What is the Processing Level assigned to each coffee?
We've noticed, over the years, that the information given behind processing, like "Washed", "Natural", or different "Fermentations" don't necessarily line up to what's in the cup.
Some coffees that are marketed as "Washed" really had a lot of taste of the process, which took away from the taste of the Varietal and Terroir.
So we came up with a solution to this to help consumers understand the effect of the processing, vs the pure terroir and varietal taste.
On our bags, and coffee descriptions online you'll find a Processing Level number that we've assigned to each of our coffees.
It's a range from 1-5, where a number of 1 is a coffee that we feel purely the terroir, with minimal effect of the processing. Think classic washed, or very low level of impact Natural coffees.
5 in the Processing Level number indicates that the taste profile is totally from the processing - think heavily fermented naturals, or fruit co-fermented coffees.
A higher or lower number isn't a better or worse coffee - these are purely an indication that even though a coffee may say that the processing was "Washed", it may have a significant amount of impact from the processing, with a "Washed" finish.
Or vice versa - a coffee labelled as "Anaerobic Natural" may have a low score where the fermentation doesn't have a big impact on taste profile, and you're able to taste a lot of the terroir and varietal in the cup.
Either way, this Processing Level is a number chosen by us to what we think the affect of the processing has impacted the cup - We enjoy a wide range of coffees, and processing levels throughout our whole range.
