Coffee glossary

Acerbic: an acrid or sour flavor. A fault in coffee sometimes due to over heating. Like when you leave the glass coffee pot on the heater and tste it a few hours later.

Acid: Nothing to do with pH level. A sharp taste especially with Arabica coffee beans. There are 3 types: desirable, sour, and process acidity.

American Roast or Light Roast: medium, light brown coffee bean.

Arabica: a type of coffee plant; the other is Robusta.

Aroma: The notes you smell in coffee; from floral to fruit to herb. Not associated with acidity or flavor.

Body: Heaviness, Richness or thickness of the coffee when tasted.

Caffeine: a stimulant.

Canephora: coffee species such as canephora robusta or canefora Arabica.

Chaff: when roasting, the paper like substance akin to peanut skin.

Cherries: coffee bean’s are actually called coffee cherries. Bean is a slang.

Chicory: a flavored coffee additive to make it stretch further with a bitter taste. From the root of the chicory plant.

Cinnamon: dry, light brown bean, sour taste, but darker than light cinnamon roast.

City Roast or Medium Roast: medium brown bean.

Coffee: a water beverage infused with coffee cherries, known as coffee beans.

Crema: The oily substance present in espresso.

Cupper: an expert coffee taster.

Decaffeinated/decaf: coffee with at least 97 % of the caffeine removed.

Fermented: Changing sugar to acid, a flaw.

Fragrance: smell from floral to spicy.

French Roast: dark, brown oily roast used for Espresso – dark roast.

Full City Roast or Full Roast: Dark roasts.

Hydrolyzed: over-extracted instant coffee taste due to over processing.

Italian Roast: darker roast than French Roast.

Light Cinnamon Roast: dry, light brown bean, sourish taste.

Light French Roast: middle, dark brown with oily surface, caramel - bittersweet.

New England Roast: middle light brown coffee bean.

Roast: the darkness a coffee bean is roasted.

Robusta: type of coffee plant. Generally, higher in caffeine than Arabica.

Spanish Roast: very dark brown (nearly black), shiny coffee bean.

Taste: coffee tastes acid, mellow, wine, bland, sharp or sour.

Varietal: type of tree, growing region or plantation.