Difference Between Natural and Washed Coffee Beans! Do Coffee Beans with White Silver Skin Indicate Natural or Washed Processing?

Introduction

For those who frequently drink pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes you've likely seen friends who can distinguish between washed and natural process coffees with just a glance or a single sip. Due to the speed of this identification, many are amazed by this ability and wonder how it's done. Just yesterday, a friend expressed this same sentiment to FrontStreet Coffee.

In reality, this isn't difficult at all - in fact, it's much simpler than you might imagine. FrontStreet Coffee has shared several times how to distinguish between natural and washed processes. It doesn't require years of experience - as long as we understand the differences in processing, we can quickly identify them through bean appearance and flavor characteristics! So today, FrontStreet Coffee will guide you through a review of how to quickly distinguish between natural and washed process coffees.

Understanding Processing Methods

First, let's understand the processing workflows for washed and natural methods. Coffee processing can essentially be understood as a method for drying coffee beans! Early processing methods were all invented to better dry coffee beans. Only dried coffee beans are easy to store and won't easily mold even during long-term storage. The natural process is the earliest coffee processing method! For a long time, natural processing was the only processing technique for coffee in the Arab world. In English, the natural method is called "Natural," which translates to "natural," referring to a processing method without technological intervention.

And as its name suggests, its processing steps involve no technological interference. Freshly harvested coffee cherries are simply spread on any flat surface, left to dry to a certain degree, then the shriveled cherries are collected. The parchment, pulp, mucilage, and other substances surrounding the coffee beans are completely removed, and the process is complete. However, the natural process has one significant drawback: its strong dependence on weather. Because the entire coffee cherry undergoes drying together, the drying speed is very slow. This isn't favorable for countries with humid climates and frequent rainfall, so many regions have developed other processing methods according to their local conditions. For example, the West Indies, where it's difficult to process coffee beans using natural methods, developed the washed process based on local conditions.

The washed process, as the name implies, uses water resources to process coffee. A typical washed process involves placing harvested coffee cherries in water tanks for flotation screening, separating unripe and spoiled defective cherries. Then the pulp is removed from good cherries, and beans with mucilage and parchment are transferred to soaking tanks. After a period, these beans are moved to another clean tank where workers specifically stir them to remove residual mucilage on the surface. When this step is complete, coffee beans with only parchment and silver skin are sent to sun-dry. After drying to a certain degree, the outer shell can be removed to extract the coffee beans.

The above represents the complete workflows for both processing methods. Once you understand these processing steps, you can begin to master how to identify natural and washed coffees!

Differences in Green Beans

In green beans, we can distinguish natural and washed processes by their color. As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, because natural processing involves drying the entire coffee cherry directly, the drying speed is very slow. This causes large amounts of sugar from the pulp and mucilage to penetrate the bean surface during drying, producing Maillard and caramelization reactions. Additionally, because the beans are wrapped in pulp and skin and cannot contact sunlight, the resulting processed beans display a dazzling golden color (right in image).

In contrast, washed processing removes the pulp, skin, and mucilage before sun-drying, so almost no sugar penetrates and adheres to the bean surface during drying. Furthermore, the beans themselves can directly contact air and sunlight, resulting in faster drying speed. The bean's original color is well preserved, so washed green beans typically have a bright, clear green color (left in image).

Differences in Roasted Beans

The characteristics in roasted beans are quite obvious, and many coffee experts use this to quickly distinguish between natural and washed beans. It's simple - we just need to observe whether a coffee bean's center line has abundant, whitish silver skin to determine if it's natural or washed processed.

Typically, washed process roasted beans will have abundant white silver skin along the center line, while natural beans have less, or even none. This is also due to differences in processing steps. Natural processing allows sugar to infuse the coffee beans, and this sugar also infuses into the silver skin. Therefore, during roasting, the silver skin of natural beans darkens due to sugar caramelization, making it less white. If roasted slightly darker, the silver skin color becomes consistent with the coffee bean, making it appear as if there's no silver skin from a distance (right in image).

In contrast, the silver skin of washed beans hasn't been infused with sugar, so unless roasted quite dark, the bean's silver skin remains relatively white. Because white contrasts with the dark brown of coffee beans, the silver skin becomes prominent and conspicuous. This is the best method to distinguish natural and washed beans by appearance.

Differences in Flavor

Finally, let's discuss flavor differences. Early coffee processing methods were all developed for drying coffee beans, but with the rise of specialty coffee concepts, people discovered that different processing methods bring different flavor changes to coffee, leading to the emergence of increasingly special processing methods. The biggest difference between natural and washed processing lies in their varying degrees of fermentation.

Natural coffee involves more substances accompanying the coffee beans during drying and fermentation, and the process is longer, so natural coffee exhibits very rich layers and flavor expressions. At the same time, depending on the degree of fermentation, natural coffee will have varying degrees of fermentation notes. In comparison, washed process coffee appears very clean because fewer substances participate in fermentation during processing, and the drying time is short. This allows washed coffee to retain more of its original flavors. Although the layers may not be as rich as natural coffee, because the fermentation degree isn't as strong, washed coffee has very high clarity.

FrontStreet Coffee's bean selection includes two coffees from the same region but with different processing methods. They are FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry and FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Washed Gedeb. Although they both carry the basic flavor characteristics of the Yirgacheffe region, their textural qualities differ significantly due to different processing methods. Below is FrontStreet Coffee's flavor comparison of these two brewed coffees. Extraction parameters are as follows: 15g coffee dose, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 92°C water temperature, fine sugar grind size (75% pass-through rate with a #20 sieve), 2-minute extraction time.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry: Upon entry, you can taste the sweet and sour fruit flavors of citrus, berries, and yellow peach, accompanied by a subtle jasmine floral aroma. The finish has notes of preserved fruit and red wine. The overall texture is full-bodied with rich layers and a long aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Washed Gedeb: Upon entry, you taste a rich jasmine floral aroma, followed by the refreshing and bright acidity of lemon, grapefruit, and berries, along with the light sweetness of honey and an oolong tea finish. The overall texture is clean and clear with a gentle flavor.

In addition to textural differences, we often hear that "natural coffee tastes sweeter, while washed coffee tastes more acidic." These characteristics are also influenced by processing methods, which typically result in natural coffee being roasted darker, with relatively more acidic substances broken down, making it taste sweeter, while washed coffee is the opposite. The above are several differences between washed and natural coffees. In fact, as long as you understand the processing steps and experience an actual comparison once, you can basically master the skill of quickly distinguishing washed and natural coffees - it's very simple!

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