What is semi-washed coffee processing?

Semi-washed is a broad term used to describe processing methods that fall between fully washed and natural - where some but not all of the fruit material is removed before or during drying. In practice it's used most commonly as a synonym for honey processing in Central American contexts, or for the wet-hulled Giling Basah method in Indonesia.

The term can cause confusion because it's applied loosely across different producing regions to mean different things. In Brazil it often refers to pulped natural processing. In Indonesia it describes wet-hulling where parchment is removed at high moisture. In some East African contexts it has been used to describe coffees where fermentation is shortened or skipped.

Because semi-washed lacks a standardised definition, it's worth asking what it specifically means when you encounter it on a lot specification. The more precise terms - honey process, pulp natural, wet-hulled, Giling Basah - communicate more clearly what actually happened to the coffee. Semi-washed is useful as a general pointer towards a middle-ground processing approach, but not precise enough to rely on as a quality or flavour descriptor.