After picking the ripe coffee cherries collected from the Coffea plant, the coffee beans are extracted by using a specific processing method. As already said in our last blog, there are 3 main processing methods: washed (or wet) process; dry (or natural) process and honey (or semi-dry) process.
🌱The Natural Process is the most ancient and straightforward method. The coffee cherry is harvested and then set-out to dry with the fruit and skin intact and the coffee beans inside. The coffee bean and the coffee cherry dry together and are separated at the end of the drying process.
☀️The drying of natural coffee can take a long-time and is labour-intensive. It requires considerably less water than other processing methods and is, in this sense, environmentally superior. This is also why it is used in parts of the world with water shortage.
However, this method is often not the preferred processing option by farmers because the slow and often very variable drying conditions makes the coffees develop rotten or overly “funky” flavours. Now you know :).
Finally, you can learn more about our selection of Moving Beans coffees here.
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