That Coffee Roasters: Sweet and Unique: What Is Honey-Processed Coffee?

lunes, 27 de noviembre de 2017

Sweet and Unique: What Is Honey-Processed Coffee?

Honey-processed coffee is not truly prepared with honey.

From the plant to our mugs, coffee has to undergo quite a few processes before we can enjoy its many contrasts and flavors. All coffee beans have first to be grown, then harvested and lastly, processed, before we can start roasting and grinding them. As we’ve talked about before, coffee production is a world full of nuances and complexities that make every coffee truly unique. Where it’s produced and how it’s produced can change the whole experience for you!

It’s precisely the subject of how coffee harvests are processed what we’re going to be discussing today. Have you ever looked at a coffee package and read the words "washed," "natural" or "honey"? Have you ever wondered what these terms mean? They simply refer to different methods and techniques used by coffee farmers to prepare coffee beans before they are roasted. One of the most famous ways to do it is the so-called honey process. Stick with us and learn all about it!

Coffee Cherries

First, we need to make something clear. Even though we usually refer to coffee “beans," coffee is actually made from coffee cherries’ seeds. It’s important to know this because cherries will play a significant role in the honey process. These fruits have, roughly speaking, 5 layers:

The bean: as we’ve just explained, the bean is one of the two seeds hiding inside a cherry.
The silverskin: a thin and silverish layer that covers the seeds.
The mucilage: sometimes called honey, it's a sticky, gluey, and sugary substance that comes after the skin.
The parchment: a layer of cellulose that protects each of the coffee seeds.
The pulp: On the outside, the two coffee seeds are covered by a cherry-like, juicy skin called pulp. Its color can vary from red to orange.

The Honey Process

Well, honey-processed coffee doesn’t use any honey. But did you notice that the mucilage is also called honey? You see, before coffee can be roasted, coffee cherry's layers must be removed and beans dried to around 11% of its moisture content. The two most common methods for removing the cherry are:

Removing it with water (washed processing).
Letting them dry in the sun before mechanically removing it (natural/dry processing).

But there is a third one: honey processing, which is kind of in the middle of the other two. If done right, your coffee has the potential to taste as if someone had poured honey or brown sugar into it! In this case, the cherry's peel is removed, but some amount of the mucilage remains, while beans are dried. The mucilage’s sweet flavors will then stick to coffee beans.

Depending on the amount of mucilage left to dry with the beans, the honey process can be classified in yellow, red, and black honey. The more mucilage, the darkest the coffee and the fuller its body will be. Honey processing is also affected by external factors such as humidity, sugar's oxidation, and heat. Because the coffee beans will conserve higher levels of moisture, the whole process must be carefully supervised to avoid over-fermentation and mold.

The final product will be roasted to become a unique experience for coffee lovers! Try honey-processed coffee with That Coffee Roasters and give yourself and your customers a treat full of sweetness. Read more about the different varieties of roasts we offer by visiting our web page and following us on our social media.