Honey process is a method in which coffee cherries are picked and sorted, have their skins and pulps removed like other types of coffee and moved to patios (or african beds) where it stays without washing off the sticky-sweet outer layer of the fruit.
It remains on the patios to dry until it has reached the desired humidity. During the drying processes the honey process follows the natural method, and the mucilage dries on the exterior of the coffee bean. This remaining mucilage layer gives the coffee a sweet and almost honey-flavored taste, hence the name of the process. And, because of the shorter fermentation period the coffee acquires an acidity halfway between natural and washed coffees.
The flavor components of honey coffees are varied and complex. Like wet method coffees, they have cleaner bodies than dry method coffees. Honey processed coffees have richer notes of syrupy sweetness due to the left-over mucilage.
Honey processing coffee
