What are White Honey, Red Honey, and Black Honey Processing? Description of Coffee Flavor Characteristics of Different Honey Process

Red Honey

In a freshly picked coffee cherry, the mucilage is a very sweet substance that not only contains high moisture and sugar content but is also closely connected to the seed inside (the coffee bean). When coffee cherries are processed using honey processing, different levels of mucilage retention result in different colors during drying, and consequently, the naming conventions for the processing methods vary.

White honey processing is the method closest to washed processing. The green beans retain 40-60% of mucilage and have the shortest fermentation time. They are typically dried in open air and require frequent turning to maintain optimal enzyme and bacterial activity. Shortly after drying, the sticky mucilage is washed off using water washing methods, and then the coffee beans are dried for export.

Yellow honey processing also retains about 60% of mucilage, with a slightly longer fermentation time than white honey processing, but still belongs to rapid fermentation. The entire sun-drying process takes about 7-8 days.

Red honey processing refers to sun-drying coffee cherries while retaining 50-80% of mucilage, making it intermediate between washed and natural processing methods, and it's also the most common honey color type on the market. The darker the bean color, the fewer manual turnings required. Black honey, which is closest to natural processing, typically requires only one turning per day, red honey needs several turnings per day, while yellow honey requires hourly turning. Coffee cherries processed with red honey processing take about 12 days to completely dry.

Black honey processing is the coffee with the highest fermentation degree among honey processing methods. It's the closest flavor to fully natural processed coffee. Due to the long fermentation time of black honey process coffee—at least two weeks, depending on weather conditions—it usually has the highest cost. This is because it requires constant attention and care during the fermentation of green beans, allowing additional fermentation to present richer fruit flavors in the final coffee. Black honey processed coffee often tends to have wild flavors, presenting rich sweetness and body, sometimes with wine-like characteristics.

FrontStreet Coffee observed from red honey processed green beans that their color before roasting is slightly lighter than black honey, with a faint fermented fruit aroma. After roasting and cupping, one can often experience rich layers of fruit aroma and a clean aftertaste. Besides the obvious sweetness, it also possesses bright acidity and a light fermented wine-like sensation.

Sweetness is an excellent quality that can score extra points for beans during cupping, and it's also a flavor characteristic that countless coffee brewers constantly pursue. When mentioning which countries' coffee beans often have high-quality sweetness, many people would first think of Costa Rica, because the estates here are always skilled at using various honey processing styles to make coffee express subtle sweet tonalities.

Today, FrontStreet Coffee brings a red honey processed coffee from Costa Rica's FrontStreet Coffee Sol Naciente Estate, inviting everyone to experience together what exactly this so-called honey processing sweetness is like.

Tarrazu Region

Sol Naciente Estate is located in Santa María de Dota, Costa Rica's Tarrazu coffee region, only 40 kilometers from the capital San José. The most famous specialty product here is the coffee that grows in this region.

The estate is situated at an altitude of 1750 meters, covering about 7 hectares, of which 6 hectares are used for coffee tree cultivation, half a hectare serves as a mountain protection area, and another half hectare is used for post-harvest coffee cherry processing and drying. FrontStreet Coffee discovered through maps that the protected area adjacent to the plantation is the starting point of the Los Santos Biological Corridor, which connects to vast national forest protection areas. It not only features three different types of rainforest climates but also provides 14 natural ecosystems for the animals inhabiting this area. Running parallel to the Talamanca mountain range, it has become a highly recommended exploration destination for countless hiking enthusiasts.

The Los Santos region is a lush valley surrounded by three states. Here, almost every household grows coffee because it's perennially influenced by warm and humid air currents from the Pacific Ocean, with annual rainfall reaching 2400 millimeters and an average temperature of 19°C. This provides an excellent growing environment for coffee trees cultivated at altitudes of 1500-2100 meters. Sol Naciente Estate is precisely a paradise surrounded by such original green belts. Walking into the farm, one can see various rare small animals everywhere.

Sol Naciente

In 1990, Arturo Bonilla and his partner Xinia Martínez jointly purchased this land that was originally used as pasture and began coffee cultivation. Today, the farm is operated by them and their families. To implement refined management, they divided the estate into multiple micro-lot plots, then matched appropriate processing methods to the terroir of different plots, dedicated to creating higher quality and traceable coffee.

In 2015, Arturo and his partner formally established an ecological micro-processing station and named it "Sol Naciente" (Morning Sun). The estate's logo consists of three important elements: the rising sun, coffee, and nature, each carrying their beautiful vision for sustainable development concepts.

Since its inception, founder Don Arturo Bonilla has dedicated himself to specialty coffee cultivation and the construction of environmentally friendly ecological agriculture. It's said that in the first year of establishment, a green frog suddenly jumped onto his back. Later, it was discovered that this frog was actually a locally endangered rare species. This little anecdote surprised him and also made the estate owner always insist on protecting the ecological environment as the primary obligation in his subsequent coffee cultivation journey.

Currently, the estate mainly cultivates three varieties: Catuaí, Ethíopia 47, and Geisha. Additionally, to increase the farm's variety diversity, the owner also cultivates many experimental varieties. FrontStreet Coffee's current batch is the Catuaí variety, processed using red honey processing.

Catuaí

Friends who enjoy researching varieties should be quite familiar with Catuaí, as this is a name that frequently appears in Central American coffee variety lists. For example, on FrontStreet Coffee's bean list, you can find Catuaí in FrontStreet Coffee Panama Elida Estate, FrontStreet Coffee Panama Mariposa, FrontStreet Coffee Panama Diamond Mountain, FrontStreet Coffee Honduras Shirley, and others.

Catuaí is a variety developed through artificial breeding and hybridization by the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC) in São Paulo, Brazil, using Yellow Caturra and Mundo Novo, and was released in 1972, initially known as "H-2077." Among these, Mundo Novo is the result of natural hybridization between two ancient varieties, Bourbon and Typica, first discovered in 1943 in Itatiba, São Paulo, Brazil.

As an F2 hybrid, Catuaí not only inherits Caturra's excellent characteristics of small plant size, good acidity, and ability to withstand sun exposure but also possesses Mundo Novo's features of high yield, strong disease resistance, and excellent cupping performance. Moreover, in cultivation, Catuaí has good disaster resistance capabilities, especially in heavy rain or strong wind weather.

Additionally, due to its short plant size, it can be planted at twice the density of other varieties, making it more convenient for pest and disease treatment. Precisely because Catuaí shows such outstanding performance in disease resistance, pest resistance, yield, and growing environment, it quickly attracted many Central and South American countries to introduce and cultivate it after its release.

FrontStreet Coffee observed from red honey processed green beans that their color before roasting is slightly lighter than black honey, with a faint fermented fruit aroma. After roasting and cupping, one can often experience rich layers of fruit aroma and a clean aftertaste. Besides the obvious sweetness, it also possesses bright acidity and a light fermented wine-like sensation.

To preserve the clean honey notes of this FrontStreet Coffee red honey processed Catuaí while highlighting the caramelized substances in the coffee, FrontStreet Coffee adopted a medium-light roast and conducted cupping immediately.

FrontStreet Coffee · Costa Rica · Sol Naciente Estate · Red Honey Process · Catuaí

Region: Costa Rica, Tarrazu Region
Estate: Sol Naciente Estate
Altitude: 1750 meters
Processing Method: Red Honey Process
Variety: Catuaí

Flavor: Sweet orange, cream, grapefruit, honey, black tea

In terms of dry aroma, this FrontStreet Coffee Costa Rica Sol Naciente Estate honey processed Catuaí immediately emits distinct sweet orange, preserved fruit, and cream-like sweet fragrance after grinding, accompanied by pink floral notes, hazelnut, and a hint of fermentation. The aroma is rich and dense, making it very pleasant to smell. As hot water hits it, the coffee begins to transform into honey and toffee-like sweet aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee experienced diverse layers of fruit flavors through slurping. At high temperatures, it first shows notes of red flowers, grapes, dried prunes, and apricots. As the temperature slightly decreases, the fruit acidity becomes bright and refreshing, with citrus-like aromas dominating the palate, accompanied by subtle black tea notes. The overall mouthfeel is clear with a sweet aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473