Acidity. It is the liveliness in coffee. It is a highly desirable quality, without it coffee can taste dull and flat. A term used to describe a coffee in which this desirable characteristic occurs. It denotes a taste that has sharpness, snap, and life, compared to a sweet, heavy, mellow flavor. A primary coffee taste sensation created as acids in the coffee combine with the sugars to increase the overall sweetness of the coffee. Found most often in washed Arabica coffees grown at elevations about 4,000 feet. Acidly coffees range from piquant to nippy. To a varying degree all coffee products have some acidity. An acidly coffee is somewhat analogous to a dry wine.

Arabica. "Coffee Arabica" is the species name assigned to the coffee tree by European botanist Linnaeus while categorizing the flora of the Arabian peninsula. One of the two basic botanical varieties of coffee, (Coffea Arabica) approximately 75% of the world coffee production.

Aroma. Aroma can't be separated from acidity and flavor. Acidy coffees smell acidy, and richly flavored coffees smell richly flavored. The sensation of gases (ranging from fruity to herby) released from brewed coffee that are inhaled through the nose.

Body. How a coffee feels in your mouse, take a small sip and let it rest in your tongue. It is this impression how it feels in your tongue that you can determine whether ii is full, or medium or light. Body or mouth feel is the sense of heaviness, richness, and thickness at the back of the tongue when you swish the coffee around your mouth. The coffee is not actually heavy; it just tastes that way. To follow a wine analogy again, burgundies and certain other red wines are heavier in body than clarets and most white wines. The physical properties of coffee as perceived in the mouth during and after ingestion.

Cherries. The fruit of the coffee tree, inside of which lay the seeds (coffee beans).

Dark Roast: Roasting term meaning dark brown beans with a shiny surface; equivalent to espresso or French roast

Dry Process. A method of processing coffee cherries into green coffee. First the coffee cherries dry fully in the sun on large patios or in a mechanical dryer. Then the dried cherries are husked by passing them through large rollers that remove the dried pulp and pergamino.

Espresso. A highly concentrated coffee beverage created by pressurized extraction from dark roasted and finely ground coffee.

Flavor. Some people confuses it with aroma. Different aromas are embedded in the coffee process to enhance the flavors on your palate. Coffee can only taste and smell like coffee. Flavor is the most ambiguous term of all. Acidity has something to do with flavor, and so do body and aroma. Some coffees simply have a fuller, richer flavor than others, whereas other coffees have an acidy tang, for instance, that tends to dominate everything else. One can also speak of a distinctively flavored coffee, a coffee whose flavor characteristics stand out. The simultaneous sensation of aromatic compounds and taste compounds experienced on the palate.

Freshness. A positive characteristic applying to freshly harvested and roasted coffee whose flavor is particularly vivid. An aromatic highlight in the coffee bean and brew that is highly pleasing.

Grading. Classifying coffees according to eight criteria: altitude, botanical variety, processing method, density, size of bean, cup quality, color and bean imperfections. Each country sets its own standards.

Grinding. The process of physically breaking down the coffee bean into small particles of uniform size to facilitate extraction of flavor components during brewing.

Heavy Roast. Coffee beans roasted to a very dark brown, with a shiny surface

Medium Roast. Coffee beans roasted to the American norm.

Mild. A process to provide a well rounded and balanced coffee, it can be sometimes with acidity and/or sweetness. A secondary coffee taste sensation characterized by a predominantly sweet tingle just past the tip of the tongue. Caused by high concentrations of both sugars and salts.

Nitrogen Flushing. A method of packaging coffee in which inert nitrogen gas is flushed over the coffee to displace oxygen in the package.

Organic. Organic is an important descriptive term in the contemporary coffee world. An organically-grown coffee must be certified by an international agency as having been grown without synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. Somewhat lower yields and the considerable cost of the certification process account for the higher prices demanded for many organic coffees.

Pergamino. A parchment-like covering over the coffee bean which is removed after sun or machine-drying the coffee bean. The term "in pergamino" refers to coffee beans that remain in this covering until ready for export.

Pulp. The cherry skin and fruit after they have been removed from the coffee bean during wet processing. Most often used as a component of compost, pulp is sometimes made into a fruit preserve having a delicate jasmine flavor.

Pulping. First step after picking in preparing coffee by the wet method. It consists of removing the outer skin. Machines rub away the pulp without crushing the beans.

Richness. An indicator of a coffee with depth and complexity of flavor, full body, and overall satisfying taste. Richness partly refers to body, partly to flavor; at times even to acidity. The term describes an interesting, satisfying fullness.

Robusta. One of the two basic botanical varieties of coffee. Robusta beans account for approximately 25% of coffee production.

Shade Grown Coffee. Older, more traditional varieties of coffee which naturally flourish under shaded forest canopies. Example: Tipica and Bourbon