Sealed first so the air is pushed out, then depulped and washed clean before drying.
Whole cherry goes into a closed vessel fitted with a valve, as for an anaerobic natural. The microbes produce carbon dioxide and the gas purges the oxygen. When the tank is opened, the coffee is DepulpingSqueezing the skin and most of the fruit off fresh cherry, usually within hours of picking. The first step of a washed or honey process.More → and washed clean before drying, which is the WashedDepulped within hours of picking, held in a tank until the mucilage loosens, washed clean and dried. The method Colombia built its name on.More → half of the name.
The two words describe two different stages. Anaerobic is the tank; washed is what follows it. What sealing changes inside the tank, and why the bottom of a tank can ferment differently from the top, is set out under the anaerobic natural.
Against a washed
A washed lot ferments in an open tank for twelve to eighteen hours in Colombian practice. A sealed tank commonly runs longer, twenty-four to ninety-six hours, and changes the balance of organisms rather than switching fermentation on. The rinse that follows is the same.
What the mill notes add
Mills that work this way often add steps around the tank: a rest in open air before sealing, which some call oxidation, a thermal shock, or an added yeast. The Lot recordThe house's own account of a lot: ground, grower, process, harvest, score and who scored it. A record kept by the house, not an independent grading.More → lists each step as the mill reports it, and claims nothing for them beyond that.
As with every sealed tank lot, the house buys on the sample, never on the method.
