Washed vs. Honey Process Coffee: What Is the Difference?

If you are starting to explore specialty coffee, you will probably see words like washed, honey, and natural on coffee bags.

At first, I also thought these names were more complicated than they really are.

The coffee bean starts inside a coffee cherry. Before we can roast it, we need to remove the fruit around the seed and dry the coffee correctly. There are different ways to do this, and the method used can have a big influence on the final flavor.

In Costa Rica, one of the most interesting methods is the honey process.

Costa Rica is widely credited with developing and popularizing the modern honey process, especially through the small coffee mills, or micro mills, that became important in the Costa Rican coffee industry. It became a way for producers to create more flavor differences while also working with the particular conditions of Costa Rican coffee production.

So, what exactly is the difference between washed and honey coffee?

Let's start from the beginning.

First, what is inside a coffee cherry?

Coffee is a fruit.

The coffee bean that we roast is actually the seed inside the coffee cherry.

A coffee cherry normally has several layers:

• The outer skin
• The fruit or pulp
• A sticky layer called mucilage
• The parchment
• The green coffee seed

After harvesting, the producer needs to process the cherries and remove these layers before the coffee can eventually be roasted.

This is where the different processing methods begin to make a difference.

The important thing to understand is that washed and honey coffees are not different types of coffee beans.

They can come from the same coffee variety, the same farm, and even the same coffee trees.

The difference is mainly what happens to the coffee after it is picked.

And this can change the flavor quite a lot.

What is washed coffee?

Washed coffee is probably the process that sounds the simplest.

After the coffee cherries are harvested, the outer skin and pulp are removed using a depulping machine.

But there is still a sticky layer of fruit called mucilage attached to the parchment.

In traditional washed processing, this mucilage is removed, often through fermentation and washing.

The coffee is then dried until it reaches the appropriate moisture level for storage.

The idea is basically:

Coffee cherry → remove pulp → remove mucilage → wash → dry

Because most of the fruit material is removed relatively early, the coffee's final flavor tends to show more of the characteristics of the coffee itself and the environment where it was grown.

This is one reason washed coffees are often described as being:

• Clean
• Bright
• Crisp
• Floral
• Citrus-like
• Tea-like
• Acidic in a pleasant way

Of course, this is not a rule.

A washed coffee can have many different flavors depending on the variety, altitude, soil, climate, fermentation, drying, roasting, and brewing.

But when people talk about a "clean cup," washed coffees are often what they have in mind.

Why do I like washed coffee?

Coming from Costa Rica, I grew up around coffee, but I did not always think about processing in the way specialty coffee people do today.

For me, coffee was simply coffee.

Later, I started understanding that two coffees from the same country can taste completely different.

A good washed Costa Rican coffee can have this very nice combination of acidity, sweetness, and clarity.

Sometimes you get something that reminds you of citrus.

Sometimes flowers.

Sometimes apple or stone fruit.

And sometimes there is a very clean sweetness that is difficult to describe.

It is not necessarily a coffee that tastes "strong."

Instead, it can be very precise.

You can taste different things as the coffee cools down.

So what is honey coffee?

This is where Costa Rica becomes particularly interesting.

Despite the name, honey coffee does not contain honey.

There are no bees involved.

The name comes from the sticky, honey-like mucilage that remains attached to the coffee parchment during processing.

In the honey process, the coffee cherry is depulped, but instead of completely removing the mucilage, the producer leaves some of it on the parchment while the coffee dries.

So, compared with washed processing:

Washed: most or all of the mucilage is removed before drying.

Honey: some of the mucilage remains during drying.

That is the basic idea.

But in Costa Rica, it became much more sophisticated than simply "leaving some fruit on the coffee."

The Costa Rican connection

The honey process is strongly associated with Costa Rica and the development of the country's micro mill movement.

Costa Rica has a very different coffee structure from some of the world's larger coffee-producing countries.

For a long time, many small farmers delivered their coffee cherries to larger mills.

But the growth of micro mills gave producers much more control over what happened after harvesting.

This was important because processing is not just a technical step.

It can be part of the identity of the coffee.

Costa Rican producers started experimenting with how much mucilage to leave on the parchment, how quickly to dry the coffee, how to manage the drying beds, and how to control fermentation and moisture.

This helped create several different styles of honey processing.

And this is where you start hearing names like yellow honey, red honey, and black honey.

Yellow, red, and black honey

You may see these terms on Costa Rican coffee bags.

They generally describe how much mucilage is left and how the coffee is managed during drying.

But there is an important point here.

There is no universal international standard saying exactly how much mucilage must remain for a coffee to be called yellow, red, or black honey.

Different producers can use the terminology differently.

Generally speaking, the idea is something like this:

Yellow honey

Less mucilage is generally left on the parchment.

The coffee can dry relatively quickly, especially under good Costa Rican weather conditions.

The result can be somewhere between a washed coffee and a more heavily processed honey coffee.

You may find good sweetness and fruit character while still getting a relatively clean cup.

Red honey

More mucilage is retained and the drying process is usually slower and more carefully managed.

The coffee can develop more body and sweetness.

Fruit characteristics can become more noticeable.

Black honey

A significant amount of mucilage is retained, and the coffee is generally dried much more slowly.

This requires more attention from the producer because the coffee needs to be protected from excessive moisture and unwanted fermentation.

Black honey coffees can have intense sweetness, heavier body, and more pronounced fruit characteristics.

But again, these are general descriptions.

The exact result depends on the producer.

A yellow honey from one farm can taste very different from a yellow honey from another farm.

The processing name gives you information, but it does not tell you everything.

Why does the mucilage matter?

This is one of the most interesting parts.

The mucilage contains sugars and other compounds.

When some of it remains attached to the coffee during drying, it can influence the environment around the seed and contribute to the characteristics of the final coffee.

But I would be careful with the common explanation that "the coffee absorbs all the sugar from the mucilage."

It is more complicated than that.

The coffee seed is not simply sitting there like a sponge absorbing sugar.

The effects of processing involve microbial activity, fermentation, drying conditions, chemical changes, and interactions between the coffee and its surrounding environment.

This is why two coffees processed with a similar method can still taste very different.

Coffee processing is not a simple recipe.

Washed vs. honey: how do they taste?

If I had to explain it in a very simple way, I would say:

Washed coffee often emphasizes clarity.

Honey coffee often emphasizes sweetness and body.

Again, this is not a scientific rule.

But it is a useful starting point.

A washed coffee might give you flavors like:

• Lemon
• Orange
• Bergamot
• Green apple
• Jasmine
• Black tea
• Stone fruit

A honey coffee might give you:

• Brown sugar
• Caramel
• Honey-like sweetness
• Ripe fruit
• Red berries
• Stone fruit
• Chocolate
• A fuller mouthfeel

And there can be a lot of overlap.

A honey coffee can be very clean.

A washed coffee can be very sweet.

The processing method is one part of the story, not the entire story.

The importance of drying

One thing that is sometimes forgotten when we talk about coffee processing is drying.

It is extremely important.

After the coffee is processed, it needs to dry slowly and evenly to reach a stable moisture level.

If drying happens too quickly, too slowly, or unevenly, the quality can suffer.

This is particularly important for honey coffees because the remaining mucilage can make the drying process more complicated.

Producers need to manage things like:

• Sun exposure
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Air circulation
• Turning the coffee
• Drying time
• Thickness of the coffee layer
• Weather conditions

In Costa Rica, producers have traditionally used raised beds, patios, greenhouses, and other drying systems.

The producer is basically managing the coffee through a long transition from fresh cherry to stable green coffee.

This takes time and experience.

Why would a producer choose honey instead of washed?

There is not one answer.

One reason is flavor.

A producer may believe that a particular coffee lot can become more interesting with honey processing.

Another reason is differentiation.

Costa Rica is not the world's largest coffee producer.

We cannot compete with countries that produce enormous quantities of coffee simply by producing more.

Instead, Costa Rican coffee has often competed through quality, traceability, variety, altitude, processing, and the identity of individual farms and micro mills.

Honey processing fits very well into this approach.

A producer can take a relatively small amount of high-quality coffee and process it in a very specific way.

This gives specialty coffee buyers another reason to pay attention to the lot.

Honey processing is not automatically better

This is important.

Sometimes people discover honey processing and immediately think:

"Honey must be better than washed."

Not necessarily.

There is no best processing method for every coffee.

A producer might have an excellent coffee variety grown at high altitude, and a washed process may show its floral and citrus characteristics beautifully.

Another coffee might become much more interesting as a honey.

The goal should not be to choose the process with the most fashionable name.

The goal is to use the process that works best for the coffee and the producer.

And sometimes the best answer is simply washed.

What about natural coffee?

There is another major processing method that is useful to understand.

In natural processing, the coffee cherry is dried more or less whole before the fruit is removed.

The simplified process is:

Coffee cherry → dry whole cherry → remove dried fruit → green coffee

This is different from honey processing.

With honey, the coffee is depulped first and some mucilage remains around the parchment during drying.

With natural processing, the coffee dries inside the entire coffee cherry.

Naturals can produce very fruity, sweet, sometimes wine-like or fermented flavors.

So you can think about the three processes roughly like this:

Washed: fruit is removed early.

Honey: some mucilage remains during drying.

Natural: the whole cherry dries around the seed.

There are also many variations and experimental processes between these categories.

Does processing change the coffee's caffeine?

Not in the simple way that people sometimes assume.

The processing method does not turn a high-caffeine coffee into a low-caffeine coffee or vice versa.

Caffeine content is influenced much more by factors such as the coffee species, variety, roast, brewing method, and amount of coffee used.

Processing can influence the chemistry and flavor of the coffee, but I would not choose washed versus honey based on caffeine.

Choose based on what you like to drink.

Which one should you try?

If you are new to specialty coffee, I recommend trying coffees processed in different ways.

Don't only compare countries.

Compare processing methods.

For example, if you can find a washed Costa Rican coffee and a honey Costa Rican coffee from similar altitudes, try them side by side.

Prepare them using the same brewing method.

Then taste them while they are hot.

Taste them again after a few minutes.

And then taste them when they are cooler.

You might be surprised.

The coffee that you like most when it is hot may not be your favorite once it cools down.

This is one of the things I like about specialty coffee.

You don't need to be an expert to notice differences.

You just need to pay attention.

A Costa Rican way of doing coffee

For me, the honey process is interesting because it represents something that I think is very Costa Rican.

We are not trying to reinvent coffee from zero.

We take something that has been part of Costa Rican agriculture for generations and keep experimenting with it.

The development of micro mills gave producers more control.

They could experiment with fermentation, drying, varieties, altitude, and processing.

And the honey process became one of the most recognizable results of this experimentation.

Today, when you see "Costa Rica Honey Process" on a specialty coffee bag, you are seeing more than a description of how the coffee was processed.

You are seeing part of the evolution of Costa Rican coffee.

So, washed or honey?

If you like coffees that are bright, clean, floral, and crisp, start with a washed coffee.

If you prefer more sweetness, body, and fruit character, try a honey.

But don't make the decision based only on the label.

The farm, altitude, variety, harvest, producer, drying conditions, roasting, and brewing all matter.

And this is why coffee can be so interesting.

The same country can produce coffees that taste completely different.

The same farm can produce different coffees.

And sometimes the same coffee can taste completely different depending on how you brew it.

For a Costa Rican coffee lover like me, that is part of the fun.

You don't have to become a coffee scientist.

Just try different coffees, pay attention to what you taste, and find what you like.

And if you see a Costa Rican honey process coffee, give it a try.

There is a good chance you are tasting one of the processing traditions that helped make Costa Rican specialty coffee so interesting.