Washed process is the standard against which most other processing methods are measured. The washed process coffee beans on this page have been depulped within hours of picking, fermented in tanks to remove the sticky mucilage, rinsed clean with water, and then dried — leaving you with a cup that tastes like the bean itself, not the fruit around it.
That's the whole point. By stripping away the cherry early, washed coffee gives you a cleaner, brighter, more transparent expression of the origin, varietal and altitude. If you want to taste what Yirgacheffe actually tastes like, what Huila actually tastes like, what a Bourbon varietal actually tastes like — washed is the best window.
Common washed-process flavour notes include citrus (lemon, bergamot, orange), stone fruit (peach, apricot), florals (jasmine, rose), black tea, milk chocolate, almond, and crisp acidity. The body tends to be lighter than naturals or wet-hulled coffees, the finish cleaner, and the acidity more pronounced. It's the processing style that taught a generation of baristas what "third-wave" specialty coffee was supposed to feel like.
You'll find washed lots from every major origin on this page — Ethiopian Yirgacheffes and Sidamos, Colombian Huilas and Nariños, Kenyans, Costa Ricans, Guatemalans, Panama Geishas. The water-intensive nature of the process means it's most common in regions with reliable water access.
If you're using a pour-over, V60, Chemex or AeroPress, washed process coffees are usually where you'll learn the most about your brewing technique. Browse the washed selection below, or go back to the full shop.