Washed process
The fruit is removed before drying. Clean, predictable, and it shows you the origin.
A coffee bean is the seed of a fruit. In the washed process the fruit is pulped shortly after picking, the remaining sticky layer is removed by fermentation in water or by scrubbing, and the bean is dried clean.
What that means in the cup: a cleaner, more defined flavour. Less “fruit juice” character, more straightforward acidity and a more precise sense of the origin. When someone calls a coffee “clean”, it is usually washed.
Why it is the most common: it is predictable. There is less room for error than in the dry process, which is why most Central American and East African specialty lots are washed.
Examples in our range: our Guatemalan Waykan and our Ethiopian Yirgacheffe lot are both washed. One is nutty and toffee-like, the other floral — the process is the same, and the difference belongs to the origin.
Environmental footprint: the classic washed process uses a lot of water. More and more mills work with water-saving or closed-loop versions.