Honey process coffee, and Colorado's honey lots

What is honey process coffee?

Honey process coffee, also called pulped natural, has its cherry skin removed but keeps some or all of the sticky fruit layer, the mucilage, while it dries. It sits between washed and natural processing. No honey is added. The cup is described as mellow and sweet, with mild acidity and fruit or honey notes.

Honey process lots from Colorado roasters

Six roasters we list sold a honey process coffee on their own sites when we checked on September 27, 2026. They are local favorites; a listing does not mean the roaster is part of the club.

• Durango Coffee Company sells a Red Honey from Las Lajas, a family farm near Poas Volcano in Costa Rica that it buys from directly and that is known for honey and natural processing.
• Conscious Coffees in Boulder sells a Honduras Marcala Honey from the APROCOMSA cooperative.
• Loyal in Colorado Springs sells a Mexico San Antonio Honey.
• Novo in Denver sells Elite Honey next to its Elite.
• Corvus in Denver sells Wasa Honey beside its Wasa Sidama.
• Color in Eagle sells a honey processed co-ferment from Colombian producer Andres Martinez in its Artist Reserve line.

Two Denver roasters, Novo and Corvus, list a honey lot next to a coffee of the same name, a side by side you can taste from roasters in your own city and ask about at the counter. Why local roasters matter.

How the honey process works

Wikipedia's article on coffee production describes it this way. The cherry's skin is pulped off, as in washed processing. Then, instead of fermenting and washing away the mucilage, the producer dries the beans with it still in place and skips the washing step. The coffee ferments slowly as it dries.

How much mucilage stays on gives the grades their colors. The more fruit left, the longer the drying and the more care it takes, because the sticky beans clump and have to be turned frequently.

The method was first tried at the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas in Brazil in the early 1950s and taken up commercially in southern Minas Gerais in the 1980s, where it is known as cereja descascado, the article says. It uses considerably less water than washed processing.

Yellow, red and black honey

Durango's Las Lajas Red Honey sits in the middle row.

What honey process coffee tastes like

The same article describes the cup as mellow and sweet, with mild acidity and fruit or honey notes. It links that to the long fermentation: sugars and other compounds from the retained mucilage move into the bean, which a study of honey processed robusta identified as the source of its distinct flavor.

Next to its neighbors, honey process lands in the middle. A natural, dried in the whole fruit, runs fuller and fruitier. A washed coffee, with all the fruit removed before drying, runs cleaner and brighter. Honey keeps some of each.

Honey process in the club

You cannot choose a process in the club, because each Colorado roaster sends from what it has in season. Choosing Single origin as the style in the plan builder keeps you among the kinds of coffees honey lots come from, and your ratings steer the next bag. Each box: a 12 oz bag from a different independent Colorado roaster, $16.99 a bag, first bag free, you pay $7.99 shipping.

Sources and related terms

• Mucilage, washed process, anaerobic coffee, co-fermented coffee

Sources:

• Wikipedia, Coffee production (semi-dry process, pulped natural or honey)
• Wikipedia, Geisha (coffee) (washed and natural cups)
• Colorado roaster facts: the roasters' own pages as summarized on our roaster profiles, checked 2026-09-27.