Origin: Where do Honey Process beans come from? 

Just like our fan-favorite Soulmate roast, the Honey Process bean is grown at our family farms in Honduras, specifically at our high altitude farm, Finca La Unica.

A few team members (including the writer of this blog) got the special opportunity to visit this farm in the Fall of 2021 less than a month before winter harvest season, and to say this is one of the most scenic farms on Earth is probably an understatement.

Finca La Unica is nestled near one of the highest mountains in the surrounding area and sits approximately 1400 meters above sea level. Because of this high-altitude farm zoning, the actual location of Finca La Unica is directly responsible for imparting many of the unique juicy and fruit-forward notes you’ve come to love in Alma Coffees, and this couldn’t ring truer with the Honey Process roast.

Processing: What exactly is Honey Processing? Do you put actual honey in it?

Unlike our fan-favorite Soulmate roast (or most of our coffee offerings for that matter), the Honey Process is unique in the way it tastes primarily because of the processing method used between harvest and export to separate the coffee cherry’s seed from its incasing skin & inner fruit.

If you’re unfamiliar with coffee processing, please stop what you’re doing right now and give our 2022 coffee processing guide a quick read—not only will you learn to appreciate the process behind your fav coffees even more after reading, but what we’re going to explain next will also make a LOT more sense with a bit of coffee processing knowledge.

Alma’s Honey Process roast gets its name from the processing method used to remove the coffee seed’s inner mucilage and outer skin, which is a hybrid combination of wet washing and natural processing techniques.

The specifics of this technique vary from exporter to exporter, but the general idea remains the same: after spending time in a flotation tank and running through a depulper machine, mashed up coffee cherry skins and mucilage (colloquially referred to as “honey” by farmers) are left partially attached to their seeds and moved to air beds to be dried in the sun like raisins.

Alma’s Honey Process roast gets its name from the processing method used to remove the coffee seed’s inner mucilage and outer skin, which is a hybrid combination of wet washing and natural processing techniques.

The specifics of this technique vary from exporter to exporter, but the general idea remains the same: after spending time in a flotation tank and running through a depulper machine, mashed up coffee cherry skins and mucilage (colloquially referred to as “honey” by farmers) are left partially attached to their seeds and moved to air beds to be dried in the sun like raisins.

Roasting: How does Alma roast its Honey Process beans after import?

Once the farming, harvesting, processing, drying, and de-husking jobs are finalized in the coffee supply chain, the next stop for the Honey Process roast is in Holly Springs, GA. at the Alma Coffee roastery & warehouse.

As far as the roasting process goes, we’ve found that lightly roasted coffees retain many floral & sweet flavor notes regardless of origin or processing method, and that’s why our Honey Process bean thrives under the lightest of roasting conditions.

Similarly to our light roasted Agua Fria or Belen Gualcho beans, we follow a comparable light roast bell curve on our Loring Smart Roaster but have also worked to perfect the roasting recipe over the years by keeping the Honey Process roasting just a tad bit longer than our other light roasts.

On the spectrum of Alma Coffees, you’ll find the Honey Process usually categorized as a bright-medium roast, although by all definitions it’s a light & bright roast.

Brew: Tasting Notes & Recommendations

Now that we’ve covered Honey Processes origin, processing technique, and roasting method, it’s time for our favorite part of the RYSK blog series… the tasting notes and brewing recommendations!

Like we mentioned at the beginning of this blog, our Honey Process roast served over ice is one of the absolute favorite brewing method and roast combo for the entire farm-to-cup Alma Coffee international team, and we think it has a lot to do with the amount of hard work, precision, and sustainable practices put into making it extraordinary.

Why over ice, you wonder? Well, although we LOVE this roast in its hotter drip or pour over form, we’ve found that flash brewing the Honey Process specifically highlights those fruit-forward tasting notes connected to the honey processing techniques used at Alma’s family farms more than any other brewing method.

We love flash brewing the Honey Process roast so much that we actually just put together a coffee flash brewing guide that quickly breaks down our best in-house Honey Process recipe (order a bag of honey process now and come back in a few days to follow along when we publish it!)

Let us know what you think of the Honey Process roast!

Have you tried the Honey Process roast for yourself? Order a bag today and/or let us know in the comments what you think of our honey process roast!

If you like the profile of lightly roasted coffees, then you’ll really like the our Honey Process roast however you like to brew your coffee; Our high altitude Honey Process bean has distinct & refreshing tasting notes of rosewater, red grape, & black tea, making it the perfect early summer coffee.