Washing is a processing method.
Under washed processing, the fruit is separated from cherry as soon as picked and washed before rendering the seeds dry. This removes any impurities and gives the coffee a cleaner taste.
The process involves following steps.
a) As soon as picked, coffee cherries are submerged into water to separate any defective cherries from the lot. The floating cherries are removed from the surface of water and rest of the cherries are then advanced to the next step.
b) The good quality cherries are then fed into a de-pulping machine to separate the outer layer of the fruit from the seeds.
c) The de-pulped seeds that still carry a sticky substance (called mucilage) on their surface are moved to a fermentation tank where they are left overnight to ferment.
d) Next day, the seeds are then washed with water through multiple cycles (typically 3-5) to remove mucilage from their surface. Again, the floating seeds are removed from the lot.
e) The washed coffee, then still containing a layer called parchment, is moved to a drying platform and is regularly agitated to dry in natural environmental conditions. The temperature and moisture as usually controlled using some kind of shades over coffee drying platform.
f) The coffee is dried for 2-3 weeks basis the climate conditions and is then moved to storage facility ready to be shipped.
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