Honey Process Coffee Bean Recommendations | What Does Honey Process Coffee Taste Like | Coffee Honey Processing Methods

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The Unique Characteristics of Honey Processed Coffee Beans

The outer skin of mature coffee fruit is red. Coffee beans freshly removed from the fruit will have varying amounts of transparent, gel-like mucilage.

Washed Process

After removing the outer skin, green beans with mucilage are placed in water tanks. The fermentation process breaks down the mucilage, producing acidic substances like citric acid, malic acid, and acetic acid that penetrate the green beans. Once fermentation is complete, the beans are washed again with water, which is why it's called the washed process. Afterwards, they must be sun-dried or machine-dried for preservation, and finally, the parchment is removed. The characteristic is bright, clean acidity.

Natural Process

The fruits are poured into large water tanks to filter out underdeveloped fruits that float on the surface. The mature fruits are sun-dried for several weeks with pulp and skin intact before de-pulping. The characteristic is excellent body and thickness.

Honey Process

Almost no water is used, and fermentation is not utilized to remove mucilage and pulp. Instead, after removing the outer skin, the green beans are sun-dried together with the pulp and mucilage. Depending on the amount of pulp remaining and the duration of sun-drying, they are classified as black honey, red honey, yellow honey, and white honey. The characteristic is increased sweetness.

The purpose of retaining pulp is for fermentation. If the goal is to reduce acidity, the so-called honey process should not be used, because, just like anything else, as long as fermentation occurs, it will inevitably become acidic...

If you don't like the acidity of coffee, you should choose washed process coffee beans, or coffee beans that have had their acidity removed during the roasting process (the simplest method is to roast them darker)...

Honey processed coffee beans retain pulp for sun-drying not for fermentation. In fact, honey processing actually reduces the acidity of coffee beans. Washed process should be more acidic than natural process.

As far as I understand, the main factor affecting coffee acidity is not the green bean processing method, but rather the coffee's internal chemical composition. This is related to roasting~

Green beans contain chlorogenic acid, citric acid, malic acid, and caffeic acid. Roasting produces quinic acid, caffeic acid, acetic acid, etc. The acidity changes with the degree of roasting.

Apart from human cultivation factors, coffee beans are influenced by bean variety, altitude, latitude and longitude, climate, soil, etc. This is also why even coffee beans from the same farm will have some differences each year.

The processing method is also quite important. Take the same batch of coffee beans, with some processed using the washed method and others using the natural method. Even with the same batch of coffee beans, different processing results in different flavor profiles.

Furthermore, when comparing coffee beans processed with different methods roasted to similar degrees, washed process shows significantly more acidity than natural process. If we go into detail, it's not just that simple. Acidity comes in many forms, and it depends on how well the processing is done.

Good acidity tastes smooth, not irritating, with a long-lasting aftertaste.

Honey Processed Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rican black honey processed coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value - a half-pound (227 grams) package costs only about 95 yuan. Calculating at 15 grams per pour-over coffee, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to coffee shop prices that often reach tens of yuan per cup, this represents exceptional value.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. Online shop services are also available at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473