Processing...
Along with roast, processing is probably the most profound influencer of coffee flavour. The term refers to range of methods used to remove the coffee bean from its cherry and the way it is dried and prepared afterwards.
Natural Process
Whole coffee cherries are picked and then dried gradually in the sun or in drying rooms before the dried pulp is rubbed off to remove the seeds (beans) inside. Extended contact time between the seed and the fruit, along with fermentation of the sugars in the cherry deliver complex and fruity coffees with full and syrupy bodies. Increasingly these contact times are being extended and manipulated by producers to highlight these boozy or funky, fermented flavours. Terms like “carbonic maceration” or “anaerobic” describe methods that take fermentation into new places with correspondingly wild and complex results.
Washed Process
Whole cherries are pulped to remove the flesh and the beans are then soaked and washed to remove all traces of the sticky fruit residue and parchment casing. These can then be more swiftly dried in the sun or in purpose-built drying rooms. Washed coffees tend to be clean, crisp and balanced, with minimal fermentation.
Honey Process (Pulped Natural)
The whole cherry is pulped and then the beans are dried with some of the fruit and sticky, mucilage-covered parchment still attached. As with the method the flavours present in these coffees tend fall somewhere between those developed by the washed and natural processes. Honey processed coffees can be graded further as either “yellow”, “red” or “black”, depending on how much mucilage is left behind on the bean prior to drying.
Decaffeination
Decaffeinated coffee need not be a compromise. We source Specialty grade Central American single estate coffees - primarily from the AsproAgro Co-op in Peru – and roast them with the same care as we do their caffeinated cousins. Unlike cheaper commercial examples that are often harshly processed with industrial chemicals, our Lamplight Decaf is gently decaffeinated using the Swiss Water process for a sweet and full flavour.
