The Differences Between Natural, Washed, and Honey Processing - What Are the Coffee Processing Methods? What's the Difference Between Pulped Natural and Semi-Washed Processing?

The History of Coffee Processing Methods

As we all know, the "natural process" is the earliest processing method, without exception. Before other processing methods were developed, the natural process was the only coffee processing method in the world. At that time, the natural process wasn't even called by that name, because there was no concept of coffee bean processing methods. It was just like we usually dry peanuts - simply taking the fruit for natural drying, using sunlight temperature and air circulation to gradually reduce the moisture content in the fruit, then extracting the seeds - that's all.

As coffee spread, more and more places began growing coffee. However, using sunlight for drying wasn't suitable for all regions, as not all places have abundant sunshine throughout the day. If coffee isn't dried to a certain degree (moisture content must be between 10% and 12.5%), it can easily be affected by factors like mold and insect infestation during storage. But if the drying time is too long, mold can easily grow during the drying process. Therefore, many places had to adapt to local conditions and research methods suitable for drying coffee beans based on local circumstances. In the 18th century, the Dutch developed the washed process because the weather in the West Indies was unpredictable, making it difficult for coffee beans to get long periods of sun-drying. This required removing the skin and pulp first, then soaking in water to remove the mucilage, followed by drying the beans. This way, the beans didn't need as much drying time, and because of minimal fermentation, the coffee had a very clean profile! The only disadvantage was the large amount of water required, making it unusable in many places with insufficient water resources.

Understanding Semi-Washed Processing Methods

So, I believe everyone understands natural and washed processing methods quite well. But when it comes to names like "semi-natural" and "semi-washed," do you find yourself scratching your head in confusion?

Actually, there's no need to be confused, because their names are quite self-explanatory. And although there are two different names, they actually refer to the same processing method. It's just that this method combines both natural and washed processes, using both processing workflows during processing - half and half - which led to the terms "semi-natural, semi-washed" (although semi-washed also refers to wet hulling). This processing method has many names; besides the two mentioned earlier, there's also "pulped natural" and "honey natural"! In this article, we'll be consistent and call it "pulped natural."

The Brazilian Innovation: Pulped Natural Process

This pulped natural process was developed by Brazil, the world's largest coffee-producing country, adapting to local conditions. Although Brazil commonly uses natural processing, the natural methods used in earlier times were quite crude - simply spreading coffee cherries on the ground for drying. The reason was simple: it greatly reduced costs. However, the disadvantage was that coffee was easily contaminated by various foreign substances (like dust), causing the coffee itself to develop off-flavors. The decline in quality would cause prices to fall accordingly, so an alternative approach was needed to give coffee better quality. Brazil couldn't use the washed process, mainly because the region is a country with insufficient water resources. The washed process requires consuming large amounts of water resources - an average of 10-20 tons of water per ton of coffee! With such high production, using washed processing for everything would be completely impossible!

Therefore, in 1990, Brazil created this unique processing method. By combining washed and natural processing, coffee beans could have clean flavor profiles without consuming excessive water resources.

How is Pulped Natural Coffee Processed?

Semi-natural, pulped natural, honey natural. With so many names, we can basically deduce its processing workflow! Everyone can combine the meanings mentioned earlier by FrontStreet Coffee and think about how this processing method works~

Did you guess? Then let FrontStreet Coffee reveal the answer: First, pulped natural processing involves putting harvested coffee cherries into water tanks to screen out some defective and unripe coffee cherries that float on the surface, then removing the skin, pulp, and a small amount of mucilage, followed by an hour-long washing (soaking). Because the coffee beans soak for a very short fermentation time, only a small portion of the mucilage is washed away, leaving relatively more mucilage residue on the bean surface. Then, the washed coffee beans, still with mucilage, are spread evenly on African raised beds for drying! Due to the removal of skin and pulp, the drying time is significantly reduced, and the probability of coffee contamination naturally decreases accordingly.

Honey Process and Brazilian Coffee Characteristics

The honey processing method that became popular in Costa Rica is also a type of pulped natural process, but its biggest difference from pulped natural is that it uses no water at all, because it needs to retain more mucilage! And I believe some observant friends have noticed - that's right! The Brazil Cerrado in FrontStreet Coffee's staple series uses semi-natural processing! When brewed, it has very rich nutty and chocolate flavors, with a full body and gentle acidity. Although it doesn't have the rich floral and fruity notes of FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, Brazil's deep, rich dark roast flavor is equally impressive!

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