What is the classification of coffee honey treatment? What are the taste characteristics of honey-treated coffee?

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Honey treatment has nothing to do with honey. In honey treatment, "honey" means the pectin layer of coffee beans that is as sticky as honey (mucilage). The sun method will directly remove the shell and pectin layer, while the water washing method will use fermentation to remove the pectin layer, and only the honey treatment will retain the pectin layer.

Honey treatment will remove the outer pulp of coffee beans, retain the sticky pectin layer (mucilage), this layer of pectin is very slippery, sugar is very high and acidic, the coffee beans with pectin layer will be exposed to the sun, coffee farmers need to frequently turn the coffee beans to avoid mildew, exposure time is too short and unable to transfer the pectin layer to the coffee beans, timing and moisture control are very important.

After the thick peel of the coffee cherry is removed, the sticky pulp layer below it is retained. Next, it does not use fermentation to remove the sticky pulp layer. Instead, it is allowed to dry directly with this layer, and then remove the sticky layer and shell. But the difficulty is that during the drying process, as the sticky pulp layer is still on the coffee beans, it must be turned frequently in the first few days to prevent the coffee beans from sticking together. Therefore, it requires more labor than the general washing method, and the labor cost is higher.

< advantages >

The advantage of honey treatment is to enhance the Body and sweetness of coffee, relatively reduce its acidity, and the aroma will be more meticulous, and the quality of raw beans can be the same as that of water washing, but this is the taste when honey treatment is carried out perfectly. if it is not handled well, the flavor will be worse than water washing or sun exposure, and it will taste dirty and have a strong local flavor.

To put it simply, honey treatment is a way to remove the sticky pulp after removing the peel of coffee cherries, then dry it, and then remove the pulp layer and pectin layer, but it needs to be turned continuously with high frequency during drying to avoid mildew caused by sticking between the pulp; at the same time, it is also necessary to avoid excessive fermentation, so it will require more manpower and time costs than other treatment methods.

When talking about honey treatment in detail, the retention ratio of pulp can be roughly divided into the following categories.

10% to 15% pulp [white honey]

30% 40% flesh [yellow honey]

50% fresh 60% pulp [red honey]

70% 80% flesh [black honey]

Basically, the more pulp you leave, the sweeter and thicker the body will be.

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