Characteristics of Washed Coffee Beans: How to Drink Washed Coffee Properly

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Coffee Beans: The Seeds of the Coffee Cherry

Coffee beans are the seeds of coffee fruit, also known as coffee cherries. Remove the outer skin and pulp and you are left with two coffee seeds — the green coffee beans. Because coffee fruit harvested at maturity spoils easily, it must be processed promptly for storage and transport.

The Washed Processing Method

Remove pulp and pectin → sun dry

The washed processing method, also called washed fermentation, is one of the more popular methods today. The steps are:

1. After harvesting, farmers place the fruit in water tanks to remove debris and unripe beans;
2. The fruit goes into a pulping machine to remove the pulp and skin, yielding pulped green beans;
3. The pulped beans go into fermentation tanks to break down the pectin remaining on the endocarp, yielding beans with residual pectin;
4. The beans with residual pectin go into washing pools to remove the pectin, yielding beans with the endocarp still attached;
5. The beans with the endocarp go to sun-drying fields or dryers;
6. Finally, a hulling machine removes the endocarp from the dried beans.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: Because defective beans are removed through repeated screening, washed coffee yields higher-quality green beans with a uniform appearance, and the taste is extremely clean.

Disadvantages: Washed beans tend to absorb fermented odors easily, and their flavor layers are relatively simple.

Put simply, the washed method means soaking harvested fruit in water tanks for two to four hours to soften the pulp, using a pulping machine to remove the pulp, then soaking the seeds in water for another two to four hours so the residual pulp ferments and falls off completely, leaving clean seeds. This is coarse coffee, which is then dried in sunlight or mechanically. Removing the silver skin and parchment layer by machine or by hand gives you the coffee beans you brew.

FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Processing Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee offers many washed beans, such as Jamaica Blue Mountain, Kenya, and washed Yirgacheffe. What sets them apart is that although Blue Mountain is washed, it is well balanced with a very mellow taste, while Kenya and washed Yirgacheffe have very bright acidity. FrontStreet Coffee therefore suggests brewing Jamaica Blue Mountain at 88°C for one minute and fifty seconds, while Kenya and washed Yirgacheffe should be brewed at 90-91°C for about two minutes and ten seconds.

About FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but a diverse variety of beans, where you can find various famous and lesser-known coffees, along with online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Three washed coffees from FrontStreet Coffee show just how wide the style can range. The washed Yirgacheffe Gotiti is the clearest expression of the method: white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a clean, tea-like body with a sweet finish. The washed Gotiti Cooperative coffee from Gedeb takes the same clarity in a slightly different direction, adding a distinct black tea note and a more focused floral core.

Kenya is the other pole of washed coffee, and FrontStreet's Kenya Little Tomato is the boldest example. Grown at 1,550-1,750 meters from SL28 and SL34, it uses the Kenyan K72 double washed process with a 72-hour fermentation, so the cup is full of cherry tomato, preserved plum, and juicy berry, with brown sugar sweetness and a green tea finish. For a gentler, more balanced washed cup, the Jamaica Blue Mountain No. 1 is the reference: hazelnut, cream, chocolate, and caramel in a well-balanced body where no single note dominates. Together they cover the range from bright and clean to soft and mellow.