How Sweet is the Flavor of Honey Processed Coffee Beans? Is Double Honey Processing Even Sweeter?

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FrontStreet Coffee - An Introduction to Double Anaerobic Processing

The anaerobic fermentation method was first born in Costa Rica, the most imaginative country in coffee processing. It was invented by coffee farmer Luis Eduardo Campos while he worked at the famous coffee company "Café de Altura," and was popularized several years later by WBC champion Sasa Sestic.

Anaerobic fermentation borrows from winemaking technique. Sasa Sestic, for instance, was inspired by the production of Beaujolais Nouveau. He adds carbon dioxide to stainless steel fermentation tanks, squeezes out the air, and lets the coffee ferment in an oxygen-free environment. That slows the breakdown of sugars in the coffee bean pectin and slows the drop in pH, producing higher sweetness and more distinctive flavors.

This is the best-known form of anaerobic fermentation - "carbonic maceration," also called the "red wine processing method." Double anaerobic fermentation, as the name suggests, is split into two anaerobic stages, and because each stage runs for a different length of time, the results differ in flavor.

Double anaerobic processing first ferments whole cherries anaerobically for 28 hours, then ferments them without the fruit skin for 40 hours. Throughout the process, Diego uses special containers and continuous monitoring, adjusting parameters stage by stage to optimize flavor. The cup shows cheese, tropical fruits, papaya milk and berry milkshake notes, with a rich mouthfeel.

Good to Know

Although we call them coffee "beans," they are actually the seeds of the fruit of the Rubiaceae plant - the coffee tree.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If double anaerobic fermentation's intense, rounded sweetness appeals to you, the FrontStreet Costa Rica Blackberry is a fine next step into controlled fermentation. It is made with black honey processing, which leaves almost all of the mucilage on the bean, dries for at least two weeks under shade covers to slow the process and let the sugars convert fully, and demands constant turning to avoid uneven heat and over-fermentation. Roasted light-to-medium, it releases a dense floral fragrance when ground and drinks with the distinctive notes of grape, berry and ripe blackberry.

For a deliberately layered, dessert-like cup, try the FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Geisha Blend. It combines a Panama Geisha variety with a Costa Rican coffee processed as raisin honey - 100% mucilage retained, zero-water processing. The cherries are floated to remove under-ripe and over-ripe fruit, dried on raised beds for at least three days, then de-pulped and dried further with constant turning. The result carries Geisha's floral-tea character alongside grape and raisin, soft fruit acidity, an almond finish and clear sweetness.

And to chase the raisin-honey method itself, the FrontStreet Costa Rica Mozart is the purist's choice. This innovative style pre-dries whole cherries on raised beds for at least three days before removing the skin and pulp and finishing the honey process - retaining 100% of the mucilage, which is harder to control even than black honey. It brings a richer, juicy fruit sweetness: osmanthus, pineapple and raisin, in pour-over, cold brew or moka pot.