Washed
Washed process (also called the wet process) is the most common method for producing green coffee beans. It emphasizes cleanliness and clarity of flavor.
How it works
- Harvest – Ripe coffee cherries are picked.
- Pulping – The outer skin and most of the fruit pulp are removed mechanically, leaving the bean covered in a sticky layer called mucilage.
- Fermentation – The beans are placed in water tanks (or sometimes dry-fermented) for 12–72 hours. Natural enzymes and microbes break down the remaining mucilage.
- Washing – The beans are thoroughly rinsed with clean water to remove all remaining mucilage and fermentation byproducts.
- Drying – The clean beans (still protected by a thin parchment layer) are dried in the sun on raised beds until they reach about 10–12% moisture.
- Hulling – The parchment layer is removed, yielding the green coffee bean.
Flavor characteristics
Washed coffees are typically:
- Clean and bright
- Higher in acidity
- More transparent (you taste the origin and variety more clearly)
- Lighter to medium body
- Less fruity/fermented than natural-process coffees