Hi, I’m Prunella from “Le Piantagioni del Caffè” and today I am talking about post-harvest processing methods.

For Specialty coffee, once coffee cherries, the drupes, are harvested, they must be processed within 24 hours to avoid unwanted fermentations.
They can be processed following the three most known methods (there are many others but today we will touch on just three): natural, semi-washed and washed.
The natural method consists in harvesting the cherry and drying it as it is, with its skin and pulp, on a patio or suspended bed.
The semi-washed method requires harvesting the cherry, stripping it of its skin and leaving only the bean with its mucilage to dry on a patio or suspended bed.
The washed method entails harvesting the cherry, stripping it and taking only the bean with its mucilage. At this point, it is fermented in tanks with or without water according to the weather of the processing country.
These three processing methods applied to the same coffee, coming from the same farm, give three different aromas in the cup.
Natural coffee is sweeter and more full-bodied, semi-washed is the most balanced, and washed coffee is the most aromatic and acid.