Speak Coffee
Glossary
Every term you need to navigate specialty coffee without feeling like an outsider.
C
- Cupping Score
- A standardized 100-point scale used by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) to evaluate coffee quality. Coffees scoring 80+ are considered 'specialty grade.'Quality
- C-Market Price
- The commodity futures price for Arabica coffee on the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Currently around $1.80-2.50/lb for green coffee.Economics
- Cherry
- The fruit of the coffee plant. Each cherry typically contains two seeds (beans). The variety, ripeness, and processing of the cherry determine cup quality.Botany
D
- Direct Trade
- Roasters buying directly from farmers, bypassing traditional importers. No formal certification — it's a relationship, not a label.Sourcing
- Degassing
- CO2 released from roasted coffee over days/weeks. Fresh coffee needs 3-7 days of degassing before optimal brewing.Freshness
E
- Extraction
- The percentage of coffee solubles dissolved into water during brewing. Ideal range: 18-22%. Under-extracted = sour. Over-extracted = bitter.Brewing
G
- Green Coffee
- Unroasted coffee beans after processing and milling. This is what roasters buy from importers or directly from farms.Trade
M
- Microlot
- A small, separately processed lot from a specific section of a farm. Usually under 100kg of green coffee.Sourcing
- Mycotoxin
- Toxic compounds produced by mold (Aspergillus, Ochratoxin A). Present in some coffee at trace levels. The basis of Bulletproof's marketing.Health
P
- Parchment
- The papery layer surrounding the coffee bean inside the cherry. Removed during milling (hulling) before export.Processing
Q
- Q Grader
- A certified coffee taster who has passed the Coffee Quality Institute's rigorous 20-test exam. The sommelier equivalent for coffee.Quality
- QPR (Quality-Price Ratio)
- Our proprietary score measuring cup quality relative to price. A $15 coffee scoring 88 has better QPR than a $120 coffee scoring 94.Scoring
T
- Terroir
- The complete natural environment in which coffee is grown — soil, altitude, climate, rainfall, shade. Borrowed from wine.Origin
- Third Wave
- The movement treating coffee as an artisanal food rather than a commodity. First wave = mass market. Second wave = Starbucks. Third wave = specialty.Culture
- TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)
- The concentration of coffee solubles in your cup, measured with a refractometer. Typical range: 1.15-1.45%.Brewing