Honey Process Coffee Beans

Honey processing sits between washed and natural. After the cherry's skin is removed, some or all of the sticky mucilage (the "honey") stays on the bean during drying. Yellow honey has the least mucilage remaining, red honey keeps more, and black honey retains nearly all of it. Each level produces a different balance of sweetness, body, and acidity.

Honey processing became popular in Costa Rica partly out of necessity. Water scarcity pushed producers to find methods that used less water than traditional washing, and what started as a practical solution turned into a processing style Costa Rica is now known for.

If you like more body and sweetness than a washed coffee but want something cleaner and more structured than a full natural, honey-processed coffees are worth exploring.

Our current honey-processed offering is Minor Jimenez's red-honey-processed Catuai from Costa Rica. Red honey is hard to get right. You get the added sweetness and body from the mucilage without losing the acidity and clarity that make Costa Rican coffee so enjoyable. Minor's lots consistently nail this balance, and it's a coffee that works well across brewing methods.