes more similar to natural-processed coffee.

After cupping multiple honey-processed coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee found that compared to natural processing, honey-processed coffee beans have more noticeable fermentation aromas, reminiscent of fruit wine, and are also noticeably sweeter than natural-processed coffee beans.

Acidity and noticeable fermentation notes are not accepted by all coffee enthusiasts. Therefore, for those new to coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends starting with natural-processed coffee. The overall experience will be much gentler and more balanced.

Important Notice :

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