Two coffees from the same tree, the same plot, the same harvest can produce cups with nothing in common. What separates them comes down to the few hours that follow picking.
A cherry, a stone
Coffee is not a bean, it is a stone. It grows inside a red fruit — the coffee cherry — made up of a skin, a sweet pulp, then a sticky gelatinous layer called mucilage, and finally a thin envelope, the parchment.
Processing is how the stone is separated from everything else. Depending on whether the pulp is removed immediately or left to dry around the seed, the fruit's sugars and acids migrate differently. The final flavour is profoundly altered.
Washed: clarity
This is the most widespread process in Latin America and East Africa. Cherries are mechanically depulped within hours of picking, then left to ferment in water for twelve to thirty-six hours. Fermentation loosens the mucilage, which is then washed away. The seed is finally dried slowly, often on raised beds.
The result in the cup is clarity. The fruit masks nothing, acidity is clean, and the aromatics of the terroir come through unfiltered. It is the process that best reveals altitude and variety, and for that reason it dominates among specialty producers.
In our selection, Palanda from Ecuador is a good example: depulped, fermented, washed, then dried on raised beds.
Natural: fruit
This is the oldest process, and the most demanding. The whole cherry is spread in the sun and dried as it is, for two to four weeks, turned regularly to prevent mould. The seed ferments gently inside its own fruit.
The result is far more body, high sugars, notes of ripe fruit — sometimes candied red fruit or winey fermentation. Acidity recedes, texture thickens.
It is also the riskiest process. Poorly managed drying produces immediately perceptible defects. Done well, however, it yields some of the most spectacular cups in coffee. Our Majahual from El Salvador is naturally processed.
Wet-processed and the middle ground
Between the two lies a whole family of processes where the skin is removed but some or all of the mucilage is left to dry around the seed. Depending on country and custom, these are called wet-processed, honey or pulped natural, with variants named white, yellow, red or black honey according to how much mucilage is retained.
The result sits logically between the two worlds: more sweetness and body than a washed coffee, more clarity than a natural. It is often an excellent entry point for anyone who finds washed coffees too sharp and naturals too exuberant.
Three of our exceptional coffees are wet-processed: Blue Mountain, Yellow Bourbon and Extra Tarquino from Cuba.
And decaffeination?
That is an additional step, applied after processing. The water method — known commercially as Swiss Water — extracts caffeine without chemical solvent, using solubility and charcoal filters. It is the method that best preserves aromatics, and it is the one used for our El Triunfo.
How to choose
If you want to discover a terroir, take a washed coffee. If you want indulgence and fruit, take a natural. If you are hesitating, take a middle-ground process.
One last useful marker: processing also affects extraction. Naturals, richer in sugars, tolerate over-extraction poorly and quickly turn heavy. Our filter brewing guidelines apply, with slightly cooler water on naturals.
The process is listed on every product page, alongside origin, altitude and SCA score. Browse the full selection in the Coffees collection.