How do natural and honey coffee bean process methods differ?

Natural and honey processing are two of the three traditional coffee bean process methods, alongside washed. In natural processing, the whole cherry is dried before the skin and pulp are removed. In honey processing, the skin and pulp come off first while a measured amount of sticky pectin stays on the parchment during drying, which is what creates the sweetness and fermentation notes both styles share.

The pectin retention ratio separates the honey grades: yellow, red, black and raisin honey leave progressively more mucilage, and darker grades taste sweeter and heavier. Because a coffee berry holds skin, pulp, pectin, parchment, silver skin and the seed, each step of removal changes the final flavor. Cupping reports and roast profiles for beans like Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry show how processing shapes the cup.

Washed, natural, and honey processing are the three traditional processing methods for coffee beans, among which natural and honey processing both carry sweetness and fermentation notes, often making them hard to distinguish. From the perspective of Front Street Coffee, this article first introduces the structure of the coffee berry and the key screening points before processing, then breaks down the complete processes of natural processing and honey processing respectively, including the drying and depulping steps of natural processing, the pectin retention ratio of honey processing, and the differences between yellow honey, red honey, black honey, and raisin honey processing. The article also compiles the roasting suggestions, cupping reports, and brewing parameters for two representative beans—Front Street Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry and Front Street Musician Series Bach—helping coffee enthusiasts understand the source of flavor from the perspective of processing methods.

For more specialty coffee knowledge, please follow our WeChat public account: Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Washed processing, natural processing, and honey processing are known as the three musketeers of traditional coffee bean processing methods. For specialty coffee beans, in addition to selecting excellent varieties grown in excellent origins, the most critical step is the final coffee bean processing stage—a slight negligence can undo all previous efforts. Many friends ask the baristas at Front Street: natural processing and honey processing both have sweetness and fermentation notes. If we don't look at the description, how should we distinguish which processing method was used for the beans? In this article, Front Street will discuss the differences between natural processing and honey processing. Before discussing processing methods, let's first understand the structure of the coffee berry. From the outside in, it can be divided into the skin, pulp, pectin layer, parchment (also called the husk layer), silver skin, and the innermost coffee bean seed. The so-called processing method is to remove the skin, pulp, and pectin of the coffee berry, extract the two coffee beans wrapped in silver skin inside, and then dry them to stabilize the beans. It looks easy, but in reality it is a time-consuming and labor-intensive technical task, because if not handled properly, the various sugars contained in the pectin layer will ferment and rot, releasing pungent odors that affect the coffee beans. Front Street believes that no matter what processing method is used, as long as it is handled properly, these pectin layers will bring infinite variations to the coffee beans, such as increasing the acidity, sweetness, and fermentation notes of the coffee beans.

Before processing, coffee farmers must select mature red coffee cherries. Why? Front Street gives an example: when an orange still has green skin, it tastes very sour; when the orange's skin is a mix of green and orange, the orange tastes both sour and sweet; when the orange's skin is completely orange, the orange tastes very sweet. This series of examples illustrates that the organic acids in fruit have not fully converted to sugar, and ripe fruit will be sweet and delicious. The same applies to coffee berries. If coffee berries are picked before they are fully ripe and processed, the resulting coffee beans will taste sharply sour and green when brewed. Ripe coffee berries have sufficient sugar in the pectin layer, so as long as they are effectively processed, the coffee beans will carry sweetness.

Secondly, floating beans must be screened out. The picked coffee berries will inevitably include some rotten fruits. Putting them into a pool with clean water will reveal this: mature and intact fruits will sink to the bottom, while rotten, underdeveloped, and other defective berries will float on the surface. This step is especially important—as the saying goes, "one rat dropping spoils a whole pot of porridge." Front Street believes that if the rotten beans are not selected out, they will directly affect all the coffee berries in the next processing step. If there is even one rotten fruit, all the resulting coffee beans will have a rotten taste. Now back to the topic: what is natural processing, and what is honey processing? Natural Processing Natural processing is one of the oldest and most traditional processing methods. After the coffee cherries are harvested, they are immediately dried in the sun. It is more common in areas with abundant sunlight or scarce water resources. For example, nearly 70% of coffee cherries in Ethiopia are given natural processing. 1. Collection & Screening After harvesting, the coffee cherries are first manually hand-sorted to remove defective coffee cherries, including overripe, underripe, insect-damaged ones, and of course foreign matter other than the cherries. 2. Drying After screening, the coffee cherries are sent to a drying area for drying. Different regions may use different drying racks—some may use tarps, some may use raised beds, some may use concrete floors, etc. The drying time averages 3 to 4 weeks, until the coffee's moisture content drops to 11% to complete the drying process.

3. Depulping After drying is complete, the coffee cherries are sent to a processing plant for depulping and hulling, and may even be polished. The skin, pulp, and other parts are all removed in this step. 4. Screening, Sorting & Storage After depulping, the green coffee beans are screened again to remove coffee beans with poor appearance. This reflects the quality of the coffee drying process: over-dried coffee beans are more fragile and will be broken into fragments during depulping; under-dried coffee beans have too much moisture, and the water is overly active, making them prone to bacteria and mold. In addition to traditional natural processing, the currently popular anaerobic fermentation technology has also been used in natural processing. Before the coffee cherries are sun-dried, they are placed in a sealed anaerobic environment for fermentation, which is called "anaerobic natural." Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that compared with washed and honey-processed coffee, natural coffee has the lowest acidity, highest sweetness, clearest mouthfeel, but slightly lower cleanliness. In terms of flavor, it produces more berry-like notes and is also more complex.

Honey Processing Honey processing falls between washed and natural processing. It is common in Costa Rica in the Americas. The practice of retaining part of the pectin gives its coffee a taste different from washed and natural processed coffee. 1. Collection After harvesting, the coffee cherries are collected and screened to select coffee cherries of qualified and excellent quality. 2. Depulping After screening, the coffee cherries are placed into a coffee depulping machine for depulping. This step removes the skin and pulp of the coffee cherries while retaining the pectin layer. The pectin part is the part with the highest sugar content in the coffee fruit and is also an important component of coffee processing fermentation. It can be said that this part determines 80% of the nutrient supply during processing. Yellow honey retains 60% of the pectin, red honey retains 75% of the pectin, and black honey removes almost no pectin. The more pectin retained, the richer the final flavor and the higher the sweetness of the coffee.

3. Drying Unlike washed processing, honey processing retains part of the pectin for drying. The drying process reduces the moisture content of the coffee beans to about 11%, taking about 18 to 25 days, depending on the climate and the processor's experience. 4. Storage After drying is complete, the coffee beans are bagged and transported to a warehouse for storage, and only before export transportation are they hulled to remove the coffee parchment layer. Honey Processing Grades In Costa Rica, Brazil, or Colombia, local processing plants used to use high-pressure washing machines, so part of the mucilage was also removed during the pulping process. Based on the amount of mucilage retained (40%-100%), people divide honey processing into four grades: 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. Of course, some growers deliberately remove part of the mucilage to ensure that the coffee does not become fruity-sour due to fermentation during drying.

Yellow Honey The green coffee beans receive the longest exposure to light. Long light exposure means higher heat, so this coffee can be dried within 1 week. Generally, the drying time of coffee depends on local climate, temperature, and humidity conditions. Red Honey The green coffee beans take 2-3 weeks to dry, usually due to weather conditions or being placed in the shade. If the weather is sunny, growers shade part of the sunlight to reduce light exposure time. Black Honey The green coffee beans are dried in the shade for the longest time, and the light exposure time is the shortest. This coffee takes at least 2 weeks to dry. Black honey green coffee beans have the most complex processing and the highest labor cost, so the price is the most expensive.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that honey-processed coffee beans have better flavor, with balanced acidity and sweetness. Also, like natural processing, because they have undergone sun drying, the aroma of the coffee beans themselves is amplified, and the body is rich. At the same time, honey processing uses less water resources during processing, and the drying time is shorter than natural processing, greatly speeding up green bean processing time. Raisin Honey Processing Raisin honey processing is a method that retains 100% pectin and uses zero-water processing. It increases the difficulty of honey processing, which requires strict control of time. On the day the coffee cherries are harvested, the harvested coffee cherries are poured into a large water tank. Mature and plump fruits sink to the bottom; underdeveloped or overripe fruits float to the surface, and these floating beans need to be removed. The screened coffee cherries are placed on raised beds to dry for at least three days, then the cherry skin is removed, and after retaining the pectin, they are dried again. At this stage, climate factors are the key to successful honey processing.

During the drying process, these coffee cherries must be constantly turned to ensure even drying, but the turning frequency must be well controlled. Drying must be slow to ensure the coffee has fermentation processing, but not so slow that over-fermentation occurs. This sweet raisin honey processing method gives the coffee a white wine-like mouthfeel and balanced acidity, and the fermentation aroma is also relatively rich. Front Street believes that raisin honey-processed coffee beans have a rich fermentation note and the sweetness of dried fruit.

Representative Coffee Bean of Natural Processing— Front Street Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry Coffee Beans Country: Ethiopia Region: Yirgacheffe Altitude: 2300m Variety: Local heirloom Processing Method: Natural processing Front Street Roasting Suggestions The Yirgacheffe variety is a local heirloom, a small-bean variety with a relatively round appearance and a very small bean size, mostly between 14-15 screen sizes. The Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry has relatively uniform maturity and a clean flavor, so the Front Street roaster adopted a medium-light roast to retain more floral aroma, fruity acidity, and ripe fruit fermentation aroma.

Front Street uses a Yangjia 800N, charging 550g: using a fast-roast profile, charge when the drum temperature reaches 200°C, set the damper to 3.5, after 1 minute adjust the heat to 160°C, keep the damper unchanged, adjust the heat once at 148°C, lower to 130°C, roast until 5'03'', temperature 151°C, the bean surface turns yellow, the grassy smell completely disappears, dehydration is complete, adjust the heat to 105°C, open the damper to 4; at the 8th minute, ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, the toasted bread smell clearly turns into coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 9'07'' first crack begins, reduce the heat to 70°C, fully open the damper (adjusting the heat must be very careful, not so low that there is no cracking sound), and drop at 194°C.

Front Street Cupping Report

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Representative Coffee Bean of Raisin Honey Processing— Front Street Musician Series Bach Coffee Beans Country: Costa Rica Region: Tarrazú Altitude: 1,950M Processing Method: Raisin honey processing Grade: SHB Variety: Caturra Front Street Roasting Suggestions The green beans look yellow-green, typical of honey-processed coffee beans, and smell of fresh ripe fruit aroma with a light fermented fruity note. For the roasting direction of this bean, the Front Street roaster's roasting goal is a medium-light roast. On one hand, the aim is to retain bright acidity and showcase floral and fruity aromas; on the other hand, the aim is to enhance richness and balance.

Yangjia 800N, charging 300g: preheat the drum to 180°C for charging, adjust the heat to 130, open the damper to 3, turning point at 1'43", maintain the heat; at 140°C keep the heat unchanged, open the damper to 4. At 6'15" the beans turn yellow, the grassy smell disappears, entering the dehydration stage; at 151°C lower the heat to 100, keep the damper at 4. At 176°C adjust the heat to 70, keep the damper unchanged. At 8'15" dehydration is complete, wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, the toasted bread smell turns into coffee aroma, which is the prelude to first crack. At this time, pay attention to listening for the sound of first crack. At 9'40" first crack begins, fully open the damper to 5, keep the heat unchanged. Post-first-crack development time is 1'45", and drop at 196°C.

Front Street Cupping Report

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Suggestions Dripper V60 Water temperature 90°C Dose 15g Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15 Grind size fine granulated sugar (80% passing through China standard No. 20 sieve) The gear used for coffee beans varies with different altitudes and roasting degrees, so Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) suggests recalibrating the grinder at regular intervals. To calibrate coffee grind size, you can use a standard No. 20 coffee inspection sieve. If you don't have a sieve at home, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) suggests observing the flow rate to judge: if the flow is too fast, the grind is too coarse; if the flow is too slow, the grind is too fine.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses staged extraction, also called three-stage brewing: use 30g of water for blooming for 30 seconds, then pour in a small stream in circles until 125g for the first stage; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper. (Start timing from the beginning of blooming.) The extraction time is 2'00"-2'10".

Natural Red Cherry brewing flavor: obvious sweet-and-sour sensation on entry, with lemon, berry, and fermented wine aromas; the lemony acidity in the finish is lasting and the sweetness returns clearly. Costa Rica Bach brewing flavor: smells like the fermentation aroma of rice wine; tastes of ripe tropical fruit and berry sweet-and-sour notes, nutty and creamy flavors; the aftertaste carries caramel, and the finish has a light floral aroma.

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