Natural vs Washed Process Coffees; What's the difference?

An Introductory Guide to Coffee Processing Methods 

Coffee is an integral part of so many people's daily routine. Be it the action of making the cup or the caffeine it provides, it has become a ritualistic and deeply-ingrained part of most of the world. However, many are unaware of the fine-nuances that go into each cup of coffee such as coffee processing methods and how they affect the final cup's taste! Let's take a dive into two specific techniques of handling and harvesting coffee to give a better idea of what we mean by coffee processing methods: Natural and Washed Coffees. 

What do we mean by ‘Coffee Processing’? 

Coffee processing refers to the method by which the bean of the coffee plant was removed from the fruit of the coffee cherry and dried. This can be done in a myriad of ways, however for illustration's sake we are going to primarily discuss two different methods: Natural versus Washed coffees. 

To better-understand what we're going to talk about, it is important to understand the anatomy of a coffee bean. If you can imagine a cherry in your head; it has rich, sweet and meaty fruit, but at the very center is this extremely hard pit. The same can be said for a coffee cherry as well (that is actually where it got its name!). There is sweet, mucilaginous fruit surrounding the outside of what we know as the coffee bean. Now that you have that image in your head, let's talk about processing methods!

Regardless of processing method, coffee should always be harvested when its cherries are bright red and ripe, not green or yellowing. This is for the same reason you would not want to eat a cherry that was unripe: it would not be sweet and would not taste very good! Thus, it is important for coffee cherries to be fully ripened prior to harvesting in order for their sugars to be fully matured. However, once harvested is where we think things get interesting…

What is Natural/Dry Process Coffee?

With natural processing which is often also known as dry process, the coffee cherries are plucked off of the plants and placed onto raised beds (sometimes in the sun and others in shaded areas depending on time of day) that allow air to hit the coffee from multiple angles. The coffee is then left over the course of numerous weeks to over a month in some cases in order to allow the fruit to dry out on the coffee bean. During this process the beans are being continually stirred and moved often so as to stave-off any unwanted bacterial or fungal growth. This is an extremely laborious and detail intensive process, as one mistake can ruin an entire crop. Once the beans are sufficiently dry (usually anywhere from 10-15% residual moisture in the bean), the residual fruit is removed and you are left with the bean that is to be roasted! 

18-Rabbit Natural

Tanzania Natural

What is Washed/Wet Process Coffee

In Washed/Wet processing methods, the fresh and ripe coffee cherries are harvested and immediately are fermented in water, catalyzed by the naturally occurring yeasts on the cherries themselves. A similar fermentation takes place in Natural coffees, however the fermentation in washed coffees is a much shorter fermentation that lasts no more than a few days comparatively. Furthermore, this fermentation takes place in order to assist in the break-down of the mucilage that surrounds the coffee cherry. This allows for easier removal of this layer once fermentation is complete! This is accomplished by “washing” the mucilaginous layer off of the bean, and then allowing them to dry to a similar percentage of residual moisture as a natural process. As a matter of fact, most things that are shelf stable need to have a lower moisture content, which is why there are similarities between the two. 

Visually, the end product of roasted coffee does not look very different from process to process. However, the raw versions of each of these processes look very different from one another. In washed coffees, they tend to be more uniform in their color, and more green as well. Contrarily, since natural processed coffees have the fruit left on them, they oxidize and you are left with a bean that often appears slightly yellow or even light brown. Think of leaving an apple on the counter and watching it go brown, it's the exact same concept! Those oxidized sugars then get caramelized when roasted, resulting in the sweet cup you know and love! Oxidation can be bad for coffee once roasted though, however that's a topic for another post! 

Washed Peruvian Bean Washed Guatemalan Bean 

How does Processing Method Affect Flavor? 

You might be asking yourself, so why do you as the consumer need to care about this at all? This information is cool and all… but what am I going to do with it? Great news for you, the entire reason coffees are processed differently is actually to alter the flavor profile that those beans might express. If a coffee is showing dominant fruit-forward flavor profiles initially, it might be better suited for a Natural/Dry Processing. This is because natural coffees tend to be distinctly fruitier than something like a washed coffee due to the fruit staying in contact with the bean for a longer period of time. Since natural coffees also have more sugar on them that is fermentable, they also tend to get a slight ‘umami’ or roundness that is distinguishable in nearly all naturals, and part of what makes a Natural Process, ‘Natural.’ This is easily perceptible in our 18-Rabbit Natural, however it presents as a more creamy note in our Tanzanian bean. 

Conversely with washed coffees, the flavor profiles tend to be much more clear and defined, but will vary bean to bean in their actual composition of flavors. A great example of this is our Guatemalan bean and our Rwandan bean. Both are washed coffees, but taste completely different from one another being that the Guatemala is more nutty and chocolatey whilst the Rwandan bean is more earthy, tea-like and snappy in its acidity. 

Check out some of the different processes we have on our store page for an exploration in how different coffees can taste from one another, or to learn more about a specific bean of ours!