The best straight coffee from Peru, Chanchamayo is flavorful, aromatic, and mildly acidic. It displays the quality and characteristics of the best Central American coffees.

The cupped handle on an espresso machine that holds the ground coffee during the brewing process.

Prime washed coffee from Mexico; includes most of the fine Mexican coffees.

A chemical breakdown that occurs during roasting that brings out the aroma and flavor of the coffee.

Discolored or deformed coffee beans.

The quality of fullness in flavor, body, and/or acidity.

A suboptimal class of coffees from southern Brazil. They are characterized by their medicinal flavor caused by poor handling of the berries.

Roasting is a chemical process by which aromatics, acids, and other flavor components are either created, balanced, or altered in a way that should augment the flavor, acidity, aftertaste and body of the coffee as desired by the roaster. Roasting changes the chemistry and physical characteristics of the green coffee bean. The beans shrink about 20% by weight and acquire the deep dark hue and aroma of coffee.

The only significant competitor among cultivated coffee species to Coffea Arabica. Robusta coffee beans lack the flavor and body of Arabica. Robusta is lower growing and higher producing; the result is an inferior cup with higher caffeine content than the classic Coffee Arabica. The Robusta species is a hardy, high-yielding plant resistant to the numerous pests which afflict coffee.

This coffee is one of the best coffees from Yemen. A medium-bodied, less acidic version of the standard Yemen style.

A high-quality, washed coffee from Brazil that is usually shipped through the port of Santos. This coffee is usually grown in the State of Sao Paulo or northern Minas Gerais.

One of the best coffees from Yemen.

A grade of Harrar coffee from Ethiopia with beans that are smaller than Longberry Harrar. It is debatable whether the bean size affects the final brewed coffee taste.

A washed coffee from Ethiopia that is distinguished by its low acidity.

A 'single origin' is a coffee from one region. This simply means that many plantations from one region contribute to a coffee type. When you take only the best beans from a specific region and roast them to perfection, the coffee you get is truly remarkable.

Coffees that grow at relatively low altitudes (under 3,000 feet) are often described as soft bean. These soft bean coffees are faster maturing and more porous than the hard bean due to the lower altitude and warmer temperatures.

The SCAA is the trade association for the specialty coffee industry, one of the fastest-growing food industries in the world. Specialty coffee — sometimes called "gourmet" or "premium" coffee — is grown in the world's most ideal coffee-producing climates and prepared according to exacting standards.

Coffee beans tend to lose their flavor rather quickly and even faster after being ground. It's best to keep your coffee whole bean until used. Always keep your coffee in a sealed container that prevents the coffee from being exposed to the open air.

Coffee that is unblended; from a single crop, region, and country.

Straight coffee from Sulawesi (formerly Celebes), an Indonesian island. Toraja is the best Sulawesi coffee, greatly resembling the Sumatran coffees, except for a tendency to be slightly more acidic and with less body.