What Does "Honey" Mean in Honey-Processed Coffee? What is Raisin Honey Processing? What is Strawberry Sugar Flavor?

The Sweet Misconception of Honey Process Coffee

When talking about honey-processed coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes most people immediately associate it with "sweetness." This is because most honey-processed coffees indeed exhibit excellent sweetness, and the word "honey" in honey process easily leads people to assume it means "sweet as honey." Therefore, it's natural for people's association with honey-processed coffee to evolve into coffee that possesses high sweetness similar to honey.

What Does "Honey" Really Mean?

However, we need to understand that the "honey" in honey process has little to do with taste! This is because this "honey" is not that honey—it doesn't describe coffee processed to have honey-like sweetness. Honey process is translated from the English "Honey Process," also called "Miel Process." Whether "Honey" or "Miel," both translate to "honey" in Chinese. The term honey process first appeared in Costa Rica because the sticky mucilage layer wrapping the coffee beans closely resembles the texture of honey, so locals liked to call it "Miel" (honey).

Then, because honey process involves a step where the mucilage wraps the coffee beans during sun-drying, people simply called this processing method "Honey Process."

The Honey Process Method

The honey process is relatively not too complex, originating from Brazil's pulped natural process. First, harvested coffee cherries undergo floating selection to screen out defective beans and impurities. Then, specialized pulping machines remove the skin and pulp, preserving the mucilage to enter the sun-drying process with the coffee beans. Once the coffee beans dry to a certain moisture content, they can be collected for storage, with hulling performed before export.

Because mucilage contains large amounts of sugar, it begins to oxidize when exposed to air, and its color gradually deepens as drying time increases. From the initial yellowish-white, it gradually deepens to golden yellow, yellow, and even red and black! The specific degree of transformation depends on the amount of mucilage preserved, and their drying time varies from 2 to 4 weeks depending on mucilage content. The more complete the mucilage preserved during the pulping stage, the longer the drying time required, and the deeper the final mucilage color. The white, yellow, red, and black honey processes we're familiar with actually refer to honey processes with different degrees of mucilage preservation. White honey preserves the least mucilage, followed by yellow and red, while black honey preserves the most complete mucilage.

Understanding Honey Process Variations

Theoretically, black honey processed coffee comes closest to natural process among honey processes because it preserves the most complete mucilage and has the deepest fermentation degree. But interestingly, each producer defines different colored honey processes differently because there's no clear industry standard for differentiation. This easily leads to awkward situations where one producer's "yellow honey" might be another's "white honey" or "red honey." Besides the conventional white, yellow, red, and black honey processes, there are also some special honey processes. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy and Mozart in FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection use the alternative "Raisin Honey Process." The main difference between raisin honey process and conventional honey process is that before pulping, coffee cherries are first dried for at least three days! Only after the coffee cherries begin to shrivel do they undergo pulping and hulling to begin the honey process steps.

This processing method allows coffee to develop more complex flavor expressions! For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy has complex flavors of strawberry, berries, and raisins, with very high sweetness! In conclusion, everyone should understand that regardless of what type of honey process, its "honey" doesn't refer to the coffee's taste, but rather the mucilage that has the texture of honey~