Coffee Encyclopedia Common Coffee Bean Processing Methods and Processing Steps

How to Quickly Identify Coffee Bean Processing Methods

Some people are remarkably skilled - they can accurately identify what kind of coffee bean it is with just one sip, and even tell you the approximate origin, variety, and processing method of the coffee bean at a glance. This isn't because they are naturally gifted, but because they understand some identification techniques.

Regarding variety identification, FrontStreet Coffee has previously shared that information. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will teach everyone how to quickly distinguish coffee bean processing methods. Those who want to advance their skills should start learning now.

Observing the Amount of Silver Skin

Although there are many coffee bean processing methods today, they can be categorized into 2 globally common processing methods and 2 regional processing methods. The globally common processing methods are washed and natural. These two processing methods are the most widely used. Washed processing also includes anaerobic washed, barrel fermentation after washing, with representative coffee beans including FrontStreet Coffee's Guodingding Cooperative, FrontStreet Coffee's Panama Boquete Geisha.

Natural processing also includes anaerobic natural, slow natural, cocoa natural, and more. The essence of these processing methods is still washed or natural, and they retain the characteristics of their fundamental processing method in bean appearance. Natural coffee representatives include FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Red Cherry, FrontStreet Coffee's Elida Estate, FrontStreet Coffee's Queen's Manor.

The 2 regional processing methods refer to Indonesia's wet-hulling method and Central and South America's honey processing, also called semi-natural method. These processing methods were developed to adapt to local conditions, so basically, if you can identify that a coffee bean has these processing characteristics, you can also infer the coffee bean's origin.

Wet-hulling can be seen as a special washed processing. The difference between it and washed processing is that when the beans are half-dry, the parchment is removed to speed up drying. At the same time, this easily causes the beans to crack, forming "hoof-shaped" beans. However, in recent years, wet-hulling techniques have improved, and hoof-shaped beans have become increasingly rare. The most famous representative is FrontStreet Coffee's Golden Mandheling.

Honey processing and semi-natural processing are介于 natural and washed processing. The difference between these two methods is that honey processing has no water contact throughout, while semi-natural processing soaks in water after removing the pulp before sun-drying. From the perspective of silver skin residue, except for raisin honey processing and black honey processing, other honey processing and semi-natural processing are more similar to washed processing. Representative coffee beans include FrontStreet Coffee's Colombia · Hope Estate Geisha.

Now that the introduction is complete, let's get to the main point. Under normal circumstances, in roasted beans, naturally processed coffee beans have less silver skin, while washed processed coffee beans have more silver skin, with a white line sandwiched in the bean fissure - this is the remaining silver skin.

So observing whether coffee beans have white lines can roughly determine whether they belong to natural or washed processing. Natural, raisin honey processed, and black honey processed coffee beans have cleaner silver skin removal after roasting, so there won't be white lines in the bean fissure, and there are fewer silver skin fragments after grinding.

But how to distinguish these three? Let's first look at the roasted beans. Generally, naturally processed coffee beans will have more uniform color, while honey-processed coffee beans easily retain sugar residue in the bean fissure or at both ends. After roasting, the caramelization becomes more obvious, meaning the color in the fissure or at both ends will be darker. Raisin honey processed coffee has more obvious aroma than black honey processed coffee. Representative coffees include FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Mozart, FrontStreet Coffee's Costa Rica Strawberry Candy.

Coffee beans with white lines in their fissures can be preliminarily identified as washed processing. Except for Indonesia's wet-hulling method and Brazil's semi-natural method (these two are relatively easy to distinguish by bean appearance), there are the less common Costa Rican red honey and yellow honey processing. So, except for these three countries, seeing coffee beans with white lines can basically be identified as washed processing.

Relying on this one technique can identify the processing method of about 90% of coffee beans.

Tasting the Differences in Processing Methods

Except for some locally adapted wet-hulling and semi-natural methods that don't need identification, tasting is mainly used to distinguish some coffee beans from the same origin that are produced in both natural and washed processing methods. Flavor is different from appearance characteristics - it's difficult to understand just from others' descriptions; you must personally taste and compare to imprint it in your mind.

Naturally processed and washed processed coffee beans from the same origin have relatively obvious differences in flavor expression, but what remains unchanged are the inherent regional flavor characteristics. For example, the Yirgacheffe region is often described with flavors of citrus, lemon, jasmine, honey, and green tea.

Naturally processed coffee beans perform better in terms of layering and sweetness. When you drink them, you get a citrus main tone with relatively sweet berry and fermentation aromas. Washed processing, on the other hand, focuses on fresh and clean flavor characteristics. When you drink it, you get a citrus main tone with jasmine aroma and green tea aftertaste, and the overall acidity is more obvious.

Everyone can also simplify their understanding: between natural and washed processing, natural processing tastes more obviously sweet, with rich layering and noticeable fermentation aromas; washed processing tastes clearer, cleaner, softer, and lighter.

Once everyone understands the differences between natural and washed processing, the remaining processing methods become much easier to understand. For example, anaerobic processing also applies - anaerobic natural processing will have richer flavors than anaerobic washing. In other words, if not processed well, the flavor will be more chaotic. Therefore, currently anaerobic washing is more controllable than anaerobic natural processing. Whether it's anaerobic processes or barrel fermentation processes, they all aim to create some surprising flavors through human-controlled fermentation.

So when we taste some very concrete flavors, they come from anaerobic (enzyme) processing methods. However, FrontStreet Coffee wants to say that not all anaerobic coffee beans have such exaggerated and obvious flavors - this is just the result that most processors choose to highlight. There are also anaerobic fermentation processes like those at Elida Estate, which ferment more pleasant flavors while preserving Geisha characteristics, but without being exaggerated. Anaerobic processing is just a technique; the final flavor expression depends on the processor's goals and skills.

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