A barista in Asheville showed me how to really taste the difference between washed and natural process beans

I was at a small coffee shop there called Pennycup last fall, just trying something new. The barista asked if I wanted to try two single-origin coffees side by side, both from Ethiopia but processed differently. She poured tiny cups of each and told me to look for a bright, clean taste in the washed one and a fruity, almost funky taste in the natural one. I could actually taste it, the natural one was like blueberries and the washed one was more like lemon. It totally changed how I pick my beans now. Has anyone else had a tasting moment that made a specific coffee term click for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagep199h ago

Read a blog post that explained it like @fox.david's blueberry muffin wine.

fox.david10h ago

That "fruity, almost funky taste" description is what did it for me. I spent years just nodding along when people said "natural process," but in my head it was just coffee. Then I had a cup that genuinely tasted like a blueberry muffin had a baby with a wine bottle. My first thought was "oh, this is what funky means." My second thought was "I have been pretending to know things for so long.