Process, Process, Process

SL.OWstackers! How has your week been? Would love to hear in the comments below what everyone has been sipping on lately and any coffee chat you’ve got for us!

I’ll be honest I was a bit stumped this week with what to write about until I was looking at some of the processing methods that were on samples we got sent this week. I’m a coffee professional and I feel I’m struggling to keep up with all that’s coming out.

Processing methods when I first knew about coffee consisted of mainly Washed, Natural and Honey. There’s much more now.

Washed process - involves de-pulping the coffee after picking, then fermenting the coffee in water tanks to soften and remove the sticky mucilage. The beans are then washed clean with more water, before being dried and shipped to roasters. I liked to think of washed coffee as one you can drink all day. They aren’t funky, just yum.

Natural process - Coffee cherries are picked, laid out in the sun on concrete slabs or raised beds to dry, then the dried skin and pulp is dry milled (pulled off) to get to the green beans inside. This is a slow process and can take as long as 3-6 weeks. Natural process coffee are often bright, bold and fruity. These are my personal favourite. Particulary, our latest one from Carmen Estate Panama. It tastes largely like pineappppples!!!

Honey process - Honey processing involves leaving a particular amount of flesh and mucilage on the coffee as it dries. A similar technique to this is pulped natural processing, which was first developed in Brazil. This method is when the fruit and skin are removed, but the mucilage is left intact as the coffee dries. Ultimately, this helps to reduce the drying time.

In layman’s terms farmers started to try adding another part to these processing methods where they fermented the coffee cherry with or without oxygen (aerobic/anaerobic). This has been a game changer in the industry enabling roasters to get some coffee with insane FUNK and many different cup profiles never before discovered. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, or coffee in this case. That’s where processing methods like Carbonic Maceration or Lactic Acid fermentation have developed from. Link here to descriptions on those.

A lot of the innovation and methods have been dragged across from the Natural wine industry which have been using these methods for a long time. I love hearing of a new processing method and being able to try it. 

Sound fun? Discover Panama is avaliable online now. Same coffee, different methods.

We now not only have all the methods above; and more! We now also have infused methods. This is where by coffee will go through it’s normal processing method but then have something added to it like essential oils or simply fermenting the coffee with apples in the barrel.

What this does is give the coffee a super clear tasting note and makes it easy to identify for the consumer. There’s debate of whether this is cool or not in more simple terms. Some think it goes against everything coffee stands for by basically injecting the flavour into it as opposed to those flavours being achieved more naturally by the farmer, roaster and barista. Others are excited by the flavour clarity it creates to help teach consumers what those tasting notes really are like that they see on the bag!

I’ll leave it to you guys to decide on what side of the fence you sit. I hope you’re enjoying your coffee by the way.

Finally, if you’re in the Waikato area. I have great news - we are hosting a pop up this weekend at Super Kiosk (60 Victoria St, Cambridge. Down the lane.) on Saturday from 9-3pm. I’ll be there on the tools serving up silky flat whites, long black and filter coffee. It’ll be epic. See you there.

Enjoy your weekend team!

Sam

the world moves fast. slow down.