On dried green bean coffee, the thin inner-parchment layer that clings to the bean and lines the crease on the flat side.

A defect term related to improper roasting; tipping or scorching of coffee.

Scott Labs selection 34 Kenya cultivar, a preferred type with French Mission Bourbon heritage.

Usually a defect of roasting, or of green coffee processing, smokey notes are sometimes found as a positive flavor in a few exotic coffees.

Soft is a postive flavor term, used in particular in the Brazil grading system

Sour is one of four basic sapid (in the mouth) tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter.

South American coffee varies widely from country to country, from chocolately natural or semi-washed Brazils to wet-processed Colombia, Organic Peru coffees to high grown Bolivia.

A word that implies higher level of green coffee quality than average industrial coffee or commercial coffee

Green, unroasted coffee and roasted coffee have very different storage needs and shelf lives. See definitions for Green Coffee Storage and Roasted Coffee Storage.

An important roast reaction related to the Maillard reaction. The Strecker Degradation is an interaction of amino acids with a carbonyl compound in an environment with water, creating CO2 and an Aldehyde or Ketone.

a classification indicating the coffee was grown at an altitude above 1200 feet/4000 meters

Can mean a number of things - it can be an earthy or pungent coffee or a coffee brewed in a more concentrated way.

Sucrose is important to the taste of sweetness in light roast coffees, as it is completely converted or destroyed in darker roasts.

Indonesians are available as a unique semi-washed process and (rarely) fully-washed coffees. Semi-washed coffees are best described as wet-hulled, localy called Giling Basah, and will have more body and often more of the character that makes Indonesians so appealing and slightly funky.

Sweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of four basic sapid (in the mouth) tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter

Swiss Water Process; a water filtration decaf method.

Compacting coffee grounds for espresso into a portafilter basket.

Having the bitterness or astringency of Tannins. Tannins are plant polyphenols found across the flora kingdom.

A dark roast-related flavor of pungent, intense bittering roast flavor, reminicent of the smell of tar.

A term used to describe coffees with light, astringent body and potent aromatics.

A Bourbon-type variant from El Salvador.

Timor has 2 major regions producing coffee: Maubesse is higher-altitude terrain than Aifu region.

Transparency is a flavor characterization synonymous with clarity, or a business ethics term, implying that as much information as possible about a coffee is made available to the consumer.

Trigonelline is a bittering compound that is reduced as the roast gets progressively darker

A strong perparation of coffee, finely ground, and often prepared in an Ibrik

While Arabica was introduced at the beginning of the 1900's, Robusta coffee is indigenous to the country, and has been a part of Ugandan life for centuries.

A general negative description of dirty or hard flavors in a coffee that should have none.

The United States Department of Agriculture, also an Indonesian cultivar

Sealing coffee in an air-tight container, with the air removed via vacuum. Green coffee and roasted coffee can both be vacuum packed to extend shelf life.

A mouthfeel description indicating elegant softness, refined smoothness

A defective flavor taint in coffee, resulting perhaps from poor processing, fermentation, sanitation.

In Rwanda and some other East African countries, a wet mill is called a Washing Station.

Describing the good inter-relation of sensory characteristics. Also referred to as tightly knit to mean closely-paired flavors.

A hybrid coffee process used in parts of Indonesia, especially Sumatra.

Wet-processing transforms the coffee cherry into a green coffee bean for roasting. In wet-processing, the coffee is pulped, floated in water, fermented, washed, and dried.

Willem is a coffee consultant and taster, with a skill for leading panels and writing coffee articles. His company is Boot Coffee.

Generally a taste defect from age; old green coffee, perhaps yellowing in color.

A type of Bourbon coffee that ripens to a yellow color, not red, and named for the island in the India Ocean where French colonists grew it, that ripens to a yellow color.

Zacapa is the famous sweet and spicey rum of Guatemala

A flavor or mouthfeel characteristic, hinting at a tingly, prickly, lively or piquant aspect.