Honduras Red Honey

Honey processing is a middle ground between natural processing and washed processing. Instead of completely removing the fruit – as washed processing does – the outer pulp is removed, but a sticky inner coating called mucilage is left behind during fermentation. The result is a coffee that is not as sweet and prone to variability as naturally processed coffee but also isn’t as clean tasting as washed process coffee.
As fermentation progresses, the mucilage changes color, getting darker over time. Coffee that is stopped relatively early in the fermentation process maintains its golden color and is called yellow honey process coffee. Coffee that ferments a bit longer gets a reddish hue and is called red honey process coffee. The final level is the darkest color and is simply called black honey process coffee.

How long the seed ferments also determines the taste. The more time spent fermenting, the fruitier the flavor gets. Yellow honey process coffee is sweeter and fruitier tasting than washed process coffee but still retains some of the fingerprints of the origin’s characteristic flavor profile. Black honey processed coffee, on the other hand, is extremely fruity, and almost all of the bean’s natural flavor is swamped by the sweetness from fermentation.