What are the flavor and taste characteristics of honey-treated coffee beans? What kind of coffee is suitable for making coffee beans with honey?

When talking about coffee with obvious sweetness, the first thing that comes to mind in Qianjie is honey-treated coffee beans. Qianjie musicians' series of coffee beans are treated with honey. Hand-brewed coffee often presents the fermented sweetness of preserved fruit and tropical fruit, which is loved by many female guests.

Why is it called "honey treatment"?

The structure of a coffee fruit can be divided into pericarp, pulp, pectin, sheepskin, silver skin, seed, we drink coffee is the innermost seed. To get the innermost coffee beans, there are traditionally two ways to treat raw beans: washing and tanning.

The washing treatment is that the fresh coffee fruit is peeled off by the peeling machine, and then dried to a stable water density after a large amount of water washing, while the sun treatment is to dry the fresh coffee fruit directly to the corresponding water density, and finally peel off the shell. Honey treatment can be said to neutralize the above two, so it is also called half-sun / half-water washing, which is more common in Central and South American countries.

When producers use honey treatment, they first pour the fresh coffee fruit into the sink through flotation to remove the undermature fruit and impurities, and then use a peeling machine to plane off the outermost layer of the fruit. Different from the water washing method, the fresh coffee fruit does not rinse with a lot of water to remove the pectin, but retain the pectin and dry it. Because there is sugar in pectin, the state is sticky, it is easy to remind people of honey, so it is named honey treatment.

Compared with water washing, honey treatment does not need a lot of fresh water and related equipment, and reduces the defective and negative flavor caused by exposure to the sun for a long time. The coffee treated with honey generally shows full tropical fruit flavor and sweet fermentation on the cup test, and the overall taste is fresh and sour.

What are the types of honey treatment?

The next step in honey treatment is that the coffee seed is fermented while the sticky mucus still exists. According to the sugar content and fermentation state of the fresh coffee fruit, the manufacturer will give different names, such as white honey, yellow honey, red honey and black honey. A darker color means that coffee seeds ferment longer in mucus and pectin is more oxidized.

White honey treatment is the closest processing method to water washing treatment. Raw beans retain 40-60% pectin and have the shortest fermentation time. It is usually dried in the open air and needs to be flipped frequently to maintain the upper limit of enzyme and bacterial activity. Shortly after drying, wash the mucus with water, and then dry the coffee beans for export.

The yellow honey treatment will also retain about 60% of the pectin, which will take a little longer than the white honey treatment, but it still belongs to rapid fermentation, and the whole sun drying time is about 7-8 days.

Red honey treatment is the perfect middle zone between washing and tanning, and red honey is also the most common way of honey treatment. The treatment of red honey takes two to three weeks to dry, so natural changes in the weather will slow down or accelerate fermentation accordingly. With the further development of honey treatment, it becomes more and more important for farmers or dry processing plant operators to turn coffee beans skillfully and diligently. If the fermentation reaction is unstable, coffee can easily become sour, moldy or produce a negative taste.

Black honey treatment is the coffee with the highest degree of fermentation in honey treatment. This is closest to the taste of full-sun processed coffee. Black honey craft coffee usually costs the most because it takes a long time to ferment for at least two weeks, depending on the weather. This is because you need to be careful and careful when fermenting raw beans to give the finished coffee a richer fruit flavor through additional fermentation. Coffee treated with black honey tends to be wild in flavor, showing a strong sense of sweetness and mellow, and sometimes tastes like red wine.

What is the treatment of raisin honey?

Honey treatment is to peel off the outer layer of coffee, and then ferment and dry it, while raisin honey treatment is an innovative honey treatment way to break away from the traditional honey treatment. Before removing the peel and flesh, the coffee fruit treated with raisin honey will be dried on an elevated bed for at least three days, leaving the fruit dehydrated and shriveled into a "raisin" state, then peeled and fleshed, and continue to complete the subsequent honey treatment steps.

Raisin honey treatment is characterized by "retaining 100% pectin" and "zero water treatment", which increases the difficulty of raisin honey processing. According to Qianjie understanding and analysis, this requires strict control of time, which is more difficult than black honey treatment. The process of drying raw beans first allows the fragrant flavor of the flesh to infiltrate into the raw beans under the heating of the sun, so the coffee treated with raisin honey not only has a rich fragrance of flowers and fruits, but also has a clear sweet and sour spectrum. The two coffee beans from Costa Rica on the Qianjie daily bean list are treated with raisin honey: the musician series of Bach coffee and Milasu rose summer strawberry sugar coffee.

Which kind of brewing method is suitable for honey-treated coffee beans?

As mentioned above in Qianjie, honey-treated coffee has a variety of fruit flavors and higher sweetness than other sun-and water-washing treatments, so it is more acceptable even for people who do not drink black coffee often. If you want to taste the flavor of honey-treated coffee, Qianjie thinks that hand-brewed black coffee is the most suitable.

Hand-to-hand suggestion:

Filter cup: V60

Water temperature: 90 degrees Celsius

Grinding degree: the screening rate of No. 20 standard screen is 80%.

Ratio of powder to water: 1:15

Amount of powder: 15g

Segmented extraction:

First, moisten the coffee powder layer evenly with 30g of water and steam for 30 seconds, then inject the second stage with 95g water at a uniform speed from the inside to the outside, until the water level drops to the position of 2amp 3 of the filter cup powder layer, you can start to inject 100g of the third stage, pay attention to the whole process of small water flow, about 2 minutes and 10 seconds after the completion of dripping, remove the filter cup.

Hand flavor of Baja coffee: ripe fruit, dark berries, caramel biscuits, dark chocolate finish

Hand flavor of strawberry sugar coffee: preserved fruit, red flowers, strawberries, grapes, berries

Of course, there is more than one way to extract coffee with honey. If you want to drink refreshing taste, Qianjie will also use ice drops and cold extraction to extract. The low temperature environment reduces the release of bitter substances in the coffee. The ice drop coffee made of strawberry sugar in the front street shows the sweetness of preserved fruit like raisins. After a night of precipitation and fermentation, it has an obvious fruit wine flavor, which is very popular with guests in the front street.

Professional coffee knowledge exchange more coffee bean information please follow the coffee workshop (Wechat official account cafe_style)

For more boutique coffee beans, please add private Qianjie coffee on Wechat. WeChat account: qjcoffeex