Washed or Natural? How to choose the beans that are right for you

Have you ever wondered how coffee is processed once harvested? Once the coffee is picked from the coffee trees, it must be processed. There are many ways this can be done and there are many new exciting experimental processes being used in the industry which are giving us some wonderful tasting coffees.

The two most common processes you will see are natural and washed.

The natural process is the oldest method. Once picked, the coffee (with fruit left on) is laid out in a thin layer and left in the sun to dry. The process itself adds flavours to the coffee. The coffees are often more funky in flavour with particularly strong fruity flavours.

The more common process you will see in the speciality coffee world, is washed. The washed process involves removing all the sticky flesh from the coffee seed before it's dried. Once picked, the outer skin and most of the fresh fruit is removed with a depulping machine. The coffee is then moved to a clean tank of water where the remainder of the flesh is removed by fermentation.

The washed coffees often have higher levels of acidity, increased complexity and are often referred to as having a cleaner cup. I tend to describe them as less 'funky'.

We've sourced two new beautiful coffees from John and Claudia at The Green Collection. One washed Buena Vista and one natural La Esperanza. If you want to discover how processing can impact flavour, give them both a try.

Both our coffees are from Tolima in the Andean region in the centre-west of Colombia, one of the most isolated and highest coffee producing regions of Colombia. With dizzyingly high altitudes of up to 2000 metres above sea level (masl), the ground is enriched with volcanic soils, woodland and mountain streams, producing coffee that is super rich in flavour, full bodied and wonderfully balanced.