The Beans

Processing
After harvesting, the cherries must be processed to remove the fruit from the seed (or bean). There are a number of ways in which this processing can occur but they can be loosely grouped into three major categories: dry (or natural), wet (or washed), and semi-washed (or pulped-natural).

The dry method is oldest processing method of coffee. In it, the beans a spread out in a thin layer and left to dry in the sun. The key to quality dry method processing is making sure all the beans dry equally and at the same rate and that fermentation (when beans get excess moisture) does not occur. This is accomplished through raking the bean and keeping them moving.

In contrast to drying the fruit there is the wet processing method. In this process, the cherries are first pulped by machine, which means the skin is taken off. After pulping, beans are left to sit with natural enzymes and bacteria which actually eat the remaining fruit flesh. After fermentation the beans are washed and dried.

Somewhere between wet and dry methods lies a hybrid called the semi-washed method. It is only used with any significance in two regions of the world - Brazil and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.  In semi-washing the skin is pulped as in the wet method, however instead of removing the sticky fruit through fermentation the fruit is allowed to dry on the bean and then removed mechanically as in the dry method.