Washed Process Coffee
Our current selection of washed coffee beans. Want to find out more about what happens to a coffee during the washed process? Find out more in our guide to washed coffee processing here. A freshly picked coffee cherry needs to have the fruit removed to get to the seed inside - the coffee bean. The washed process does this by first removing most of the fruit using a machine (a depulper) and then leaving the green coffee bean with their mucilage (fruit flesh which is left on the bean) in water. The fruit mucilage breaks down and leaves just the green bean behind. There are lots of variations to this, like using smaller or larger amounts of water and replacing the water with clean fresh water partway through, but we call all of these coffees washed processed. Typically, washed processed coffees have a bit more acidity and cleaner flavours - although this can vary a lot.
