What types of “honey” processed coffee beans are there?

The so-called honey processing refers to the process of making green beans with mucous membranes that are sun-dried.

Honey-processed coffee is sweeter than water-processed coffee and has a higher sugar content. Generally speaking, the more gelatin left on the beans, the stronger the sweetness, so the coffee tastes like someone added honey and brown sugar to it.

Alongside the two traditional processing methods of washed coffee and sun-dried coffee, the honey processing method can be said to have become a unique coffee processing method.

According to the degree of honey processing, honey-processed coffee is divided into yellow honey, red honey and black honey.

According to the green bean company Nordic Approch run by Tim, Seattle Coffee and Origin Coffee in the United States:

Yellow honey: About 40% of the pectin is removed; the drying method requires the most direct heat absorption and the most light drying, which lasts for about 8 days to reach a stable moisture content. Yellow honey has the shortest drying time, and the coffee can get plenty of sunlight. When the coffee gets the appropriate moisture content, it will appear light yellow.

Red honey: About 25% of the pectin is removed; compared to yellow honey, the drying time is longer, and the time of direct sunlight exposure is reduced, and even a shade shed is used. Red honey takes longer to dry and is usually developed during cloud cover. It usually takes about 12 days to complete drying.

Black honey: retains nearly 80% of pectin; takes the longest time to dry, at least 2 weeks, and needs to be covered to avoid strong sunlight and prevent drying too quickly, allowing for a more complete conversion of sugars. The processing of black honey is the most complicated, but the price is the most expensive.

Honey Processed Flavor Comparison

The more coffee pectin is retained, the higher the sugar content, the more complex the flavor, and the sweeter the sweetness. The advantage of honey processing is that it can best preserve the original sweet flavor of ripe coffee fruits, making the coffee present an elegant brown sugar flavor and stone fruit sweetness, while the berry flavor also supports the aroma of the red wine base tone. It is considered to be a very elegant product. So in terms of sweetness, black honey>red honey>yellow honey>white honey, in terms of cleanliness, white honey>yellow honey>red honey>black honey, and in terms of balance in all aspects, red honey>yellow honey>black honey>white honey.

The biggest difference between honey processing and Brazilian semi-washed coffee is that the former does not need to be touched with water, because it is necessary to select flawless red fruits so that the pectin is sweet. The pectin remover of the honey processing method has higher requirements and must accurately control the thickness of the pectin removed, just like a grinder.

The main difference between the [white honey] and [yellow honey] processing is the "difference in drying thickness". The drying thickness determines the drying speed and drying uniformity, which in turn affects the sweetness and fermentation degree of the coffee.

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