Washed (wet, fully washed)

Also wet process, fully washed, lavado

Washed coffee strips the fruit from the seed before drying. After pulping, the sticky mucilage is loosened by a short natural fermentation or by mechanical demucilagers, then rinsed off, and the parchment-covered seed is dried. The method uses the most water of the main routes and suits regions with reliable water and labour such as Central America, Colombia and East Africa. It gives the cleanest, most repeatable expression of a variety and terroir, which is why most grading and competition systems were built around it.

Fermentation
6–48h
Drying
2–15days
Water use
High
Dried to
10–12%moisture
  1. Ripe cherry
  2. Sort
  3. Pulp
  4. Ferment
  5. Wash
  6. Dry
  7. Hull
  8. Green

Step by step

Compare every method
  1. 01Float and sort ripe cherry in water
  2. 02Mechanically pulp to remove skin and most flesh
  3. 03Hold pulped seeds in tanks so microbes degrade the pectin-rich mucilage (6-48 h, water-submerged or dry)
  4. 04Wash and grade in channels to remove loosened mucilage
  5. 05Dry parchment on patios, raised beds or in mechanical driers to 10-12% moisture
  6. 06Rest, hull parchment, sort and grade

Cup tendencies

clean, bright acidity, consistent; fewer fermented or vinegary notes because soluble fermentation products are rinsed away

Risk

Over-fermentation and sour or onion defects if tanks run too long or too warm; heavy water demand and acidic wastewater from pulping and washing

Where it is used

Common in, per the method's sources

ColombiaKenyaGuatemalaCosta RicaHondurasRwandaEthiopiaMexicoPeru

Origins and regions that list it

BoliviaBrazilBurundiColombiaCosta RicaDemocratic Republic of the CongoEcuadorEl SalvadorEthiopiaGuatemalaHondurasIndiaIndonesiaJamaicaKenyaMalawiMexicoNicaraguaPanamaPapua New GuineaPeruRwandaTanzaniaUgandaUnited StatesVenezuelaVietnamGitegaKaruziKayanzaKirundoMuyingaNgoziCaranaviNor YungasSamaipataSud YungasSul de MinasIturiNorth KivuSouth KivuYunnanAntioquiaCaldasCaucaCundinamarcaHuilaNariñoQuindíoRisaraldaSantander

Other methods