Coffee Glossary: Every Term from A to Z

From acidity to roasting, from arabica to the Neapolitan cuccumella: this coffee glossary gathers the terms you hear at the bar, read on the packet and run into whenever extraction comes up. Every entry explained plainly, by a Naples roastery roasting since 1936.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Acidity

Not a flaw: in coffee it’s the bright spark you feel on the tip of your tongue, like biting into fresh fruit. It depends on variety, altitude and roast. A well-roasted high-grown Arabica shows it off; too dark a roast puts it out.

Aeropress

A small cylinder, invented in 2005, that mixes water and grounds and then pushes them through a filter with a plunger. It pulls a clean cup, no sediment, in under a minute. Made for the campsite, the desk, the suitcase.

Affogato

A scoop of ice cream (fior di latte or custard) drowned under a hot espresso. One hundred per cent Italian, perfect at the end of a meal.

Aftertaste

The flavour left in the mouth after you swallow. A good coffee has a long, pleasant aftertaste, consistent with its aroma and taste. A mediocre one fades fast or leaves something unpleasant behind.

Arabica

The noble species, Coffea arabica. It grows at altitude (above 800–900 metres), has an elongated bean and a rich aromatic profile, with sweet, fruity and floral notes depending on origin. It accounts for roughly two thirds of the world’s coffee. Less caffeine than Robusta.

Aroma

Everything the nose picks up, before the sip and during it. In coffee that means hundreds of volatile compounds released by roasting: flowers, fruit, chocolate, nuts, spice. Assessed on the open cup and while drinking.

Astringency

The dry, puckering sensation in the mouth, like biting an unripe persimmon. It often signals over-extraction or stale coffee.

B

Barista

The person behind the counter who turns beans and milk into something good. Not simply “whoever presses the button”: a good barista sets the grind and the dose, watches the shot and textures milk to the right consistency.

Bean

The seed inside the plant’s cherry. Each fruit normally holds two. It’s the raw material everything starts from.

Bitterness

One of the four basic taste perceptions. It’s always present in coffee, but it has to stay in balance: too much bitterness means the roast was pushed, the grind was too fine or the water too hot.

Blend

Coffees from different origins and species brought together to build a defined aromatic profile, stable over time and suited to a purpose (Italian bar espresso, for instance). The roaster is the tailor: combining beans that would be unbalanced on their own, and drawing out a coherent cup.

Bloom

The first pour of water over the grounds in filter brewing: it releases the CO₂ that roasted coffee still holds. When you see the bed swell and foam, that’s it happening. Without a bloom, extraction is uneven.

Body

How the coffee feels in the mouth, from light (watery) to full (syrupy, creamy). A well-roasted Robusta gives serious body; a filter gives light body. Neither is better nor worse: it’s a characteristic.

Bouquet

The full set of aromas you can pick out in the cup. It’s a coffee’s sensory portrait: the more nuances you can tell apart, the more interesting the coffee.

Brew ratio

The ratio of water to coffee used in brewing. For Italian espresso, usually 1:2 (7 g of grounds for 14 ml in the cup). For filter we go wider, 1:15–1:17. Change it and everything changes: intensity, body, sweetness.

C

Caffè sospeso (suspended coffee)

The Naples entry. A tradition born in the city’s bars in the early 1900s: you pay for two coffees but drink only one, leaving the second “suspended” for whoever comes in later and can’t afford it. A silent pact between customers.

Caffeine

The alkaloid behind the stimulant effect. Robusta beans carry more than twice as much as Arabica. Worth knowing: espresso, intense as it is, holds less than a large filter coffee, because water and coffee are in contact for so little time.

Cappuccino

One third espresso, one third hot milk, one third tight foam. A breakfast drink (never after a meal).

Chemex

An hourglass glass carafe designed in the 1940s, using a thick paper filter that gives a crystal-clear cup, almost tea-like. Museum-piece looks, a very clean profile

Cherry

The fruit of the coffee plant, much like a cherry, with red or yellow skin when ripe. Inside sit two seeds two beans wrapped in a thin skin and a sugary mucilage.

Coffee belt

The tropical band between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn: the only part of the planet where coffee grows well. It takes in Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Vietnam and India — all places BrasCafè imports its green coffee from.

Cold brew

Coffee extracted cold, steeping the grounds in room-temperature or chilled water for 12–24 hours. The result is sweet, smooth, low in acidity. Served neat or over ice.

Crema

The hazelnut-brown layer crowning a well-made espresso. It isn’t sugar and it isn’t milk fat: it’s an emulsion of oils and CO₂ released by fresh grounds under pressure. If it’s missing, something’s wrong.

Cuccumella

A BrasCafè signature term. The Neapolitan coffee pot: aluminium or copper, three pieces, flipped over once the water boils. It brews by filtration and gravity rather than pressure, so the coffee comes down slowly and reaches the cup dense, fragrant, long. Invented in Naples in the 1800s, it trained the city’s palate before the moka arrived.

Cupping

Professional tasting. Coarse grounds, water at 93–94 °C, steeped in an open cup, the crust broken with a spoon, then aroma, taste, body, aftertaste and sweetness scored. It’s how quality is controlled and lots are selected.

D

Decaf

Coffee with almost all the caffeine removed (over 97% under EU law). The methods kindest to flavour are supercritical CO₂ and Swiss Water, both free of chemical solvents. Taste holds up very well when the processing is done properly.

E

Espresso

The Italian way to make coffee: 7–9 g of very fine grounds, water at 90–93 °C pushed through at around 9 bar for 25–30 seconds, 25–30 ml in the cup. Concentrated, creamy, to be drunk straight away. The base for everything: cappuccino, macchiato, marocchino, affogato.

Extraction

The moment water passes through the grounds and takes on everything the coffee has to give: aromas, oils, sugars, acids, caffeine. Under-extracted: watery and sour. Over-extracted: bitter and woody. The craft sits in between.

F

Filter coffee

The whole world of gravity brewing: pour over, Chemex, V60, French press. Water moving slowly through the grounds and a filter (paper, metal or cloth). A bigger cup than espresso, no crema, a more transparent profile.

French press

The plunger pot, also called a cafetière. Coarse grounds, four minutes of steeping, push the filter down, pour. A full cup, rich in oils, slightly cloudy.

G

Green coffee

The bean before it goes into the roaster. Grey-green, vegetal, with none of the coffee aroma we know: everything we love about it comes from roasting.

Grind size

How coarse or fine the grounds are. Espresso = very fine powder. Moka = fine. Filter/Chemex = medium. French press/cold brew = coarse. Get grind size wrong and you ruin the extraction.

Grinding

Turning the roasted bean into powder. It has to be calibrated to the brew method and to how fresh the coffee is. Grinding to order is always better: ground coffee loses its aromas within minutes.

H

Honey process

Processing halfway between natural and washed: the skin comes off but the sugary mucilage stays on the bean while it dries. The cup comes out sweet and complex, with notes of honey and ripe fruit.

L

Liberica

The third commercial coffee species, after Arabica and Robusta. Grown in small quantities in the Philippines, Malaysia and West Africa. A large, irregular bean, woody and smoky in aroma, with a distinctive taste that divides opinion.

Lungo

A stretched espresso: more water pushed through the same grounds. A bigger cup, less concentrated, often more bitter, because the extra water drags the bitter notes out with it. It isn’t an americano: it’s an Italian variation on espresso.

M

Macchiato

An espresso “stained” with a spoonful or two of milk: hot if textured, cold if added at room temperature. Born in Naples and southern Italy, for anyone who wants a softer coffee without going all the way to a cappuccino.

Marocchino

Espresso, unsweetened cocoa powder and milk foam, served in a small glass. Invented in Alessandria in the 1930s, now found all over Italy. Smaller and more intense than a chocolate cappuccino.

Moka pot

The aluminium pot Bialetti invented in 1933. It brews at around 1.5 bar on steam pressure. It isn’t espresso, but in a great many Italian homes it’s the most common way to make coffee. It wants a fine grind, though not too fine and never force the handle if it squeaks.

N

Natural process

The whole cherry is laid out in the sun for weeks, until it dries around the bean. An old technique, typical of Ethiopia and Brazil. It makes the coffee sweet, with notes of ripe fruit and chocolate

P

Parchment

The hard, dry skin wrapping the bean after the first stages of processing. It has to come off before roasting.

Picking

Harvesting the cherries by hand, one at a time, taking only the ripe ones. It’s the standard for quality coffee: slow, expensive, but it guarantees an even harvest.

Portafilter

The “handle” of the espresso machine, the part the basket of grounds goes into. It locks onto the group head and the water passes through it. Italian baristas shorten it to porta.

Pre-infusion

A short, low-pressure pass of water before extraction proper, to wet the grounds evenly. It improves extraction, crema and sweetness. Good espresso machines do it automatically.

Q

Q-Grader

A professional taster certified by the Coffee Quality Institute. The coffee world’s answer to the wine sommelier: they taste, assess and score green coffee lots out of 100.

Quaker

An underripe or malformed bean that stays pale even after roasting. It’s a defect: in the cup it gives notes of straw and raw peanut. In specialty coffee they’re picked out one by one.

R

Ristretto

A “short” espresso: same dose of grounds, less water (15–20 ml instead of 25–30). More concentrated, creamier, less bitter, because the last of the extraction is cut off. It’s what Neapolitans order when they want it strong.

Roasting

Cooking the green bean. It happens between 190 and 230 °C, takes 10 to 20 minutes, and along the way the beans lose moisture, change colour from green to brown and develop hundreds of new aromatic compounds. Roasters talk about first crack and second crack: two audible pops they listen for to know when to stop. A light roast means delicate aromas and brighter acidity. A dark roast means full body and toasted notes.

Robusta

The second commercial species, Coffea canephora. It grows in the lowlands, stands up to disease and pests, and yields heavily. High caffeine, full body, generous crema, a more direct and less aromatic taste than Arabica. In the historic Italian espresso blends, the Neapolitan ones above all, its presence is the signature.

S

Single origin

Coffee from one country, one region or, better still, one plantation in which case it’s called single estate. The opposite of a blend. It exists to let the bean tell you about the soil, the altitude and the climate it came from.

Specialty coffee

Coffee that, cupped by certified Q Graders, scores at least 80 out of 100 on the SCA scale. Traceable back to the plantation, hand-picked, carefully processed. A niche, not a fashionable label.

Stripping

Harvesting by pulling: the whole branch is cleared, ripe and unripe cherries together. Faster and cheaper than picking, but it wrecks quality. Used on large industrial plantations.

T

Tamping

Compacting the grounds in the portafilter with a tamper. It has to be level and evenly pressed: if the puck is tilted or full of holes, the water finds the shortcuts and the extraction is ruined.

Tazzuliella

A BrasCafè signature term. The little cup, in Neapolitan. It isn’t just the object: it’s the ritual. “‘Na tazzuliella ‘e cafè” is the social invitation in Naples a pause, a shared moment, a way of saying you care.

Terroir

A term borrowed from wine: the mix of climate, altitude, soil and farming care that shapes a coffee and makes it recognisable. A Brazilian Arabica doesn’t taste like an Ethiopian one, and terroir is why.

V

V60

Hario’s cone filter, in ceramic or plastic, with internal ridges that improve flow. It allows very controlled pour-over brewing. A clean, sweet, bright cup.

W

Washed process

“Wet” processing: after harvest, skin and mucilage come off before drying. It gives a clean, defined profile with brighter acidity. It’s the classic processing for Central American coffees and for most quality African ones.