If you usually buy specialty coffee, it’s likely you’ve already looked at a bag and felt like you were trying to decipher a wine label. Natural, washed, honey, anaerobic, carbonic maceration, among many others. But does all of this really change the flavor? It does, and quite a bit.
The process begins right after harvest and is one of the stages that most influences a coffee’s sensory profile. This is where the producer decides how the cherry will be fermented and dried, controlling the interaction between sugars, acids, microorganisms, and the bean itself.
In the natural process, the cherry is dried whole, with the fruit around the bean. During drying, fermentation occurs and there is greater interaction with the pulp’s sugars, which tends to result in sweeter, full-bodied, and fruitier coffees, often with notes of red or tropical fruits.
In the washed process, the pulp is removed right at the beginning and the bean undergoes controlled fermentation before drying. The result is usually a cleaner and more defined cup, with more evident acidity and floral or citrus notes.
Honey process sits somewhere in between, with part of the mucilage remaining attached to the bean during drying. And no, it doesn’t contain honey. This sugar-rich layer can contribute to greater sweetness, body, and a more velvety texture.
Then there are the experimental processes, such as anaerobic or carbonic maceration, where fermentation conditions are carefully controlled, specifically the presence of oxygen and carbon dioxide. These techniques can encourage the formation of different aromatic compounds and produce extremely intense and complex coffees, with notes ranging from ripe fruit and spices to wine or flowers.
That is why two coffees from the same farm can taste like completely different worlds. The process does not work alone. Variety, altitude, climate, maturation, drying, and roasting also count, but it can profoundly change how all of that reaches the cup.
And then there is that coffee so strange and aromatic that we spend five minutes smelling it, trying to figure out if we are really drinking coffee.
But yes. It is coffee.