What is the difference between the taste steps of sun-dried coffee and washed coffee? Why is sun-cured coffee sweeter and washed coffee sour?

Sunning and washing with water are the two most traditional, commonly used and popular methods of coffee treatment. The difference in coffee flavors they produce has always been a topic that coffee guys are happy to discuss. Friends who buy beans at Qianjie offline stores in the past two days often consult Qianjie about the characteristics of sun-cured/washed coffee, with the purpose of wanting to be able to distinguish them in one go like a big shot.

In fact, it is not difficult to do this, it is really not difficult! In addition to drinking too much, we can also analyze the aroma characteristics of coffee by understanding the impact of processing on coffee, so as to quickly identify whether the coffee is sun-exposed or washed.

Brief introduction to the process of sunning and washing treatment Let's first take a look at the process of sunning treatment. The sun treatment process is very simple. Just like when drying peanuts, we only need to spread the harvested coffee cherries on any plane for drying, and wait until the coffee cherries dry to a certain extent.

If it is to be finer, not only will the thickness of the tiling be limited, but also special personnel will stir the coffee cherries during the sun treatment process to prevent some coffee cherries from becoming moldy because they are not exposed enough. risk.

The water washing process will be relatively complicated. After fresh coffee fruits are harvested, these fruits will be thrown into the pool for flotation, screening to remove those unripe, moldy and other defective fruits. Then workers will use a peeling machine to remove the peel and pulp of the coffee cherries, and some of the pectin will be retained. The coffee beans are transferred to a clean pool to soak and remove the pectin. When the pectin is dissolved in the pool, the coffee beans will be washed and then transferred to the drying bed for sun drying. After drying to a certain extent, the coffee washing treatment is completed.

It can be seen that the main difference between the two lies in the steps before drying. Sunning treatment is to dry the coffee beans together with the pulp and peel pectin, while washing treatment is to remove the peel and pulp fruit gum before starting drying.

The difference between sun-drying and water-washing coffee is as often said on the street. The purpose of drying coffee beans is to allow the coffee beans to be better stored, while the reason why washing treatment removes the pectin from the skin, pulp and then dries was earlier. The reason was simply to shorten the number of days of drying. But I never thought that such a practice would make a very obvious change in the taste of coffee. Coffee beans ferment during drying, which is a process that converts the substances held into various by-products including aroma substances. The more substances involved in fermentation and the deeper the degree of fermentation, the richer and stronger the aroma will be.

Since the sun treatment involves the entire fresh coffee fruit being dried and dried, the sugar in the pectin of the coffee pulp will also ferment under the sun, releasing fermented fruit acids and natural sugar into the interior of the coffee beans. Not only that, because the skin contains a lot of water, sun drying takes a longer time (this is the main reason for other treatments such as water washing and honey processing), and it usually takes about three weeks to complete the drying. Water washing, on the other hand, removes pectin from the peel and pulp before drying, so only coffee beans are involved in fermentation. Then the drying time will be relatively short, about a week or so.

Combined with the sharing in front of the street, we can know that the sun-treated coffee will have more complex flavor performance because of more substances involved in fermentation and deeper fermentation. On the contrary, washing treatment, because there are fewer substances involved in fermentation and the degree of fermentation is not so deep, their flavor performance will be more pure, reflecting more of the taste of coffee itself. But what we need to know is that complexity does not mean chaos, purity does not mean singleness. Sun-treated coffee also has a very clean appearance, and washing will also have a rich flavor.

In addition to the complexity of the flavor, the taste of coffee is also a difference that everyone talks about. "Coffee processed by washing will be more sour, and coffee processed by sun will be sweeter." Qianjie believes everyone has heard such a saying. However, the main reason for the difference comes from the degree of roasting of the coffee beans. Even if they are all medium and light roasting, sun-cured coffees will be a little deeper. Because sun-dried beans absorb more sugar and ferment deeper during processing, the chemical reaction in their body will be stronger during baking, which is also affected by the baking method.

Combining the above two points, Qianjie believes that everyone should be able to easily taste whether a cup of coffee is washed or sun-exposed. Next, Qianjie shares a comparison of a set of Ethiopian sun-cured coffee and washed coffee. You can refer to the differences between the two.

The sun-cured coffee selected here on Qianjie is Yejia Shefei·red cherries in the bean list, and the washed is Yejia Shefei·Guodin in the bean list. The brewing parameters are the same: powder amount is 15g, powder and water ratio is 1:15, water temperature is 92°C, grinding degree is 75%~80% of the sieve rate of No. 20, and extraction time is 2 minutes.

Sun-cured Yejia Shefei·Red Cherry: At the entrance, the sweetness of ripe fruits such as berries, sweet oranges, and apricots is fragrant, with a faint fragrance of flowers. When the temperature drops, the sweetness increases instead of decreasing. The overall taste is full and balanced. The finish is as warm as oolong tea, with a slight aroma of fermentation. Washed Yejia Shefei·Fruit Dingding: What you feel at the entrance is the fresh and bright acid of lemon, followed by the rich fragrance of flowers, the flavors of grapefruit and berries. When the coffee temperature drops slightly, we can taste some aroma similar to peach. The overall taste is light and smooth, the taste is sweet, sour and fresh, and the finish is clean green tea.

It can be seen that the difference between the two is still very obvious. Everyone can also compare and drink more when offline, which can effectively help everyone better identify the difference between the two. It is worth mentioning that the 20% discount on Qianjie 2 items is about to begin. Interested friends can pay attention. Don't say that Qianjie has no reminders if you miss it at that time ~

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