The Art of Coffee Processing: Comparing Anaerobic Natural and Anaerobic Washed Methods

People's love for coffee continues to grow, and their understanding of coffee has deepened over time. From focusing solely on coffee bean packaging to paying attention to coffee bean varieties, and then to coffee bean processing methods, it's all a gradual process of accumulating coffee knowledge. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will share relevant knowledge about green coffee bean processing methods with everyone.

If you frequently visit FrontStreet Coffee, you'll notice that FrontStreet Coffee offers a wide variety of handcrafted single-origin coffees, with coffee beans from over 50 different growing regions. Additionally, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas often brew and share coffee beans that haven't been put on the shelves yet. Among these beans, washed and natural processed coffee beans are the most common, along with some anaerobic natural processed coffee beans that you might not hear about as often.

Anaerobic Fermentation Processing

The anaerobic fermentation mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee is a very popular post-processing method in recent years. It typically involves placing coffee cherries in sealed containers or in washing tanks for water fermentation. Different microorganisms are used during this process to create special flavors, and after fermentation is complete, these coffee cherries are taken for natural drying. The main characteristics of this processing method are:

1. Using stainless steel containers (which don't absorb previous coffee bean flavors) to hold coffee cherries allows for cleaner flavor profiles.
2. Fermentation in a sealed environment makes various factors easier to control, making each batch of processed coffee beans more consistent, and aromatic substances less likely to volatilize.
3. Fermentation in an oxygen-free environment results in rounder flavors, often bringing cheese and cream aromas.
4. Coffee beans processed using this method typically have fuller body thickness and wine-like aromas.

One reason why FrontStreet Coffee has fewer anaerobic natural processed coffee beans on the shelves is that when considering this type of coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee goes through multiple rounds of roasting plan adjustments, cupping, brewing, and other essential procedures before listing. If this coffee bean doesn't have distinctive characteristics, FrontStreet Coffee will create a file about this bean but won't put it on the shelves.

Therefore, every bean that FrontStreet Coffee puts on the shelves has its reasons. Although there are fewer anaerobic natural processed coffee beans than washed and natural processed ones, FrontStreet Coffee still carries anaerobic natural processed beans. For example, the FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night" coffee bean from Colombia uses anaerobic natural processing.

Flower Moon Night Coffee Beans

The FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night" coffee beans that FrontStreet Coffee acquired come from the El Jardín farm in the Huila region. Huila is Colombia's most famous specialty coffee growing region. Huila's coffee is generally grown on canyon slopes with high altitude and excellent climate types, with abundant rainfall. FrontStreet Coffee has cupped multiple coffee beans from the Huila region and consistently found that Huila coffee beans have full-bodied, heavy texture with nut, chocolate, caramel aromas and smooth, pleasant fruit acidity.

This anaerobic natural processed FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night" coffee bean also underwent corresponding cupping procedures. FrontStreet Coffee's barista used a 200ml standard cupping bowl, with a grind size that had a 70%-75% pass-through rate on a #20 standard sieve, using 11.3g of coffee grounds at 94°C water temperature. First, they ground the coffee to smell the dry aroma - the FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night" coffee bean's dry aroma emitted fermented wine aroma and chocolate flavors. Then water was added to fill the bowl for wet aroma confirmation. After 4 minutes, the crust was broken and skimmed for flavor evaluation. The wet aroma emitted strawberry jam fragrance. Next was pour-over brewing to once again confirm this FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night" coffee bean.

Brewing Method

When FrontStreet Coffee brews this FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night" coffee bean, they use: Hario V60 dripper, grind setting: EK43s grinder setting 10 (fine sugar size), coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, water temperature of 90-91°C. The brewing technique uses FrontStreet Coffee's most commonly used method - also suitable for beginners - the three-stage extraction method.

The first stage injects 30g of water for 30 seconds of blooming, then injects 95g (scale shows around 125g), finishing in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the coffee bed, inject the remaining 100g (scale shows around 225g), finishing in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Complete drip filtration between 2-2 minutes 10 seconds, remove the dripper, and complete extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee Colombia Flower Moon Night brewing flavor: rich strawberry aroma, strawberry acidity on entry, jam-like sweetness in the middle, subtle cocoa finish, juice-like texture.

Comparing Anaerobic Natural Processing

You'll find that coffee beans processed using anaerobic natural methods have stronger fermented wine aromas and higher body thickness than washed or natural processed coffee beans. Besides this FrontStreet Coffee "Flower Moon Night," FrontStreet Coffee also has another coffee bean from Costa Rica - the FrontStreet Coffee "Monster Estate" coffee bean, which also uses anaerobic natural processing. FrontStreet Coffee also cupped it and found its dry aroma had very rich cinnamon flavor, while the wet aroma, besides the rich cinnamon flavor, also carried caramel sweetness.

Then, after FrontStreet Coffee brewed it, as expected, it had very rich cinnamon flavor, caramel, and gingerbread notes, so FrontStreet Coffee also jokingly calls this FrontStreet Coffee "Monster Estate" coffee bean the "Christmas coffee bean."

Processing Methods and Flavor Profiles

It seems that coffee processing methods are also one of the important factors affecting coffee bean flavor, so when purchasing coffee beans, everyone can start from this aspect. FrontStreet Coffee believes that washed processing allows coffee's origin characteristics, variety characteristics, and acidity to be maximally presented. Additionally, washed processing removes the fruit pulp before drying the beans, which can reduce the risk of coffee bean defects. As for natural processing, coffee cherries are dried with their fruit pulp intact, and the flavors of the coffee cherries enter the beans during the drying process, unlike washed processing where they're washed away. Natural processing brings very unique flavors, with more fruity body and thicker texture than washed beans, with reduced acidity while maintaining sweetness.

Therefore, each processing method brings different flavors, and everyone can choose according to their coffee taste preferences.

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on WeChat: ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473