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Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Process Coffee_Characteristics of Natural Coffee Beans_Why Natural Process Coffee Beans Are Expensive

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). The natural process is a traditional primary processing method for coffee beans. Currently, ancient coffee-growing countries like Ethiopia and Yemen still almost exclusively use the natural process to treat raw beans.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Natural Processing: Traditional Coffee Bean Primary Processing Method

The natural processing method is a traditional primary processing method for coffee beans. Currently, ancient coffee-growing countries like Ethiopia and Yemen still almost exclusively use natural processing to treat raw beans.

In natural processing, the sink-selected beans—mature or semi-mature beans—are first spread on drying grounds for natural drying.

Dry Processing (Secado)

Also known as the full natural method. After harvesting, coffee cherries are directly dried in the sun. Depending on weather conditions, this generally requires 1-2 weeks of drying to reduce the coffee bean moisture content to 10%-12%, after which machines remove the dried fruit skin and pulp. During storage, processing plants (beneficios) usually keep the parchment shell on the coffee beans until just before export (Costa Rican law requires that exported green coffee beans cannot have parchment shells). This processing method generally requires sufficient sunlight in the producing region.

Requirements and Characteristics of Natural Processing

Natural processing has extremely high climate requirements. If rain occurs during the drying process, it can cause the beans to reabsorb moisture and become moldy. Natural processed beans have a yellowish color when raw, and the center cut will appear brown after roasting, unlike the white center cut of washed beans. Natural processed beans generally have better sweetness and body, with less acidity, but quality is relatively unstable with significant variations. Due to the lower cost of natural processing, it's not only widely used in Ethiopia and Yemen, but also generally used for Robusta coffee grown in Africa and Indonesia.

Natural processing has long existed in Ethiopia and Yemen. It doesn't waste too much water resources and electricity, but processing high-quality natural coffee beans requires significant time and labor to separate immature and defective beans.

After coffee harvesting, it immediately enters drying grounds. This process can take up to a month and requires careful observation and constant turning to prevent over-fermentation, spoilage, and uneven drying.

Alternatively, coffee can be dried on African beds (net racks raised from the ground). The advantage of this method is more even coffee drying and avoiding spoilage.

After drying is complete, coffee cherries undergo stages of removing dried fruit skin, pulp, and inner skin.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Natural Processing

Benefits of natural processed coffee: When properly processed, it brings unimaginable sweetness, balance, and mature fruit flavors.

Disadvantages of natural processed coffee: Since large quantities of coffee cherries are collectively turned and screened, improper handling can ruin the entire batch of coffee cherries.

General characteristics of natural processed coffee beans: Full of fruit, spice, and chocolate notes. However, improper processing usually gives coffee a dirty, muted acidity perception. Rich fruit flavors (berries, cherries, tropical fruits), spices, cocoa, etc.

FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Processed Coffee Bean Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's freshly roasted single-origin natural processed coffee beans—such as FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Yirgacheffe and FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Sidamo—have full guarantees in both brand and quality, suitable for brewing with various equipment. More importantly, they offer extremely high value for money. A half-pound (227g) bag costs only around 70-90 yuan. Calculating based on 200ml per cup of single-origin coffee with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, one bag can make 15 cups of specialty coffee, with each cup costing only about 5-6 yuan. Compared to the dozens of yuan per cup price in coffee shops, this offers excellent value, suitable for the daily drinking needs of coffee enthusiasts.