How Do Green Coffee Beans Get Their Honey Process Grades?

Honey processing is not one method but a family of methods. After the skin and pulp are removed, green coffee beans are dried with the sticky mucilage still attached, and the amount left on the bean decides the label: white, yellow, red, or black honey. Raisin honey goes further, drying the whole cherry first until the fruit shrivels like a raisin, then removing the skin and shell. Mucilage retention can reach 100 percent, using almost no water.

Because mucilage is rich in sugar, more of it means more sugar on the bean and, in the cup, more sweetness and body. Raisin honey coffee shows notably high body and intense fermented aromas. Comparing two Costa Rican lots, Front Street Blackberry and Front Street Mozart, shows how much this coffee processing stage shapes flavor, which also explains why honey processing is treated as a branching system rather than a single technique.

The processing method of green coffee beans directly influences the flavor direction of the final cup. Natural, washed, and honey processing constitute the three classic processing systems. Honey processing is not a single technique, but rather branches out into yellow honey, red honey, black honey, white honey, and others based on the amount of mucilage retained, among which raisin honey processing is particularly special. It first dries the coffee cherries with the shell on for several days, and after the fruit shrivels like raisins, removes the skin and shell before proceeding with honey processing, using almost no water and achieving a mucilage retention rate of up to 100%. This technique gives the coffee extremely high body and intense fermented aromas. This article will systematically sort out the classification logic of honey processing, compare the technical differences between regular honey processing and raisin honey processing, and, in combination with two beans from the Costa Rican origin—Front Street Blackberry and Front Street Mozart—analyze the unique flavor expression brought by raisin honey processing.

The processing stage of green coffee beans has a great impact on the taste of coffee, and different fermentation modes guide coffee to produce different distinctive flavors. Natural, washed, and honey processing are the classics among coffee processing methods!

Naturally processed coffees mostly have very full fruit flavors, rich layers, and high sweetness; washed coffees are very clean, with bright and round acidity; honey processing combines the advantages of both, being overall balanced, clean, and highly sweet.

Compared with the previous two, honey processing is not used as much. However, what makes honey processing different from them is that it is not a single processing method, but has several different branches to choose from.

In the operational steps of honey processing, green coffee beans are dried with the mucilage retained after the skin and pulp are removed. The mucilage is rich in sugar, so the more mucilage left on the green beans, the more sugar is attached. The amount of sugar determines the sweetness level of the bean after processing, so people distinguish yellow honey, red honey, black honey, and white honey—different colored honey processing methods—according to the amount of mucilage retained!

In addition to these classic "colored" honey processing methods, honey processing also has a very special branch—"raisin honey processing."

What is raisin honey processing?

When it comes to raisin honey processing, like honey processing, it also has a very interesting naming misconception. I believe everyone has more or less seen introductions to honey processing such as "sweet as honey" or "honey-like sweetness," and then some friends mistakenly think that honey processing is a process carried out by adding honey, or that the name was coined because it is too sweet. Actually, that's not the case~~

The reason honey processing is called honey processing is mainly that during processing, the mucilage oxidizes and takes on a very sticky texture, which directly reminds people of honey with the same sticky texture. Thus, the name "honey processing" was established. The misconception about raisin honey processing is almost the same~

Many friends will be curious: what is the difference between raisin honey processing and regular honey processing? What kind of impact does it have on the flavor? Good! Then next, Front Street will answer these questions one by one!

The difference between honey processing and raisin honey processing

Let's first look at the regular honey processing operation mode: the first step of honey processing is to float-select the coffee beans, picking out the immature and defective beans that float up.

Then the skin and pulp of the coffee fruit are removed by machine, retaining the mucilage layer, and the green beans are fermented and dried with the mucilage! The drying time is mainly determined by the amount of mucilage retained; the more mucilage, the longer the sun-drying time (the longest is black honey, followed by red, yellow, and white), until the green beans are dried to the target moisture content, which is basically considered complete!

Raisin honey processing, however, differs from them right from the start! After harvesting the fruit, coffee farmers first dry the fruit directly with the shell on for at least three days. After drying, the coffee fruit takes on a shriveled appearance similar to "raisins," after which the skin and shell are removed, and then the honey processing steps begin.

The advantage of doing this is that almost no water is used! Moreover, by sun-drying the fruit, 100% of the mucilage can be retained! The intact mucilage can provide more sugar to the coffee beans, presenting the highest body.

Compared with several other processing methods, black honey processing removes almost no mucilage, so the sweetness and rich tropical fruit aromas are the most obvious, but under the violent mechanical shelling, the integrity of the mucilage is still affected to some extent. Black honey processed green beans have higher requirements and also a higher risk of spoilage. Coffee farmers need to invest more effort in managing the green coffee beans during processing to avoid the coffee developing unpleasant negative flavors, so the price is often higher. For this, the barista's top recommendation is Front Street Blackberry from the Costa Rican origin. It comes with a sweet floral flavor, and on the palate it tastes like grapes, berries, liqueur chocolate, and sweet orange, making it highly distinctive.

The flavor of raisin honey processing

As Brother Qiang says well, the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish. The complex operation of raisin honey processing gives the coffee a highly distinctive flavor expression. For example, Front Street Mozart comes from Hacienda Canet in Costa Rica. With the support of raisin honey processing, the fermented aroma it gives off is very intense, and because it is very close to the fermentation aroma of grapes, it easily reminds people of the taste of raisins.

In addition to the regular berry and caramel flavors, it also has distinctive flavors similar to blueberries and lavender. After swallowing, the mouth is filled with a black chocolate aftertaste, leaving a very deep impression!

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.