Coffee Cupping
Glossary
(see also our Cupping Guide)
Below you is a list of terms used to describe the taste of
coffee:
|
| ACIDIC/ ACIDY |
Describes a coffee that is felt
particularly on the back sides of the tongue.
A synonym is "biting". |
| AROMATIC |
Describes coffees that have a very
noticeable scent. Because the sense of taste and the
sense of smell are so closely related, the presence
of a powerful, evocative aroma can really enhance
the experience of a great coffee. Many exceptional
coffees do not have a notable aromatic quality, while others, when brewed, pervade a room with
the desire to drink coffee. Connoisseurs claim
they can sometimes detect the odor of vegetation
that grew near the coffee varietal(s) they are
tasting. |
| BIG |
Describes coffee with a full to
heavy body. |
| BITING |
Describes a coffee that is high in
acid content. |
| BITTER |
Similar to sour.
Bitter-tasting coffees taste as they due usually
because they have been cooked or brought to a high temperature after
brew. Bitter coffees taste sour on the top
front of the tongue. |
| BODY |
Starts with a light "thin" mouthfeel and progresses to a full-bodied, "heavy" mouthfeel. |
| BURNT |
Describes coffees, mostly dark
roasts, that have a charred, often bitter taste. |
| CHOCOLATY |
Describes a coffee with deep
undertones, usually creamy and not ever bitter. |
| COMPLEX |
A coffee that contains many
taste characteristics. Cupping such a coffee
is an experience for connoisseurs who like to
distill different characteristics from one and the
same brew. |
| CREAMY |
Note: this does not mean that the
coffee has cream in it. This is a
characteristic of coffees, usually pressure brewed,
whose acidity is cut by its own natural sugars.
A visible characteristic of some creamy coffees is
the actual crema that appears on the surface. |
| CREMA |
Crema is a caramel or golden colored
layer that forms on top of pressure-brewed coffee
and espresso. The nature of a crema is complex
and even contentious, but in general, it can be
called an emulsion or a colloid. Both of these
terms describe a substance that is really two things
in one: dispersed gases in a liquid, in the case of
crema. The gases get pressurized into the
liquid during a high-pressure brew, and a thick,
golden crema is the sign of a properly brewed
espresso or crema coffee. |
| DEEP |
Describes a flavorful coffee with
a pleasant, rich aftertaste. SYN: complex. |
| DRY |
As in wine, a dry coffee is
one that is not sweet. Note,
however, that this does not mean any coffee without
sugar added to it. Sweetness is a property
that some coffees have naturally, but the sweetness
is relatively insipid and never overwhelming. |
| EVEN |
Describes a smooth coffee that has
no one flavor attribute that outdoes the others. |
| FRUITY |
Not to be confused with "sweet",
this term describes coffee beans that have snappy,
berry-like notes.
The varietals that are most often rightly described
this way are African.
|
| FULL |
Describes a coffee whose body is
almost heavy, but not overwhelmingly so.
Full-bodied coffees are satisfying and pleasant. |
| HEAVY |
Describes a coffee whose body is
dense or weighty in the mouth. Compare to a
coffee whose body is "thin". |
| MEDIUM |
Describes the flavor of a coffee
that is neither mild nor rich. |
| MILD |
Describes a coffee with the least
strong of flavors. |
| MOUTHFEEL |
Describes how heavy or dense the
coffee is on the tongue; a measure of body. |
| SNAPPY |
A difficult characteristic to
describe; these
coffees have a distinct but not unpleasant "zing"
that hits the back top or middle of the tongue.
Tanzanian Peaberry is an example of such a coffee. |
| SMOOTH |
Describes a coffee that is neither
bitter nor sour. Yet its positive
characteristics are not overwhelming either.
Smooth coffees are generally not terribly complex. |
| SPICY |
Describes coffees that appear to
have the presence of spice in them. |
| RICH |
Describes a coffee that has
a full body and deep flavor traits. |
| ROASTY |
Usually describes dark-roasted
coffees with a strong flavor. |
| ROBUST |
Describes a coffee that is "Big",
very full bodies. Not to be confused with
"Robusta". |
| SMOKY |
Not to be confused with "burnt",
smoky is often a positive attribute of coffees that
have a woody flavor. |
| SOUR |
Same as bitter. A sour
coffee sits unpleasantly on the top front portion of
the tongue. |
| SWEET |
Not literal. This
characteristic describes unadulterated coffees that
have a naturally sweet characteristic.
However, given that fresh brewed coffees generally
have zero calories, this term is rarely used
correctly, and should be preceded by the the word
"almost". |
| TART |
Describes a sharply bitter,
stale-tasting coffee. |
| THIN |
Describes a coffee whose body is
lackluster and watery, but not necessarily whose
flavor is weak. |
| WATERY |
Describes a coffee that has a very
weak body and little flavor. A watery coffee
is often the way it is on account not of the coffee
but of their being too much water in the brewing
process. |
WEAK |
Describes a coffee that has a very
faint flavor and often little body. |
