Introduction to Traditional Natural Processing Process_ Natural Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations_ Are Natural Coffee Beans Delicious

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

Traditional Natural Processing Method

Coffee berries must be processed immediately after harvesting to prevent fermentation and rotting of the fruit pulp.

There are three most common raw bean processing methods: natural (dry), washed, and honey processing. What are their special characteristics or flavor profiles? Today we'll start with the traditional natural processing method.

Process Overview

● Removing floating beans — Drying — Hulling — Grading — Polishing

The natural processing method is also known as the "natural drying method" because it uses natural sunlight to dry both the coffee fruit and raw beans. Due to the use of manual and natural processing methods, natural-processed coffee beans appear less uniform in appearance and are less visually appealing.

Detailed Processing Steps

1. Bean Selection

The harvested fruits are placed in a water tank. Mature fruits will sink, while unripe and overripe fruits will float and can be removed.

2. Drying

Coffee cherries are spread out for sun drying for 2-3 weeks, during which they need to be turned several times daily until fully dried. At this point, the fruit becomes dark brown, and the moisture content after sun drying should be between 10%-14%.

3. Hulling

After drying, the fruit skin becomes brittle and easy to remove, allowing it to be stripped off by machine. Commercial farms usually have their own hulling facilities, while small farms entrust processing centers to handle this step.

4. Selection and Grading

Premium farms use manual or mechanical methods to identify defective beans and remove them. Manual selection typically uses conveyor belts about 1 meter wide, with several female workers sitting on both sides visually removing bad beans. Some excellent farms even conduct several rounds of selection until no defective beans remain. Machine selection uses computer identification to eliminate defective beans, followed by grading procedures that divide coffee beans into several quality levels according to established standards. Good coffee enters the specialty coffee market, while lower-quality coffee flows into the commercial coffee market.

5. Polishing

Hulling can only remove the exocarp and endocarp. At this point, the silver skin still wraps around the outer layer of the seed and must be removed using a machine. Then, the coffee beans are bagged, mostly using burlap sacks.

Summary

Advantages:

Simple process and low cost (especially in water-scarce regions). With proper handling, it yields better body and higher sweetness, often possessing mature fruit flavors or wine-like aromas.

Disadvantages:

Strong dependence on weather makes drying difficult to control. During the sun drying process, foreign flavors can easily mix in, and because the pulp hasn't been removed, mold can easily develop, resulting in insufficient stability.

Recommended Natural Process Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's freshly roasted single-origin natural process coffee beans—such as natural Yirgacheffe and natural Sidamo—are fully guaranteed in terms of brand and quality, suitable for brewing with various equipment. More importantly, they offer extremely high value. A half-pound (227g) bag costs only about 70-90 RMB. Calculating based on 200ml per cup with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, one package can produce 15 cups of specialty coffee, with each cup costing only 5-6 RMB. Compared to coffee shops selling cups for dozens of RMB, this represents exceptional value for money.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473