Life Style / Coffee Glossary

Balance: Tasting term applied to coffees for which no single characteristic overwhelms others, but that display sufficient complexity to be interesting.

Balanced: This is a difficult term. When tasting coffees for defects, professional tasters use the term to describe a coffee that does not localize at any one point on the palate: in other words, it i . . . View Full Definition

Bani: Market name for a good, low-acid coffee of the Dominican Republic.

Barahona: Market name for coffee from the southwest of the Dominican Republic. Barahona is considered by many to be the best coffee of the Dominican Republic.

Barista: Italian term for skillful and experienced espresso bar operator.

Basic Tastes: Sweet, sour, salt, and bitter. Characterized respectively by sucrose, tartaric acid, sodium chloride, and quinine.

Batch Roaster: Apparatus that roasts a given quantity (a batch) of coffee at a time.

Beany: Specific aroma of an insufficiently roasted coffee that has not been able to develop its full aroma.

Bird Friendly: Term associated with Shade-Grown coffee. Describes coffee grown under a shade canopy. Arabica coffee is traditionally grown in shade in many (but not all) parts of Mexico, Central America, C . . . View Full Definition

Bitter: A basic taste characterized by solution of quinine, caffeine, and certain other alkaloids. Perceived primarily at the back of the tongue. Generally normal characteristics of coffees connecte . . . View Full Definition

Black Beans: Dead coffee beans that have dropped from the trees before harvesting. Used as the basic unit for counting imperfections in grading coffee on the New York Coffee Exchange. Has a detrimental e . . . View Full Definition

Blade Grinder: Small coffee grinder using a propeller-like blade to grind coffee.

Bland: Lacking coffee flavor and characteristics. A primary coffee taste sensation created as the sugars in the coffee combine with the salts to reduce the overall saltiness of the coffee. Found mo . . . View Full Definition

Blend: A mixture of two or more single-origin coffees.

Body: 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 . . . View Full Definition

Bouquet: The total aromatic profile created by the sensations of gases and vapors on the olfactory membranes as a result of the volatile organic compounds present in the fragrance, aroma, nose, and a . . . View Full Definition

Bourbon: A botanical variety of Coffea arabica. Var. Bourbon first appeared on the island of Bourbon, now Reunion. Some of the best Latin-American coffees are from Bourbon stock.

Bourbon Santos: Also known as Santos. A market name for a category of high-quality coffee from Brazil, usually shipped through the port of Santos, and usually grown in the state of São Paulo or the southern . . . View Full Definition

Brackish: A taste fault giving the coffee brew a salty and alkaline sensation. The result of salts and alkaline inorganic material left after evaporation of water from the brew due to excessive heat a . . . View Full Definition

Brazil: One of the world's most complicated coffee origins. Most Brazil coffee is carelessly picked and primitively processed, and is not a factor in the specialty trade. The best (usually dry-proce . . . View Full Definition

Bready: Bready taste manifests in coffees that have not been roasted long enough or at a high enough temperature to bring out the flavor oils.

Brew: Specific taste of a good home brew prepared properly.

Briny: Applies to a coffee that has been over-roasted.

Brown Roast: Also known as American Roast. Coffee roasted to traditional American taste: medium brown.

Bugishu: Market name for arabica coffee from the slopes of Mt. Elgon in Uganda. Considered the best Uganda coffee.

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