When harvesting or picking coffee berries, the beans must be removed from the berry. There are four different methods to do this, and each method may vary from country to country and between regions. There is the dry method, the wet processing or washed method, the semi-dry method, which may also be called the semi-washed, pulped natural, or the honey method depending on the country, and there is the fairly new anaerobic method. Here we will explain the pulped natural processing method.
Pulped Natural Processing Method
The pulped natural, semi-washed (or semi-dry) or honey process is a combination of the dry and the wet methods. A depulper (or demucilaging machine) removes the skin – that is, the outer skin – of the coffee berry. Only the sweet mushy part of the pulp around the bean – and with it the tasty flavours – is preserved, because the skin contains too much bitterness. Then the beans are laid on terraces or tables to dry. This process allows you to actually combine the sweetness of the dry process with the homogeneous and fresher flavours of the washed method.
As mentioned in the beginning there are 4 different types of processing coffee beans. If you would like to know more about the other 3 methods, we recommend you to read the following blogs:
- The dry coffee bean processing method
- The washed coffee bean processing method
- The anaerobic coffee bean processing method