# Roasters, processing and grinding... but especially processing



## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

Where to start...

Like everyone, I'm trying to improve my coffee. I've chosen my equipment, which is a Cremina and HG One, and I want to stick with this equipment because I love using it, amongst other reasons.

My results have been a bit variable. It's probably taken me a year to work out how to consistently get good-looking pours. I'm there. If the visual indicators are right, I am getting my distribution right now, and the coffee should taste good. So the most important variable should be the bean... well I'm sure that's true anyway.

I started with Hasbean. I've always loved their way of doing things. They obviously know what they're doing, obviously care about both customers and suppliers, and they're doing a superb job. As I got deeper into my hobby, I realised that the coffees I've enjoyed the most are generally low acidity, and in some ways I don't want ultra complex layers of fruit. I like chocolate flavours, and not so much boozy or fruity. I started to experiment with other roasters, and found various forms of great coffee, generally darker roasts, and generally less complex. I also found that generally the darker coffees seem to be easier to get a good pour.. perhaps the bean splinters more easily or something. When they've been lighter, it's usually been the El Salvador or Brazilian beans that have floated my boat.

In the meantime, I kept up the SSSSS subscription with Hasbean, which keeps reminding me of what a wonderful job they do, and probably 2/3 of the coffee I've had on SSSSS goes straight into the yummy category. This gets me thinking that I've given up too easily, and maybe need help and advice.

So... for the first time, I started to look at which beans have been washed, natural, or pulped natural. I discovered that I've never had a pulped natural I didn't like. As far as I can see, none of the SSSSS was a pulped natural, which surprised me... they're mostly washed. I was thinking perhaps a good approach would be to order some pulped natural beans from Hasbean, or am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Do people choose their beans based on the processing?

I notice that Hasbean have a 5-pack of Santa Petrona which is different processing for different packs. Quite tempted to give that a go and see whether my pulped natural theory stands up.

I welcome any and all advice, but especially any help from @garydyke1 who must surely be the expert on the Hasbean range







If I had to summarise what I'm looking for, it's low acidity, but perhaps a little more complex (but not too much) than what I might get from a darker roasted bean.

I do recognise that this post is probably all over the place and doesn't make much sense!


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## forzajuve (Feb 2, 2011)

I love pulped naturals as they are right in your face, bring on the funk! But at the same time I wouldn't want to limit myself to a single processing type or varietal as there are so many good coffees out there (from the usual roasting suspects). One thing that might be happening is that you are struggling to extract properly some more delicate coffees or really muting them in milk so flavours are lost? There is no hiding naturals which maybe why you are gravitating to them as you will always be able to extract the tasting notes.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

How do you drink your coffee wintoid? Not sure I have helpful advice, but interesting thinking - thanks for sharing some of it!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Origin, varietal and process all impact the way coffee tastes, however by getting the same coffee , three processing methods this would be a good way to see if process is something which really influences your preference.

Get the Santa Petrona Bourbon - Washed, Pulped Natural and Natural ?


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

forzajuve said:


> I love pulped naturals as they are right in your face, bring on the funk! But at the same time I wouldn't want to limit myself to a single processing type or varietal as there are so many good coffees out there (from the usual roasting suspects). One thing that might be happening is that you are struggling to extract properly some more delicate coffees or really muting them in milk so flavours are lost? There is no hiding naturals which maybe why you are gravitating to them as you will always be able to extract the tasting notes.


Interesting, thank you. I have associated acidity with in-your-face-ness. My reading indicates pulped naturals are less acidic generally. So my terminology may be wrong.

I do use milk. I've given up on pursuing espresso on its own, it's not for me in the end. I tend to go for an equal volume of espresso and milk.


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

jlarkin said:


> How do you drink your coffee wintoid? Not sure I have helpful advice, but interesting thinking - thanks for sharing some of it!


Usually as a cortado. I don't get on with brewed. I don't get on with espresso. Fussy I guess


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

garydyke1 said:


> Origin, varietal and process all impact the way coffee tastes, however by getting the same coffee , three processing methods this would be a good way to see if process is something which really influences your preference.
> 
> Get the Santa Petrona Bourbon - Washed, Pulped Natural and Natural ?


Thanks Gary, I think perhaps that's the way to go. I'll see what other responses I get today, and make a decision a bit later on.

Are particular regions more likely to use pulped natural processing than others?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

wintoid said:


> Thanks Gary, I think perhaps that's the way to go. I'll see what other responses I get today, and make a decision a bit later on.
> 
> Are particular regions more likely to use pulped natural processing than others?


It's also otherwise known as semi washed and occasionally honey process - places where water is scarce , so they can't afford to remove so much mucilage . There are various degrees of mucilage with honey process , black , red , yellow etc.

Costa Rica (honey)

Brazil (pulped natural)

Nicaragua (pulped natural)

El Salvador (pulped natural).

Bolivia (honey)

El Salvador (honey and pulped natural)


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I doubt you'd tell much difference between the washed and pulped natural in milk. The natural will stand out though for sure.


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## forzajuve (Feb 2, 2011)

garydyke1 said:


> I doubt you'd tell much difference between the washed and pulped natural in milk. The natural will stand out though for sure.


My bad, meant natural not pulped natural


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

garydyke1 said:


> I doubt you'd tell much difference between the washed and pulped natural in milk. The natural will stand out though for sure.


I did buy the three you suggested. For someone like me, testing 3 coffees against each other is quite hard. There's only so much I can drink in a day, and I want to drink it not throw it away. There's also the issue of dialling them in









The natural beans look much larger than the pulped natural or the washed, incidentally.

Anyway, yesterday I managed to try all three, without any fine tuning. My initial reaction was that the natural worked best.

Today, I've worked on fine tuning the pulped natural, and my third coffee today was ridiculously smooth. Very nice! At least I've found a way to give Hasbean all my money







Tomorrow I'll probably try to work on dialing in the natural, and see what I think of the difference.

Fun fun fun!


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

Keep us posted. I've just joined inmymug and one of the main reasons is to try a lot of different beans and processes and see where it takes me. I'm even going to write tasting notes, something I wish I'd done a couple of years ago when I went on a bit of mission trying loads of different roasters from the list on this website. I received my first batch last week and having not ordered anything from hasbean for about six years I was very surprised how dark they were. They were going lighter and lighter at one time but they took it too far and everything I tried with my old Ascaso produced sour notes.


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## 2971 (May 7, 2012)

The problem is, I like all three. I do often find I like El Salvadors for some reason. I don't think my idea of chasing beans by processing method is a winner...


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## robashton (May 9, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> Get the Santa Petrona Bourbon - Washed, Pulped Natural and Natural ?


I did this and can highly recommend this bit of fun!


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