Coffee needs to be washed? Three ways to rediscover the secret of coffee

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In addition to buying coffee in chain superstores or coffee shops, many people also choose to buy a cup of coffee in a coffee shop and sit for a day. However, in the face of menu "sun", "washing", "honey treatment" is always foggy and do not know how to point? Just ask the editor to briefly introduce the handling of these coffees, so that you can have a sense of hierarchy in your coffee next time!

Coffee beans ≠ coffee fruit?

The fruit of coffee is yellow or red when ripe, and it looks like a smaller cherry, so it is also called coffee cherry (Coffee Cheery). What we usually call coffee beans are actually the seeds in the coffee fruit, not the coffee fruit (the concept of drinking seeds). Coffee fruit is composed of pericarp, pulp, pectin, silver skin and seeds. The so-called coffee treatment is the process of separating coffee beans from the fruit. According to the different treatment methods, it will also affect the flavor of coffee beans after brewing. At present, the most common treatment methods can be divided into three treatment methods: sun treatment, water washing and honey treatment.

Exposure to the aroma of coffee-sun treatment (Nature/Dry Process)

As the name implies, the coffee fruit is exposed to the sun to dry the water in the fruit, during which the fruit needs to be turned continuously to ensure uniform drying. This process lasts for more than two weeks (some also use a dryer to speed up the drying) until the sun drying process ends when the fruit moisture is about 10% left. later, the dried fruit is removed and the coffee beans are removed.

This method has the longest history, but also the simplest, can be said to be the most natural coffee treatment. However, because the sun drying process is difficult to fully control, there will be problems such as drying coffee beans for too long or mildew caused by pulp rot.

Washing off excess impurities-Water washing treatment (Washed Process)

The way of washing is different from that of the sun, and the pectin layer is removed by fermentation. First of all, the pulp and exocarp are removed, and then the outer layer of the fruit is fermented with water, and the pectin layer is decomposed by the fermentation process. After about three days of fermentation, wash the residual impurities with clean water, then air-dry and remove the endocarp, that is, complete the treatment process.

The washing method consumes a lot of clean water in the process, and it is not suitable to be carried out in areas where there is a shortage of water, except for the high cost. In addition, the outer pericarp and pulp were removed by washing method to avoid the deterioration caused by fruit mildew.

Honey fragrance is exposed to the sun-honey treatment (Honey/Semi-washed Process)

The so-called honey treatment is to add a procedure to remove the exocarp and pulp during the sun exposure. After removing the outer pulp, the coffee beans containing pectin layer and endocarp are dried in the sun; according to the amount of pectin residue and exposure time, it will be subdivided into different categories such as yellow honey, red honey, black honey and so on. Honey treatment can be said to be an improved version of the sun method, which can avoid mildew and decay caused by pulp, but also does not need to consume a lot of water resources, so it can be said to kill two birds with one stone. However, due to the stickiness of the pectin layer during drying, it needs to be turned frequently to avoid the decay caused by the sticking of the fruit; if the drying time is too long, it will also be overfermented, affecting the taste of the output.

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