Which is Better: Natural or Washed Coffee Beans? What Are the Differences Between Natural and Washed Processing?

Natural vs. Washed Processing: Which Coffee Bean Method Is Better?

When it comes to coffee beans, are washed beans better than natural processed beans, or does natural processing come out ahead of washing? Before I understood the differences, I was fairly dismissive of washed beans, always feeling that natural processing tasted smoother and carried a certain prestige. So which method actually produces better beans? In truth, it stays a matter of personal preference. This time we will look at both, and you can decide whether it confirms your current choice or inspires you to try something else.

Natural Processing Method

Natural processing can be understood simply: after picking, the coffee cherries are sorted for ripe and unripe beans, then spread out on drying patios to dry in the sun. Typically, after 2-4 weeks, once the moisture content drops below 12% and the beans turn hard, a hulling machine is used to remove the dried fruit hull and parchment layer and extract the coffee beans. The process is simple, even crude. Ethiopia, as we know, uses this method almost throughout.

Because natural processing dries the beans inside the fruit pulp, the pectin sugars from the fruit seep into the beans, giving them higher sweetness and more body. Natural processing's greatest enemy, though, is humid weather and rain that cause the beans to reabsorb moisture, which makes climate the decisive factor in whether it can be used at all. Producing regions without the funds for washing equipment, often the less developed ones, therefore lean on this method most, and that is also part of why natural processed beans vary so much in quality. The natural processed beans we meet most often come from Ethiopia's Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, and from Yemen Mocha.

Washed Processing Method

The washed processing method is currently the most popular, represented by Central and South America, Brazil aside. Washed processing is the most technologically advanced way to extract green beans, and also the most costly: generally, producing 200 grams of coffee beans takes 2-10 kilograms of clean water. For water-rich Central and South American countries this can still serve as the main extraction method, while in Africa washed processing looks relatively luxurious. Washed beans have better aroma and brightness, without miscellaneous flavors, and lack the earthy taste that is so hard to avoid in natural processing.

The general process for washed processing runs like this:

Coffee cherries go into large water tanks to filter out floating beans (ripe cherries sink, while unripe or already rotten ones float on the surface), then parchment beans are extracted through a pulper, then washed and fermented to remove pectin, then after 1-3 days taken out and cleaned thoroughly, then dried.

Washed processing has developed quickly in recent years, and more and more techniques have improved the output. It is currently the most common processing method for specialty coffee beans. Beans processed this way have pure flavors, low miscellaneous tastes, and optimal fruit aroma and fruit acidity. The only possible drawback is that the sweetness is not quite as good as natural processing.

Recommended Natural Processed Coffee Bean Brands

FrontStreet Coffee's freshly roasted single-origin natural processed coffee beans, such as Natural Yirgacheffe and Natural Sidamo, are solid on both brand and quality, and they suit a range of brewing equipment. They are also a good way to taste the natural process on its own terms, holding the fruit-forward sweetness and heavy body that the method is known for.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To run the natural-versus-washed comparison at home, the FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry and the FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe make a clean pairing from the same part of Ethiopia. The natural Red Cherry is a Yirgacheffe lot showing peach, cocoa, honey and lemon, with the rounder body and heavier fruit that natural processing brings. The Washed Yirgacheffe is the other side of the coin: white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity and a clean, tea-like finish, which is exactly the clarity washed processing is meant to deliver. Brew them side by side and the difference shows up immediately in the cup.