Characteristics and Contributors of South American Coffee 

If you want an excellent cup of coffee, buy beans that have been grown and processed from South America.  This coffee is wonderful, diverse, and leaves you wanting more.  To ensure every batch of coffee that is exported from South America meets high standards, the beans must go through stringent processes.  Each of these processes gives the beans unique flavor characteristics, as you will discover below. 

First, you have the dry process, which is also called the “natural process.”  With this, the coffee has a heavy-bodied texture but it is also smooth, complex, and sweet.  Many times, this particular process will be used in dryer regions where the sun shines for long amounts of time.  For example, you will often see dry processed coffee beans coming from Yemen, Brazil, Indonesia, and Ethiopia. 

The second process is called the wet process.  Although a somewhat newer type of system for processing coffee beans, it works by removing the four layers that protect the bean.  Because of this, you end up with a coffee that is bright, clean, and with a relatively fruity taste.  For countries that prefer the taste of coffee being a little on the acidic side, then the wet process would be used. 

Next is the pulped natural process that involves pulping coffee but bypassing the fermentation process of removing the silver skin.  With this, the coffee has unique dry and wet processed characteristics.  Many times, you would notice a flavor that is slightly sweeter than you would get with the wet method while retaining the rich body and acidity of the dry processing.  Usually, the pulped natural method is used in regions with low levels of humidity.  Additionally, the coffee beans are covered with sweet mucilage, which means they can be dried very quickly and not go through the fermentation process. 

Repassed is yet another type of coffee that has recently shown up, which is also called raisins.  In truth, these coffee floaters, which are typically thrown away, are used for coffee.  The result is a sweet flavor.  Because the bean is surrounded by the mucilage longer prior to fermentation, they have a curious but pleasant taste.  Since this method is still considered experimental, people are finding that these beans work well for coffee and espresso. 

Most coffee producers keep their processing method secret.  For example, in Guatemala, you never even mention dry processing.  Because this part of the world has high levels of humidity, dry processing would cause the coffee to be fermented.  Now, when in Brazil, dry processing creates a wonderful coffee that is complex, full-bodied, and sweet.  Therefore, while all of the processes work well, the one used depends on a number of factors.