COFFEE GLOSSARY
1aaa: Highest quality coffee beans identified and described stating size, quality, density, and moisture content.
A: Largest size grade in India, a grade of coffee, generally a size grade of arabica coffee beans along with A, B, & C.
AA: Largest size grade in Kenya, Tanzania, and New Guinea, a grade of coffee, generally a size grade of arabica coffee beans along with A, B, & C.
About: Theoretically, an error of +/- 5%. In actuality, -2% to -4.5%.
Acidity, Acidy, Acid: The pH of the substance. In coffee it is about 5. The tartness taste to coffee.
Aged Coffee: Coffee held in warehouse for several years in order to reduce acidity and increased body. Aged coffee is held longer than an old crop, or mature coffee.
Altura: In spanish means heights and describes Mexican coffee that has been grown high or mountain grown.
American Roast: medium brown.
Alqueir: A term used to describe the capacity of a liquid. In coffee terms it is 50 kilograms.
Arabica: Coffea Arabica, the most common cultivated species of coffee in the modern market.
Aroma: The fragrance produced by any substance. Smell.
Arroba: A term for weight in Central and South America. Generally, 12.5 kilos or 27.5 pounds.
Automatic Drip: coffee brewers that automatically heat and filter water the coffee.
Balance: A tasting term applied to coffee or wine means no single taste characteristic overwhelms others.
Bag: Usually a burlap sack of coffee. In various countries it is a different weight. As an example: Brazil a bag is 132 pounds. Colombia it is 154 pounds. In Angola it is 176 pound.
Bale: Another term for bag. About 176 pounds but changes depending on who is using the term.
Barista: A person who is a master of the Espresso machine and makes coffee as a profession.
Batch Roaster: A machine which roasts a given quantity at one time. In effect, it is a roaster which does not continually roast beans. There is an identifiable start and end time to the roasters capabilities.
Benefico: A spanish term for establishments that have cleaning, washing, drying, and sorting machines.
Black beans: Dead coffee which fell off the tree. 1 imperfection.
Black jack coffee: Coffee beans which turned bad after picking or during shipping.
Blend: A mix of two or more coffee beans.
Body: The sense of thickness associated with taste.
Bourbon: Coffee beans which come from plants which have not been altered originating from the Isle of Bourbon. Coffea Arabica.
Braca: A measure of length; 2 meters and 2 centimeters.
Bright: a taste term for acidic.
Brisures: Broken and separated by screening.
Broken: Cracked coffee beans.
Brokers: Generally anyone paid a commission involved in trade.
Bullhead: An extra large coffee bean. Sometimes a peaberry which has not totally grown together.
Bundles: Another term for bale.
CC, C/C: Current Crop.
C&f: Cost of the coffee bean and freight.
Caracol: Another word for Peaberry; a large single round coffee bean.
Caturra: A recently developed sub variety of the Coffea Arabica, which is better disease resistant.
Cif: Cost of the coffee bean, insurance, and freight.
Cafe beneficiado: Hulled coffee.
Cafe bonifieur: Thoroughly cleaned and polished coffee beans.
Cafe de panno: Coffee picked in the cloth. Coffee picked very carefully where a cloth is placed on the ground so no dirt gets in accidentally if the bean falls.
Cafe despolpado: Washed coffee or pulped coffee, is the process.
Cafe em casca: Coffee in parchment.
Cafe em ceraja: Coffee in the red cherry.
Cafe em coco: Coffee in the dried pod.
Cafe en parche: Coffee in the parchment.
Cafe habitant: Coffee which has not been polished.
Cafe rebeneficiado: Coffee reseparated or improved.
Cafe terreir: Coffee washed and dried in coco.
Cafeate: Coffee with milk.
Cafetal: A plantation of coffee trees.
Cafeine C8H10N4O2; an alkaloid substance found in the coffee bean, the leaf, some tea leaf, yerba mate, cocoa bean.
Caffeine content: in a cup of coffee about 1.5 grains.
Caffeeol, Caffeol, Coffeol: A volatile aromatic conglomerate formed during roasting. Essence of coffee, coffee oils.
Caffetannic acid: Erroneously termed used to describe the acids of coffee. There is no such compound.
Cappuccino: A classic blend of coffee and steamed milk named after the brown robes of the Capuchin monks
Cherry: Name applied to the ripe fruit of the coffee tree.
Chicory: An addition or filler in coffee made from the plant, cichorium intybus.
Chop: Before shipping, each invoice of coffee is made up into a number of division called chops. The bags in each division are marked with a particular chop number.
Cinnamon Roast: a term for the lighter roasts.
City Roast: A term for a medium light roasted coffee.
Coffee fruit: The berry which contains the seed.
Coffee grade: One who grades coffee.
Coffeol: Essence of coffee, coffee oils.
Cold Water Method: a way of brewing coffee using cold water rather than hot water.
Commercial Coffees: general refers to a brand name coffee which is preground. Used by some countries to differentiate between those coffees which the locals can drink and those exported.
Complexity: a tasting term describing sensation shifts; resonance, depth.
Continuous Roaster: a roaster that roasts coffee continually as opposed to a batch roaster.
Contract: A Coffee Exchange contract is 32,500 lbs. (250 bags)
Crema: the pale brown foam covering the surface of a well brewed cup of espresso.
Cup testing: (also known as Cupping) Judging the merits of a coffee by roasting, grinding, and brewing some of it. The brew is sipped.
Dark French Roast: a roast almost jet black in color, thin bodied and bittersweet tasting a bit like burnt charcoal.
Dark Roast: a roast which the beans are just turning black but still look brown.
Decaffeinated: coffee which has had the caffeine removed or blocked in such a way that the caffeine will not leave the bean during brewing.
Decaffeination Process: the process by which the coffee was decaffeinated.
Demitasse: a half size cup for espresso.
Doser: A spring loaded device on certain espresso grinders which dispenses single servings of ground coffee.
Drip Method: a brewing method that drips the hot water over the bed of coffee grounds.
Dry fermenting: When washed, coffee is fermented without water.
Dry Processed Coffee: a process to remove the husk from the fruit after the coffee berries have been dried. Generally scraping the berry and considered inferior to the washed or fermented process.
Dry roast: A roasting process in which no water is used to check the roast. The operator depends entirely upon his cooling apparatus for quick cooling.
Earthiness: a tasting term describing coffee which taste a little off and a bit like dirt.
En oro: Term for washed coffee when the parchment and silver skin have been removed. Clean coffee.
En parche: term used for coffee in the parchment.
Espresso: a method to brew coffee which forces the water into the grind by pressure.
Estate Grown: Coffee grown on large farms as opposed to small peasant plots, usually old family owned plantations.
European Preparation: removing imperfections by hand.
Excelso: a grade of coffee which includes size, quality, and imperfections.
Extra: second best grade of coffee.
FAQ: Fair average quality.
Fazenda: A coffee plantation.
Fazendero: A proprietor of a fazenda.
Fermenting: A process where yeasts eat the sugars in a substance.
Filtered Method: coffee brewed with a filter where the coffee is held separate from the sitting water.
Finish: the after taste or the lingering taste of the coffee.
Flip Drip: a device which water is heated on the bottom of the brewer, when boiling, the device is flipped over and the water drips down through the coffee which was loaded in the middle of the brewer.
Fluid Bed Roaster: a roaster which cooks the bean by holding them up with a blast of hot air.
French Press: a device which brews coffee by allowing the grinds to sit in the water, when finished, a press pushes the grounds to the bottom.
French Roast: a roast black in color tasting bittersweet but not like burnt charcoal.
Finca: A coffee plantation.
Finquero: A proprietor of a finca.
Flat bean: A larger bean without the curly characteristic, generally void of acid.
FOB: Free on board. The seller agrees to place the product safely on board the carrier designated by the purchaser. Generally describes the time title is transferred.
French roast: Means the bean is roasted sufficiently to bring the oils to the surface of the bean.
Full city roast: Darker than city roast.
Futures: Coffee sold for delivery sometime in the future.
Gamey, Gaminess: other terms which mean off in taste. Doesn't taste right but can explain what it is.
GHB: Good Hard Bean.
Glazing: Coating the bean to preserve the natural flavor.
Good Hard Bean: a grade of coffee grown at altitudes above 3000 feet. Term varies depending on the country where the bean is grown.
Grade: The measure of quality.
Green Coffee:G Unroasted coffee beans.
Group: the fixture protruding from the front of an espresso machine which makes more than one cup at a time.
Groundy: An earthly taste. The taste of dirt.
Hacienda: Farm or ranch.
Hard: coffee with a less mild taste. Generally a term for "not as good."
Hard Bean: same a good hard bean, but more universal and general means a denser bean.
Harsh: A term to describe a certain coffee flavor.
HB: Hard Bean.
HG: High Grown.
HGC: High Grown Central.
Hidey coffee, hidy coffee: Coffee which smells and tastes like hides.
Hulling: The last step in the preparation of washed coffee.
Husking: Cleaning the dried cherry.
Italian Roast: a darker roast than American.
Java: An island of Indonesia. Any cup of coffee.
Kilogram: 2.2046 pounds.
Lavando Fino: best grade of Venezuelan coffee.
Limu: a low acid washed coffee, typically from Ethiopia.
LGC: Low Grown Central.
Longberry harrar: a grade of coffee from Ethiopia. The beans are larger than shortberries.
Machine epirre: Machine stoned:
Made sound: Damaged coffee which has been cleaned.
MAM: an acronym for Medelin, Armenia, and Manizales Colombian coffees which are typically sold together in one contract.
Maragogip: an extremely large porous bean.
Mature Coffee: Generally, a term for coffee still in its parchment waiting for an order which is older than one generation of crop.
Mazagran: The French name for a drink composed of cold coffee and seltzer water:
Mbuni: Unwashed poor quality coffee.
MC: Methylene Chloride; generally used in Decaffeinated coffee.
Melange: Coffee of the same origin that has been roasted to different roast levels and then blended together.
Microwave Brewers: brewers which work in a microwave oven.
Middle Eastern Coffee: another term for Turkish Coffee, coffee ground to a fine powder, served grounds and all.
Mild coffees: Coffees free of the harsh flavor.
Mocha: A small irregular bean, in color olive green. Has a unique acid character. Generally shipped from Mocha Yemen.
Monsooned Coffee: coffee deliberately exposed to monsoon winds in open warehouse to increase body and reduce acidity.
Musty: A flavor as a result of overheating or lack of proper drying.
New Crop: freshly picked and processed coffee crop.
Old Crop: any crop which has been sitting around a long time. Generally, any crop which is older than one crop. Depending on handling, this may not be aged or mature crop.
Open Pot: one of the oldest methods, leave the coffee in an open pot where the grind separates from the brew by settling or straining.
Organic coffee: Certified by independent agencies as organically grown, processed, stored and roasted. This means that no synthetic chemical pesticides, fertilizers, cleaners, etc. have come into contact with the coffee trees or beans.
Parchment: The endocarp of the coffee fruit. It lies between the fleshy part or pericarp and the silver skin. Remove during hulling process.
PC, P/C: Past Crop; older than one generation but still in parchment during storage.
Peaberry: A rounded bean from an occasional coffee cherry which contains but one seed instead of the usual flat sided pair.
Percolation: any method of brewing where the hot water is pumped up and gravity falls through the grind.
Pergamino: Parchment, Pergamino coffee is coffee that has been dried after pulping fermenting and washing.
Pile: Coffee dried and hulled by dry process.
Plantation coffee: Pergamino or parchment coffee.
Primo Lavado: a grade of coffee which includes most of the fine coffees of Mexico. Generally a contract term which means the coffee is of good grade but not really specific.
Pulping: The first step after picking. Removing the outer skin of the berry.
PW: Prime Washed.
Pyrolysis: chemical breakdown during roasting of fats and carbohydrates into oils which provide the flavor and aroma.
Quakers: Unripe plighted or underdeveloped coffee beans.
Rich, Richness: a taste term of good body and/or acidity.
Rio, Rio flavor: A heavy and harsh taste characteristic of coffees grown in the Rio district of Brazil.
Rioy, Rio-y: generally Rio tasting.
Rubbery coffee: Taste like rubber.
SC: Standard Central.
SHB: Strictly Hard Bean.
SHG: Strictly High Grown.
SHGC: Strictly High Grown Central.
Silver skin: A thin, papery covering on the coffee bean surface.
Sizing: Grading the size of the coffee bean, usually done by a sized screening process.
Soft Bean: coffees grown at low altitudes. Generally a more porus or less dense bean.
Source: The place of origin.
Specialty Coffee:
- Specialty coffee is defined as a coffee that has no defects and has a distinctive flavor in the cup.
- Term to differentiate between large commercial roasters and coffees which are more individual in marketing. Small scale roasters or coffee sold by the grower.
Steam Wand: a pipe on most espresso machines which provide steam for the milk frothing operation.
Straight Coffee: unblended coffee from a single country, region, or crop.
Style: A term designated to the appearance of the whole coffee bean.
Supremo: of the highest grade of Columbian coffee.
Sweated coffee: Green coffee which has been submitted to a steaming process to give the beans a brown appearance. It is considered an adulteration.
Sweet: A coffee which is free from harshness.
Tamper: a device used to compress the ground coffee inside the filter basket of an espresso machine.
Thermal Block: a system of coils in a heating element use in espresso machines to heat water rather than a boiler or tank.
Tipping: Charring the little germ at the end of the coffee bean during the roasting process.
Turkish Coffee: coffee ground to a fine powder, brewed and served with the grounds. True Turckish coffee is usually boiled 3 times.
Unwashed coffee: Green coffee produced by the dry process:
UGQ: Usually good quality.
Vintage Coffee: a term used to state the coffee was aged on purpose.
Wanker: coffee bean that is burnt, usually because it was caught in the roaster for 2 or more roastings.
Washed coffee: Coffee which has been pulped, fermented, and washed, to remove the gummy substance.
Wet Processed, Wet Method: removing the bean from the berry which the berry is still moist.
Woody coffee: Green coffee which has deteriorated and lost its commercial value.
Whole Bean: coffee which has been roasted but not ground.
