Washed process coffee

What is washed process coffee?

Washed process coffee is coffee whose fruit is removed before the beans are dried. The cherries are pulped, the sticky layer left on the beans is broken down by fermentation or scrubbed off by machine, and the beans are rinsed clean and dried in their parchment. It is also called the wet process, and it is one of three traditional methods.

How the wet process works

Wikipedia's coffee production article walks through the steps:

1. The harvested cherries are cleaned and sorted. In water, light material floats off, including cherries that dried on the tree and underweight fruit.
2. Pulping machines strip off the skin and pulp, leaving the bean in its parchment with a slippery layer of mucilage still clinging to it.
3. The mucilage comes off in one of two ways. In the classic method the beans ferment, in water or in their own juices, for roughly twelve to thirty-six hours, until the parchment feels gritty rather than slimy. The newer way scrubs the mucilage off mechanically.
4. The beans are washed thoroughly in clean water, then dried.

The two ways of removing mucilage do not taste the same. Mechanically cleaned beans are described as having a sharper acidity, and fermented beans a juicier, finer one. Fermenting under water is said to emphasize acidity and aroma and soften astringency.

Why washed coffee matters to the cup

The International Trade Centre, quoted in the same article, calls the washed method the most common of the three and, of the three, the one that produces the highest quality most, while warning that it takes considerable skill and a great deal of water.

That water has a cost. Conventional wet processing can use 20 to 100 cubic meters of water per tonne of green coffee, and the fermentation wastewater carries a heavy organic load that has to be kept out of rivers. Farms that recycle water and move beans without it can bring use under 10 cubic meters a tonne.

Washed vs natural vs honey process

Descriptions summarize Wikipedia's coffee production article. The International Coffee Organization's price groups count Colombian milds and other milds, mainly from Central America, as washed coffees.

Washed and natural side by side, from Washington roasters

The easiest way to taste the difference is to buy the same origin processed two ways, and some Washington roasters we list sell exactly that. From their own shops, checked September 27, 2026:

• Indaba Coffee Roasters in Spokane sells an Ethiopia Washed and an Ethiopia Natural.
• Zoka Coffee in Bellingham sells Peru Felipe Estela El Roble Washed and an Ethiopia Nguisse Nare Natural.
• Kuma Coffee in Seattle sells an Ethiopia Natural Bookkisa and a Costa Rica Black Honey from Don Mayo, alongside other Ethiopian lots.
• Olympia Coffee Roasting lists an Ethiopia Benti Nenka Natural next to an Ethiopia Banko Gotiti.

We list these roasters as local favorites; a listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club. Several of them buy straight from the farms that do this processing, such as Zoka's Family Direct Trade and Olympia's direct trade work in nine countries, so a Washington purchase reaches the farm as well as the roastery. Why local roasters matter has more.

Finding washed coffees in the club

Choose Single origin as the style in the plan builder. Look for the process in the coffee's name, as in the lots above; our packing slip carries the roaster's tasting notes. A light roast shows the process most clearly. Your ratings steer the next bag, so tell us when a washed coffee is the one you liked. $16.99 a bag; first bag free, you pay $7.99 shipping.

Related terms and sources

Related: light roast, natural process, honey process, mucilage, parchment, wet-hulled, single origin.

• Wikipedia: Coffee production (wet, dry and semi-dry processing, water use, ICO groups)