Drying coffee cherries whole without the intervention of water or machines to remove any of the fruit. Prior to drying, the cherries are picked, floated in water, and sorted to remove any under-ripe or overripe fruit. The coffee is then laid out on patios or raised beds. Raised beds are preferred because they increase the airflow around the whole fruit to enable more even drying.

Cherries are picked and sorted, have their skins and pulps removed like other types of coffee—but are then dried without washing off the sticky-sweet outer layer of the fruit. Since honey process beans spend less time in water than washed beans do, less fermentation occurs, so not as much of the sugar in the bean is converted to acid.

Fruit is removed from the seed as soon as possible after picking, before the drying process begins. The cherries are floated and sorted to ensure consistent ripeness levels, before being run through depulpers—machines that squeeze the fruit between rollers until the seeds pop out.