Insight: Washed vs Natural How process impacts flavour

How process impacts flavour

Washed. Natural. Two simple words that can change how your coffee tastes - from crisp citrus to jammy berry. Here’s what each process means, and how it impacts your cup.

The Process

When ripe, coffee looks like a red cherry. Hence the phrase ‘coffee cherry’. Inside are two seeds – these are known as coffee beans. Before the beans can be roasted, the fruit surrounding them (and the skin surrounding the fruit) has to be removed. The key difference between the washed process and the natural process is when this happens.
 
In the washed process, the harvested cherries are pulped quickly. Then they’re fermented in tanks to loosen any remaining sticky layers, then thoroughly washed in water (sometimes referred to as ‘rinsing’) before being dried.

The final stage is hulling – the removal of ‘parchment’ – a papery shell left after drying. What’s left is clean green beans, ready for shipping.
 
In the natural process, the harvested cherries dried whole, with the skin and fruit still intact around the seeds. As they dry, the sugars and pulp ferment slowly inside the cherry until the fruit becomes shrivelled, almost raisin-like.
Once fully dried, the same hulling process is used to remove any remaining fruit and prepare the beans for transport.

The Flavour

Because washed beans spend less time in contact with the fruit surrounding them, they often taste clean, bright, and precise - citrus, florals, chocolate or nutty sweetness.
 
Naturals, which dry inside the whole cherry, tend to absorb more sugars, often producing jammier fruit flavours, heavier body and less perceived acidity.

The Environment

In countries like Ethiopia, abundant rainfall and access to clean water make washed processing the logical choice. Smallholder farmers deliver freshly picked cherries to local washing stations, where communal infrastructure facilitates fermentation and rinsing at scale.
 
Additionally, the cooler, wetter climate makes sun-drying whole cherries riskier, so washing and soaking provide a more reliable way to achieve clean, consistent flavours.
 
In Brazil, long stretches of hot, dry weather during harvest create perfect conditions for sun-drying drying whole cherries evenly. Large, open farms and widespread use of mechanical dryers also make it easier to manage the huge volumes of fruit.
 
Together, this climate and infrastructure mean natural processing is not only practical, but often the most efficient and consistent way to prepare coffee at scale.