Coffee Glossary

A reference guide to specialty coffee terminology and techniques

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General Terms

Roasting

Sustainability & Ethics

Varietals & Genetics

Programmed roasting instructions that automatically adjust power, fan

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Roasting

Roasted Weight

The weight of coffee after roasting - always less than green weight due to moisture and

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Roast Recipe

Programmed roasting instructions that automatically adjust power, fan

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Roasting

Roasted Weight

The weight of coffee after roasting - always less than green weight due to moisture and

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Transparency

Open disclosure of prices and supply chain information

Abyssinia

Varietals & Genetics

Rare Indonesian cultivar introduced to Java in 1928 - notable for longberry beans.

What is the Abyssinia coffee varietal?

Abyssinia is a coffee cultivar introduced to Java by Dutch researchers in 1928. The name reflects its origins - Abyssinia was the historical name for Ethiopia, and that's where the plant material came from. From Java it spread to other parts of Indonesia, most notably Aceh in northern Sumatra, where it remains part of the local coffee landscape.

The variety is recognisable by its longberry beans and bronze-coloured new leaf growth. It exists in two documented forms - AB-3 and AB-7 - with AB-7 thought to have been crossed with the Timor Hybrid to produce further descendants.

You won't encounter Abyssinia named as a single varietal on most export specifications - it's more part of the underlying genetic fabric of traditional Indonesian production than a commercial variety in its own right. Worth knowing when exploring the deeper history of Sumatran coffee origins.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Java Cultivar

Varietals & Genetics

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Acaiá

Varietals & Genetics

Brazilian Mundo Novo descendant - large bean size and reliable yield at lower altitude.

What is the Acaiá coffee varietal?

Acaiá is a Brazilian coffee cultivar developed from the Mundo Novo germplasm - itself a natural cross between Typica (called Sumatra in Brazil) and Bourbon - and selected by the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas (IAC) in São Paulo state from the mid-20th century onwards.

The cultivar is known for large bean size, consistent yield, and reliable cup quality - typically a balanced body and moderate acidity. It's suited to lower-altitude growing conditions and performs well across Brazil's key coffee-producing regions.

Acaiá is primarily a commercial variety. It won't usually appear as the star of a specialty single-origin lot, but it's part of the productive infrastructure that supports Brazil's position as the world's largest coffee producer.

Related Terms

Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

Mundo Novo

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

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Accessorials

Contracts & Shipping

Extra freight charges beyond standard drop-off - liftgate, inside delivery, surcharges.

What are accessorials in green coffee freight?

When your green coffee is shipped from a warehouse to your roastery, the base freight rate covers one thing: getting the truck from A to B. Anything beyond that - a liftgate to lower the pallet to the ground, inside delivery if you don't have a loading dock, a fuel surcharge, a residential delivery fee - gets billed separately. Those extras are accessorials.

They're easy to overlook when you're negotiating the headline price of a lot. A roastery in a converted unit without a loading dock, for example, will almost always trigger a liftgate charge. That might be £30–£60 per delivery - not ruinous on its own, but if it's happening on every order and you've never accounted for it, it quietly eats into your margins.

When you're comparing freight quotes, ask specifically what's included in the base rate and what gets billed as an extra. The cheapest headline number isn't always the cheapest all-in cost.

Related Terms

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Freight Forwarder

Contracts & Shipping

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Aceh District

General Terms

Coffee-producing province at the northern tip of Sumatra - home of Gayo Highlands coffee.

What is the Aceh District in coffee?

Aceh is a province at the northern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia, and one of the country's most significant coffee-producing regions. The main growing area centres on Takengon - a highland town at around 1,200 metres above sea level, beside Lake Tawar in the Gayo Highlands. That name, Gayo, is how most of this coffee reaches international buyers.

The coffees here are processed using Giling Basah - the wet-hulling method unique to Indonesia - which produces the characteristic full body, low acidity, and earthy complexity that defines Sumatran coffee. Ateng (Catimor) is the dominant variety, though older Typica-derived plants survive on some farms and produce notably different results.

One small thing worth knowing if you're ever discussing the region with producers or exporters: Aceh is pronounced "Ah-Chay," not how it reads phonetically in English. Getting it right is a small detail that tends to be noticed.

Related Terms

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

Sidikalang

Varietals & Genetics

Kopi Labu

Cultivation & Processing

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Acerbic

Flavour & Cupping

Harsh, unpleasant sourness from processing faults, defective beans, or over-extraction.

What does acerbic mean in coffee?

Acerbic describes an unpleasant, harsh sourness - the kind that makes you wince rather than brighten. It's distinct from the clean, fruit-like brightness that makes a well-processed washed Ethiopian interesting. That acidity is a positive quality attribute. Acerbic is a fault.

It's a useful diagnostic signal at the cupping table. You taste something sharp and uncomfortable, and the question is where it came from. Common causes include fermentation faults during processing, sour beans in the green lot, or brewing issues like water that's too hot or a contact time that's dragged on too long.

If you're consistently getting acerbic notes from a specific lot across multiple brew methods, the problem usually sits upstream - in the green coffee itself, not your roasting. It's worth pulling a small sample to check the green appearance before writing off the whole lot.

Related Terms

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

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Acetic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Organic acid produced by bacteria during fermentation

What is acetic acid in coffee?

Acetic acid is the organic acid responsible for the sharp, vinegary taste and smell of vinegar. In coffee processing, it is produced by acetic acid bacteria (AAB) - obligate aerobic organisms that convert ethanol (produced by yeast fermentation) into acetic acid in the presence of oxygen.

In most processing contexts, the presence of acetic acid at significant levels is considered a defect - a symptom of fermentation that has progressed too long, at too warm a temperature, or in conditions where AAB have proliferated uncontrollably. Coffees with ferment defect taste sharply sour, vinegary, or like rotting fruit - what cuppers sometimes describe as compost bin or salad dressing notes.

However, in low concentrations, acetic acid contributes to the perception of fruity and floral brightness in the cup - research has shown it can actually enhance the sensory character of coffee at controlled levels. This is the basis of intentional acetic processing, where producers deliberately encourage AAB growth under controlled aerobic conditions to produce complex fruitiness rather than defect. The line between controlled acetic complexity and unpleasant ferment defect is narrow and determined primarily by concentration. Understanding acetic acid helps explain both why fermentation faults taste the way they do and why some experimental processes deliberately court the same bacteria that cause them.

Related Terms

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

Citric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Malic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Citric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Malic Acid

Sustainability & Ethics

Biodiversity

Sustainability & Ethics

Carbon Sequestration

Sustainability & Ethics

Shade Tree

Sustainability & Ethics

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Agronomy

General Terms

Science of crop production - covers varietal selection through disease management.

What is agronomy in coffee?

Agronomy is the science of crop production and soil management. In a coffee context it covers everything involved in growing the plant well - choosing the right variety for a given altitude and climate, managing soil nutrition and irrigation, diagnosing disease, and getting the most consistent cherry from the trees available.

The work of coffee agronomists - employed by exporters, NGOs, certification bodies, or national research institutes - directly shapes the quality and quantity of green coffee in the market. A well-supported farm doesn't just yield more cherry; it tends to produce more uniform ripening, which makes processing more predictable and the resulting green coffee cleaner and more consistent.

For anyone sourcing directly from producers, it's worth asking what agronomy support a farm receives. A producer with access to regular agronomic advice, quality inputs, and disease management guidance is a more reliable long-term partner than one working in isolation. The cup quality tends to reflect the difference.

Related Terms

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Diseases

Cultivation & Processing

Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

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Agtron Spectrophotometers

Roasting

Numerical scale measuring roast level by bean colour - higher score means lighter roast.

What is Agtron and how is it used in roasting?

Agtron is a numerical scale used to measure roast level by analysing the colour of roasted coffee - either ground or whole bean - using a spectrophotometer that measures near-infrared light reflectance. The scale runs from 0 (very dark) to 100 (very light). A higher number means a lighter roast.

Specialty roasters typically work in the range of roughly 45–75 on whole beans, depending on their target profile. Agtron is particularly useful for production consistency - roasting the same coffee to the same Agtron score batch after batch gives you a repeatable, objective reference point that taste alone can't always provide. If your Colombia profile reads 63 today and 58 next week with no change to the recipe, something in your process has drifted.

"Agtron" refers both to the company that developed the system and the scale itself. Third-party devices - including many modern roast colour meters from companies like Tonino and Colourette - produce Agtron-equivalent readings and are widely used across specialty roasteries. The SCA has incorporated the Agtron scale into its roast classification system.

Related Terms

Roast Level

Roasting

Roast Curve

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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Aldehydes

Flavour & Cupping

Volatile roasting compounds producing nutty, caramel, or fruity aroma notes.

What are aldehydes in coffee?

Aldehydes are a family of volatile organic compounds formed during roasting - products of the Maillard reaction and caramelisation as heat transforms the structure of the green bean. They're one of the main reasons freshly roasted coffee smells so immediately distinctive when you open the bag.

Different aldehydes contribute different notes. Some read as nutty or malty; others as caramel or toffee; some, at lower concentrations, as fruity or even floral. The balance between them shifts depending on the roast curve, the green coffee's composition, and how development time is managed - which is part of why the same green coffee can smell quite different roasted by two different people.

Coffee scientists map aldehydes using gas chromatography, linking specific volatile compounds to specific aromas. As a roaster or cupper you won't be working at that level of detail - but understanding that what you smell has a precise chemical origin makes sensory evaluation feel less like guesswork and more like reading something that was always there.

Related Terms

Maillard Reaction

Roasting

Allocation

Contracts & Shipping

The quantity of a limited coffee lot designated to a specific buyer

What is allocation in green coffee buying?

Allocation refers to the quantity of a specific green coffee lot that a seller has designated for a particular buyer. When a highly sought-after coffee - a top-scoring micro-lot, a celebrated washing station's limited release, or a new-crop arrival from a popular origin - is in limited supply, the importer or exporter allocates a fixed quantity to each buyer rather than selling on a first-come basis.

Allocation matters because demand for premium specialty green coffee often exceeds supply. A washing station producing 30 bags of an exceptional lot may have relationships with 15 importers, each of whom has buyers wanting more than their fair share. Allocations are typically based on relationship history, forward commitment, and volume - buyers who have consistently taken coffee from a particular importer, committed early, and purchased reliably tend to receive better allocations than occasional buyers.

For new roasters, understanding allocation explains a common frustration: finding a coffee you want and being told there isn't enough for you. Building relationships with importers before you need specific coffees - cupping regularly, giving feedback on samples, committing to purchases even in smaller volumes - is how you move up the allocation priority list over time. The best allocations go to the buyers importers know and trust.

Related Terms

Offer Sheet

Contracts & Shipping

Commitment to Buy

Contracts & Shipping

Micro-Lot

Cultivation & Processing

Forward Contract (Forward)

Contracts & Shipping

SPOT Coffee

Contracts & Shipping

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Altitude

General Terms

Elevation at which coffee grows - higher means slower maturation and more complexity.

What is altitude in coffee growing and why does it matter?

Altitude is one of the most significant variables in determining how a coffee tastes. It affects temperature, which affects how quickly the coffee cherry matures - and that development rate has a direct bearing on the flavour you end up with in the cup.

Coffee grown at higher altitudes - typically between 1,500 and 2,200 metres above sea level for the best specialty lots - matures more slowly in cooler conditions with a greater diurnal temperature swing between day and night. That slower maturation gives the cherry more time to build complex organic acids and sugars. The result is typically brighter acidity, more defined fruit character, and greater overall complexity.

Lower-grown coffees develop faster, producing heavier body, softer acidity, and simpler flavour - often more suited to commercial blending than specialty. Altitude is almost always listed on green coffee offer sheets for this reason. It's a strong indicator, but it interacts with variety, processing, and farm management - no single variable tells the whole story on its own.

Related Terms

Microclimate

General Terms

Strictly Hard Bean (SHB)

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Terroir

Cultivation & Processing

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Ambient Temperature

Roasting

Roasting room temperature - affects machine behaviour and must be logged for consistency.

What is ambient temperature and why does it matter in roasting?

Ambient temperature is the temperature of the air in your roasting environment. It matters because your roaster doesn't operate in isolation - the machine absorbs heat from and loses heat to its surroundings, and those conditions change with the weather.

On a cold January morning your drum will behave differently to a warm August afternoon, even if you set the same charge temperature. Cold ambient air drawn through the drum and cooling tray removes heat faster; a warmer environment means less thermal loss. The result, if you don't account for it, is roast-to-roast inconsistency even when the profile looks identical on screen.

Experienced roasters log ambient temperature alongside every roast and adjust charge temperature or heat application seasonally. If you've ever had a profile that worked reliably in summer start producing different results in winter without any obvious changes, ambient temperature is almost always where to look first.

Related Terms

Charge temperature

Roasting

Preheat

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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Anacafe 14

Varietals & Genetics

Guatemalan cultivar combining Catimor rust resistance with Pacamara cup quality traits.

What is the Anacafe 14 coffee varietal?

Anacafe 14 is a cultivar developed by Anacafe - Guatemala's national coffee association - and released in 2014. It's a selection from Catimor-Pacamara crosses, bred specifically to resist coffee leaf rust while retaining some of the cup quality associated with the Pacamara parent.

Its development was a direct response to the devastating CLR outbreaks that swept Central America from 2012 onwards - wiping out significant portions of harvest in some countries. Traditional quality varietals like Bourbon and Caturra have no meaningful rust resistance. Producers needed an alternative that wouldn't simply trade cup quality for survival.

At higher altitudes in Guatemala, Anacafe 14 can produce complex, well-structured coffees - a notable achievement given that many rust-resistant hybrids have historically been associated with flat or woody cups. It's not a replacement for Bourbon at its best, but it's a serious attempt at solving a serious problem.

Related Terms

Catimor

Varietals & Genetics

Pacamara

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

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Anaerobic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee fermented in sealed, oxygen-free vessels - producing intense, fruity profiles.

What is anaerobic fermentation in coffee processing?

Anaerobic fermentation means the coffee ferments in a sealed, oxygen-free environment - typically stainless steel tanks, food-grade barrels, or vacuum-sealed bags. Removing oxygen changes the microbial population: lactic acid bacteria and anaerobic organisms dominate over the mixed communities of open-tank fermentation.

The by-products are different too. In the right conditions, anaerobic fermentation produces lactic acid, ethanol, and various esters that interact with the bean and create flavour profiles impossible through conventional processing - tropical fruit, fermented berry, sometimes boozy or candy-like notes that can be striking or overwhelming depending on execution.

It requires careful management: temperature, CO₂ buildup, and timing all need close monitoring. Poor execution - too long, too warm, poorly sealed - produces vinegary or unstable results. When it works, it produces some of the most distinctive cups in specialty coffee.

Related Terms

Carbonic Maceration

Cultivation & Processing

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Co-fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

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Andung Sari

Varietals & Genetics

Sumatran Catimor cultivar from Jambi - productive at altitude with notable sweetness.

What is the Andung Sari coffee varietal?

Andung Sari is a coffee cultivar grown primarily in the Kayo Aro area of Jambi province, Sumatra. It's a hybrid of Caturra and HdT 1343 (a specific Híbrido de Timor selection), placing it within the broader Catimor family of disease-resistant Arabica crosses.

The variety is dwarf in stature and best suited to altitudes above 1,250 masl. It's valued locally for consistent yield and notable sweetness - a desirable trait in Sumatran coffees where earthiness can otherwise dominate the cup profile.

Andung Sari won't typically appear as a named varietal on export specifications - it contributes to the broader Sumatran green coffee supply rather than being traded on its own identity. It's one of several regional Indonesian selections that balance practical agronomics with decent cup character.

Related Terms

Catimor

Varietals & Genetics

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

Sigarar Utang

Varietals & Genetics

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Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

Primary specialty coffee species - ~65% of global production, valued for complexity.

What is Coffea arabica?

Coffea arabica is one of the two primary commercially cultivated coffee species - the other being Coffea canephora (Robusta). It accounts for approximately 60–70% of global coffee production and is the dominant species in specialty coffee.

Arabica originated in the highland forests of Ethiopia and South Sudan, where it still grows wild. It's a tetraploid species - carrying four sets of chromosomes - which gives it a broader genetic base for flavour development than the diploid Robusta. It thrives at altitude, typically between 1,000 and 2,500 metres above sea level, in temperatures of 15–24°C.

In the cup, Arabica generally produces higher acidity, greater aromatic complexity, and more nuanced flavour than Robusta. Caffeine content is typically 1.2–1.5% by dry weight, compared to 2–2.7% in Robusta. The species encompasses hundreds of cultivars - Typica, Bourbon, Geisha, SL28, and many more - each shaped by centuries of selection, migration, and breeding. Understanding Arabica at the species level is the foundation for understanding the diversity of everything in a specialty green coffee catalogue.

Related Terms

Robusta

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

Specialty Coffee

General Terms

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Arabigo

Varietals & Genetics

Latin American name for the Typica cultivar - tall, low-yielding, high cup quality.

What is the Arabigo coffee varietal?

Arabigo is the name used in Latin America - particularly Mexico and parts of Central America - for the Typica cultivar of Coffea arabica. The name is Spanish for "Arab" or "Arabian," reflecting the perceived origins of the plant material via the Arabian Peninsula.

Arabigo/Typica plants are tall, relatively low-yielding, with large elongated beans and a conical tree structure. They're susceptible to leaf rust and other diseases, but associated with excellent cup quality - clean, sweet, and well-structured - which explains why they continue to be cultivated in some specialty-focused regions despite their agronomic limitations.

In Mexico, Arabigo may refer to specific local selections within the broader Typica family. In most other contexts, Typica is the internationally recognised name for the same genetic material. If you see Arabigo on a Mexican specification, think Typica.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Varietals & Genetics

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Arabusta

Varietals & Genetics

Arabica-Robusta interspecific hybrid bred for hardiness - used in commercial blends.

What is the Arabusta coffee variety?

Arabusta is an interspecific hybrid created by crossing Coffea arabica with Coffea canephora (Robusta) - a cross between two different species rather than two cultivars within the same species. That distinction requires specialised breeding techniques to produce fertile offspring.

The hybrid was developed primarily in West Africa with the aim of producing a plant that could grow at lower altitudes and in warmer climates where Arabica struggles, while producing a better cup than Robusta. Arabusta plants are disease and pest resistant, tolerant of difficult conditions, and reasonably productive.

In the cup, Arabusta doesn't compete with quality Arabica and isn't found in specialty coffee. It's primarily used in commercial blends and instant coffee where hardiness and yield matter more than flavour complexity. That said, interspecific hybrids like Arabusta represent a direction of ongoing research as climate pressures push the boundaries of where Arabica can viably grow.

Related Terms

Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

Robusta

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

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Aroma

Flavour & Cupping

The smell of coffee at dry fragrance and wet aroma stages

What is aroma in coffee cupping?

Aroma refers to the smell of brewed coffee - the volatile compounds released when hot water meets ground coffee. It's one of the ten attributes scored on the SCA cupping form and is evaluated at two distinct stages: dry fragrance (the smell of the dry grounds before water is added) and wet aroma (the smell immediately after water is poured, and again when the crust is broken during cupping).

Aroma and flavour are closely linked because most of what we perceive as taste is actually smell processed retronasally. A coffee with exceptional aroma typically has a lot to say in the cup too - the volatile compounds responsible for both are largely the same.

Specific aroma notes - jasmine, citrus peel, stone fruit, dark chocolate, cedar - are among the most useful early indicators of a coffee's character. A lot that smells extraordinary in the dry fragrance stage has set expectations high before a single sip is taken.

Related Terms

Fragrance

Flavour & Cupping

Flavour Notes

Flavour & Cupping

SCA Flavour Wheel

Flavour & Cupping

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Asalan

Cultivation & Processing

Indonesian term for hulled, dried green coffee ready for sale to an exporter.

What does asalan mean in Indonesian coffee?

Asalan is a Bahasa Indonesia term for green coffee that's been wet-hulled, sun-dried, and prepared for sale to a local exporter. It marks the end of the farm-level processing chain, most commonly used in North Sumatra and Aceh.

In practice: a smallholder in the Gayo Highlands picks cherry, pulps it using the Giling Basah wet-hulling method, dries it to a tradeable moisture level, and sells it locally as asalan - essentially in its ungraded, unsorted state. A collector or exporter then buys it, carries out additional sorting and grading, and prepares it for export.

Because asalan is sold before export grading, quality is variable. Understanding the term helps when reviewing supply chain documentation from Indonesian origins - it tells you where in the chain the lot was aggregated, and therefore how much traceability you can reasonably expect.

Related Terms

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

Dry Milling

Cultivation & Processing

Kopi Labu

Cultivation & Processing

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Ateng

Varietals & Genetics

Indonesian name for Catimor cultivars in Sumatra - disease-resistant, lower cup quality.

What is the Ateng coffee varietal?

Ateng is the Indonesian name for a group of Catimor cultivars widely planted in Sumatra and other Indonesian islands. The name derives from "Aceh Tengah" (Central Aceh) - the region where it became most prevalent - and covers multiple sub-types including Ateng Super and Ateng Jaluk.

Catimors are crosses between Caturra and Híbrido de Timor, developed for disease resistance and high productivity. Ateng was adopted widely in Indonesia following leaf rust outbreaks that threatened the country's Arabica production. It does the agronomic job it was designed to do.

The cup quality question is more complicated. Catimors as a group have a reputation for flat, woody, or astringent results - but this varies significantly with altitude and processing. Some Ateng lots from higher elevations in Aceh, properly wet-hulled and well-sorted, produce acceptable specialty cups. What's certain is that Ateng is a significant part of the Sumatran supply chain and often present in lots even when not labelled on the specification.

Related Terms

Catimor

Varietals & Genetics

Hibrido De Timor

Varietals & Genetics

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Backcrossing

Varietals & Genetics

Breeding technique crossing a hybrid back with a parent to reinforce desired traits.

What is backcrossing in coffee breeding?

Backcrossing is a breeding technique where a hybrid is crossed back with one of its parent varieties. In coffee it's used to progressively recover the flavour quality of a traditional Arabica parent while keeping the disease resistance introduced by a resistant parent such as Híbrido de Timor.

The typical sequence: cross a high-quality Arabica with a disease-resistant parent to get a rust-resistant hybrid. That hybrid may cup poorly - too much Robusta influence. Cross it back with the high-quality Arabica parent. The offspring recover more Arabica character while retaining some resistance. Repeat across multiple generations, selecting for desired traits at each step.

Castillo - Colombia's most widely planted cultivar - is the product of five backcross generations starting from a Caturra × HdT cross. Each generation took time (coffee trees need three to four years to fruit), which is why developing a commercially viable cultivar takes decades. Backcrossing is the patient, methodical work that most of the world's rust-resistant specialty coffees are built on.

Related Terms

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

F1 Hybrids

Varietals & Genetics

Hibrido De Timor

Varietals & Genetics

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Bag

Contracts & Shipping

The standard jute sack used to ship green coffee - 60kg is most common

What is a bag in green coffee trading?

In green coffee trade, a bag refers to the standard unit of packaging and measurement - a woven sack (most commonly jute) used to hold and ship green coffee from producing countries to importing markets. Bag weight varies by origin and is not universally standardised, which matters when reading trade documentation and comparing prices across origins.

The most common bag weight in international green coffee trade is 60kg, used widely across Africa, Central America, and most specialty origins. Colombia uses 70kg bags. Brazil uses 60kg bags for most export but historically used 132-pound (approximately 60kg) bags domestically. Some origins use 69kg bags. When green coffee is priced per bag or when you're calculating how many bags fit in a container, knowing the bag weight for that origin is essential to avoid errors.

At GCC we list all coffees by kilogram price and weight to avoid the confusion of varying bag sizes, but understanding the bag unit is important for anyone working with trade documentation, import paperwork, or buying direct from exporters whose pricing may be expressed per bag.

Related Terms

Jute

Contracts & Shipping

Liner

Contracts & Shipping

Container Load

Contracts & Shipping

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Baked

Roasting

Roast defect from a stalling rate of rise - flat, hollow, lacking sweetness.

What is baked coffee?

Baked is a roast defect that produces coffee that's dull, flat, and somehow both roasted and uninteresting at the same time. It happens when the roast loses momentum - the rate of rise crashes or plateaus for too long - leaving the beans stuck at a temperature that's too low for meaningful development reactions but high enough to slowly drive off aromatic volatiles without replacing them.

The result in the cup is hollow: some colour, some roasted character, but no sweetness, muted acidity, and a flatness that can be hard to put your finger on. It's subtle enough to seem like a mediocre coffee rather than an obvious fault, which makes baked harder to diagnose than something like scorched or underdeveloped.

The cause is almost always a roasting decision - too little heat at a critical stage, gas dropped too aggressively after first crack, or a temperature crash that wasn't caught and corrected. Monitoring RoR continuously through the roast is the most reliable way to catch it before it ruins the batch.

Related Terms

Underdeveloped

Roasting

Roasty

Roasting

Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

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Balance

Flavour & Cupping

Scored SCA attribute describing harmony between acidity, sweetness, body, and flavour

What is balance in coffee cupping?

Balance is one of the ten scored attributes on the SCA cupping form and describes the overall harmony between a coffee's acidity, sweetness, body, and flavour - the sense that no single characteristic dominates to the detriment of the others. A balanced coffee has a complete, integrated profile; an unbalanced one feels lopsided - perhaps too acidic and thin, or heavy and flat without brightness.

Balance doesn't mean neutral or uneventful. A coffee can be intensely acidic, full-bodied, and intensely flavoured and still score highly for balance if those characteristics complement and support each other. What balance assesses is whether the cup feels like a coherent whole. An Ethiopian washed coffee might be bright and floral; a Brazilian natural might be heavy and chocolatey - both can be balanced expressions of their respective styles.

In green coffee evaluation, balance is one of the more subjective scores but also one of the most revealing. It captures the cupper's holistic response to how a coffee fits together - which individual high scores on other attributes can't fully replace. Two coffees with identical acidity and body scores might taste very different in terms of overall integration, and balance is where that difference shows up.

Related Terms

Complexity

Flavour & Cupping

Body

Flavour & Cupping

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

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Batch Roaster

Roasting

A roasting machine that roasts a fixed quantity at one time

What is a batch roaster?

A batch roaster is any roasting machine that roasts a fixed quantity of coffee at one time - with a defined start point (loading the green coffee) and end point (dropping the roasted beans). The vast majority of coffee roasters used in specialty coffee, from home machines like the Aillio Bullet to large commercial drum roasters, are batch roasters.

This distinguishes them from continuous roasters - large industrial machines used in commodity coffee production that feed green coffee in at one end and roast it continuously as it moves through the machine. Continuous roasters prioritise throughput over precision; batch roasters prioritise control over flavour development.

Within the batch roaster category, the drum roaster is the most common type in specialty use. The green beans are loaded into a rotating drum heated by gas or electric elements, tumbled for a defined time, and discharged at the roaster's judgement. Each batch is a self-contained roasting event with its own profile, milestones, and result - which is why batch roasting lends itself to data logging, profile comparison, and iterative improvement in a way that continuous roasting doesn't.

Related Terms

Drum Roaster

Roasting

Fluid Bed Roaster

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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Batch Size

Roasting

The weight of green coffee loaded for a single roast

What is batch size in coffee roasting?

Batch size is the weight of green coffee loaded into the roaster for a single roast, typically measured in grams or kilograms. It's one of the most fundamental variables in roasting because it directly affects how the machine behaves: how quickly the bean mass absorbs heat, how milestones like yellowing and first crack arrive, and how much thermal capacity the roaster needs to maintain momentum through the roast.

Every drum roaster has an optimal batch size range - typically expressed as a percentage of the drum's stated capacity. Roasting at 50-70% of stated capacity is a common guideline for home drum roasters, providing enough bean mass for even agitation without overloading the machine's heating ability. Batches significantly below the minimum may not agitate properly in the drum, leading to uneven development or facing. Batches above the maximum may stall mid-roast as the machine can't deliver enough heat to keep pace.

Keeping batch size consistent between roasts is critical for profile repeatability. A batch 100g lighter than usual will absorb heat faster and hit milestones earlier - so the same profile settings will produce a different result. When logging roast data, recording green weight for every batch is a basic but essential practice that makes it possible to diagnose what changed between a roast that worked and one that didn't.

Related Terms

Green Weight

Roasting

Roast Loss

Roasting

Charge temperature

Roasting

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Batian

Varietals & Genetics

Kenyan CRI hybrid combining SL28/SL34 cup quality with disease resistance

What is the Batian coffee varietal?

Batian is a Kenyan coffee cultivar developed by the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) and released in 2010. It is a complex hybrid involving SL28, SL34, Ruiru 11, and K7 parentage, bred to combine the exceptional cup quality associated with the SL selections with meaningful disease resistance to both coffee leaf rust and Coffee Berry Disease.

Named after Batian Peak - the highest point on Mount Kenya - it was developed specifically to address the limitations of both SL28/SL34 (outstanding cup quality, poor disease resistance) and Ruiru 11 (good disease resistance, less distinguished cup). Batian aims to sit between the two: better cup quality than Ruiru 11, better disease tolerance than the SL types.

Early results have been promising. At altitude in Kenya's premium growing regions, Batian can produce coffees with complexity and acidity approaching the SL benchmark. It is compact, productive, and more disease-tolerant than SL28 or SL34. Whether it ultimately closes the gap on the cup quality of the best SL selections remains an ongoing debate in Kenyan specialty circles.

Related Terms

SL-28

Varietals & Genetics

SL-34

Varietals & Genetics

Ruiru 11

Varietals & Genetics

French Mission Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

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Bergendal

Varietals & Genetics

Rare Typica-derived heritage cultivar from Aceh and North Sumatra - low yield.

What is the Bergendal coffee varietal?

Bergendal is a rare Typica-derived cultivar found in Aceh and North Sumatra, named after the Bergendal estate in Sumatra where it was historically grown. Like Rambung, Pasumah, and BLP, it was part of the Dutch colonial coffee introduction programme that brought Arabica varieties from Africa and Ethiopia to Java and Sumatra in the 18th and 19th centuries.

It's low-yielding, not widely planted commercially, and has been largely displaced by higher-yielding disease-resistant types like Ateng. Cup quality isn't well documented in modern specialty literature.

Its value today is primarily genetic and historical - it's one of the heritage Typica-family varieties that Indonesian coffee researchers and conservationists track as part of the region's coffee biodiversity. When you're reading about traditional Sumatran variety genetics, Bergendal is one of the names that comes up.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Sidikalang

Varietals & Genetics

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Bill of Landing (BOL)

Contracts & Shipping

Primary shipping document - receipt, contract of carriage, and document of title.

What is a Bill of Lading?

The Bill of Lading - usually written as B/L or BOL - is the single most important document in a green coffee shipment. It does three things at once: it's a receipt confirming the goods were loaded onto the vessel, a contract of carriage between the shipper and the carrier, and a document of title. That last part is what gives it real commercial weight - whoever holds the original B/L legally controls the goods.

In practice: your importer ships a lot from Mombasa to Felixstowe. The carrier issues a Bill of Lading naming you as the consignee. Until the importer releases or transfers that document to you, they still control the coffee. Once you hold the original, you can collect it from the port.

For most roasters buying from UK importers, the B/L stays in the background - the importer handles it and you just collect from the warehouse. But if you're buying direct from an exporter or working with a freight forwarder, you'll need to understand how it moves through the chain. A missing or delayed B/L can hold up your entire shipment.

Related Terms

Certificate of Origin

Contracts & Shipping

Delivery Order (DO)

Contracts & Shipping

Advice of Shipment

Contracts & Shipping

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Biodiversity

Sustainability & Ethics

The variety of living organisms in and around a coffee farm

What is biodiversity in coffee farming?

Biodiversity refers to the variety of living organisms - plant species, insects, birds, fungi, soil microorganisms - present in and around a coffee farming system. High biodiversity is associated with resilient, ecologically healthy farms; monoculture coffee production with few other species present tends to be more vulnerable to pest and disease outbreaks, soil degradation, and climate stress.

In specialty coffee sourcing, biodiversity has become an increasingly important quality and sustainability indicator. Farms with diverse shade canopies, mixed crop systems, and intact forest buffers tend to produce better environmental outcomes - more carbon sequestration, better water retention, richer soil biology - and are often associated with greater resilience to climate variability. The Bird Friendly certification from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre explicitly measures biodiversity through canopy diversity and structural complexity requirements.

Genetic biodiversity within coffee itself is another dimension - the wild diversity of Coffea species in Ethiopia's forest ecosystems represents an irreplaceable genetic resource for future breeding programmes. As climate change threatens current Arabica growing conditions, wild coffee species with traits like heat tolerance, drought resistance, or natural caffeine reduction become increasingly valuable. The erosion of this genetic diversity through deforestation and habitat loss is one of the less-discussed long-term threats to the global coffee supply.

Related Terms

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainability & Ethics

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Biodynamic

Sustainability & Ethics

Holistic farming philosophy beyond organic - treats the farm as a self-sustaining

What is biodynamic coffee farming?

Biodynamic farming is a holistic agricultural philosophy developed by Rudolf Steiner in the 1920s that treats a farm as a self-sustaining ecosystem. It goes beyond organic farming by incorporating principles around soil health, biodiversity, and cyclical farming practices aligned with natural rhythms including lunar cycles.

In coffee, biodynamic farming involves avoiding synthetic pesticides and fertilisers (as with organic), but also composting on-farm to create closed nutrient loops, maintaining biodiversity through intercropping and shade canopy, and timing planting, pruning, and harvesting according to a biodynamic calendar that designates different days as optimal for root, leaf, flower, or fruit work.

Biodynamic certification - primarily administered by Demeter International - is more demanding and less common than organic certification. For specialty coffee buyers, a biodynamic designation signals a particularly committed approach to sustainable and ecologically integrated farming. Whether biodynamic practices produce measurably different cup quality to well-managed organic farming is debated, but the emphasis on soil health and biodiversity aligns closely with the long-term thinking that regenerative specialty coffee sourcing increasingly demands.

Related Terms

Organic Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainability & Ethics

Certification

Sustainability & Ethics

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Bird Friendly

Sustainability & Ethics

The most rigorous shade certification - Smithsonian-administered

What is Bird Friendly certification in coffee?

Bird Friendly is the most rigorous shade-grown certification in the coffee industry, administered by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre (SMBC). It sets specific, science-based standards for canopy cover, canopy height, tree species diversity, and foliage density - requirements that go significantly beyond what most shade-grown or organic certifications demand.

To achieve Bird Friendly status, a farm must first hold organic certification and meet the SMBC's specific criteria: a minimum 40% canopy cover, a canopy height of at least 12 metres, a minimum of 10 woody species per hectare, and specific requirements for structural complexity of the shade canopy. These standards are designed to create habitat that genuinely supports migratory bird populations and biodiversity - not simply a token shade layer over a monoculture.

Bird Friendly certification is relatively rare in commercial green coffee. The combination of organic certification, rigorous shade standards, and the associated audit costs creates a high barrier that only a small number of producers worldwide meet. For specialty buyers, a Bird Friendly lot signals a farm that has made a serious, verified commitment to ecological integrity. It's one of the few certifications where the environmental claim has been scientifically validated rather than simply asserted.

Related Terms

Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Rainforest Alliance Certification (RFA)

Sustainability & Ethics

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Bitter

Flavour & Cupping

A basic taste detected at the back of the tongue - natural in coffee at low levels

What does bitter mean in coffee?

Bitter is one of the five basic tastes - detected primarily at the back of the tongue - and is a natural component of roasted coffee. A degree of bitterness is normal and expected in coffee; it becomes problematic when it dominates the cup or creates an unpleasant harshness.

In coffee, bitterness comes from several sources: caffeine (which is inherently bitter), degraded chlorogenic acids produced during roasting, and certain compounds produced through over-extraction or overly dark roasting. Darker roasts are intentionally more bitter than lighter roasts, as the extended roasting time produces more bitter compounds while breaking down the acids that provide brightness and sweetness.

As a defect descriptor, bitter implies an unpleasant, sharp harshness that overwhelms other cup attributes - typically the result of over-extraction (grinding too fine, water too hot, or brew time too long), over-roasting, or poor-quality green coffee. The distinction between acceptable bitterness (which provides balance and structure) and defect bitterness (which dominates and detracts) is one of the key calibrations in developing sensory skills at the cupping table.

Related Terms

Over-extraction

Roasting

Roasty

Roasting

Balance

Flavour & Cupping

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Black Beans

Cultivation & Processing

Primary defect - fully blackened beans from mould damage, causing off-flavours in cup.

What are black beans in green coffee?

Black beans are a primary defect in green coffee - beans whose interior has turned entirely black from fungal, mould, or pest damage. They develop when overripe cherries fall to the ground and decompose before harvest, or when damaged cherry sits too long on the drying bed.

On the SCA grading scale, one fully black bean counts as one full primary defect - the most serious category. Even a small number in a batch can significantly reduce a cupping score, because they contribute harsh, fermented, or putrid off-flavours that are very hard to miss once you're tasting.

They're removed through float separation, optical sorting, and hand sorting. If you're receiving green coffee with unusually high defect counts, black beans are often the primary culprit - and it almost always points to cherry sorting and drying management issues at origin, not anything addressable downstream.

Related Terms

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Quakers

Cultivation & Processing

Potato Defect

Cultivation & Processing

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Black Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Most or all mucilage left on bean, dried slowly under shade

What is black honey processing?

Black honey processing is the most intensive category of honey processing, in which most or all of the mucilage is left on the bean after pulping. The name refers to the near-black colour the mucilage develops as it oxidises slowly under shade, over the longest drying period of any honey variant - sometimes 4-6 weeks or more.

Producing black honey requires constant monitoring. The high mucilage content and long, slow, shaded drying creates conditions where mould and over-fermentation can develop rapidly if the coffee isn't turned frequently and weather conditions aren't managed carefully. The drying environment is deliberately humid and slow - the opposite of the sunny, fast drying of yellow honey.

The resulting cup is the closest honey-processed coffee gets to natural processing in character: heavy body, pronounced sweetness, intense fruit, and sometimes a complex fermented quality. For espresso in particular, black honey can produce an almost syrupy, honey-like richness that's hard to achieve with any other method. The trade-off is shelf life - black honey green coffee is at its best roasted promptly on arrival, as the high residual mucilage content means it fades faster than washed or lighter honey lots.

Related Terms

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Red Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Gold Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Yellow Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Blender

General Terms

Coffee for blending - valued for consistency and body, not single-origin character.

What does blender mean in coffee sourcing?

A blender is a coffee bought specifically as a component in a blend rather than as a standalone single-origin. Blender coffees typically provide a consistent, reliable base - moderate body, low to neutral acidity, good roastability, nothing distracting but nothing that gets in the way either.

Common blenders include lower-grown Brazilian naturals, Indonesian wet-hulled coffees, and commercial-grade Central American washed coffees. They're available in larger volumes at predictable price points with consistent quality across harvests - which is exactly what a blend anchor needs.

The term is descriptive, not a slight. A well-sourced blender does its job precisely by not standing out. The distinction is simply between coffees bought for their character as standalones and those bought for what they contribute to something assembled. Both have a clear role, and understanding which you're buying for matters when you're speccing green.

Related Terms

Roast Profile

Roasting

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Bloom

General Terms

Initial pour in brewing that releases CO2 from freshly roasted coffee

What is bloom in coffee brewing?

Bloom - sometimes called pre-infusion - is the initial stage of brewing where a small amount of hot water is poured over ground coffee and left to rest for 20-45 seconds before the main pour begins. During this time, the coffee releases a visible surge of CO₂ gas, causing the grounds to bubble and swell.

The bloom matters because freshly roasted coffee contains significant amounts of CO₂ trapped inside the bean structure during roasting. If you pour all your water at once without blooming, that CO₂ can interfere with extraction - the gas escaping from the grounds creates channels and prevents water from saturating the coffee evenly, leading to an uneven and often underwhelming cup.

For home roasters, the bloom is one of the clearest indicators of freshness. Very fresh coffee produces an energetic, domed bloom that rises dramatically from the grounds. Older coffee blooms less vigorously, or barely at all. If you've just roasted a batch and the bloom is dramatic, the coffee is probably still too fresh - most roasters recommend waiting at least 5-7 days after roasting before brewing, and longer for espresso, to allow CO₂ levels to stabilise.

Related Terms

Degassing

Roasting

Roast Date

Roasting

Green Bean

General Terms

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Blue Mountain Cultivar

Varietals & Genetics

Typica variety known for Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee and East African CBD resistance.

What is the Blue Mountain coffee cultivar?

The Blue Mountain cultivar is a Typica-derived variety originally associated with Jamaica's Blue Mountains, where it produces the famously expensive Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. Beyond Jamaica, it's been planted in Papua New Guinea, Kona in Hawaii, and parts of East Africa.

In Kenya and Tanzania, the Blue Mountain cultivar attracted attention for its noted resistance to Coffee Berry Disease (CBD) - a fungal infection causing significant crop losses in East Africa. That CBD tolerance made it a useful parent in East African breeding programmes, though its direct cultivation outside Jamaica is limited.

In Jamaica, strict regulations govern what can be labelled Jamaica Blue Mountain, making it one of the world's most tightly controlled coffee designations. The cup profile is characterised by large bean size, clean mild character, and well-balanced acidity - qualities that command a premium reflecting scarcity and regulation as much as exceptional complexity.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Berry Disease

Cultivation & Processing

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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Body

Flavour & Cupping

The weight and texture of coffee on the palate - from light and delicate to full and

What is body in coffee cupping?

Body refers to the physical sensation of coffee in the mouth - its weight, texture, and how it coats the palate. It's one of the ten attributes scored on the SCA cupping form and is evaluated separately from flavour and acidity. A coffee can be described as light-bodied (thin, watery, delicate), medium-bodied, or full-bodied (heavy, syrupy, coating).

Body is primarily determined by the concentration of dissolved solids, oils, and colloidal particles suspended in the brewed coffee. Higher concentrations of these compounds produce a heavier, more viscous mouthfeel. Processing method significantly influences body: natural-processed coffees tend to have fuller body than washed coffees from the same origin, because the extended contact with drying fruit allows more lipids and sugars to migrate into the bean. Indonesian wet-hulled coffees are typically the fullest-bodied of all, a direct result of the Giling Basah process.

Roast level also affects body - darker roasts generally feel heavier and more coating than lighter roasts from the same green coffee, as roasting breaks down cellular structure and releases more oils. For buyers evaluating green coffee, body is a useful signal for how a coffee will perform across different brew methods and market positioning - a full-bodied coffee that coats the palate tends to perform well as espresso; a lighter-bodied coffee with high clarity suits filter brewing.

Related Terms

Mouthfeel

Flavour & Cupping

Balance

Flavour & Cupping

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Bonded Warehouse

Contracts & Shipping

Customs-approved storage where imported goods are held without paying duty until released

What is a bonded warehouse in green coffee?

A bonded warehouse is a secure storage facility approved by customs authorities where imported goods can be held without import duty or VAT being paid until the goods are released into the domestic market. The goods are technically still "in bond" - under customs control - and duty is only triggered when they are cleared for domestic use.

In green coffee, bonded warehouses are where most bulk imported coffee is stored between arrival at port and sale to roasters. A UK importer bringing a container of Ethiopian coffee through Felixstowe will typically have it moved to a bonded warehouse rather than paying duty immediately. The coffee can be bought, sold, and physically held in the bonded warehouse without triggering the duty payment. When a roaster purchases a lot and it's released to them - via a Delivery Order - that's when it clears customs and duty becomes payable.

For roasters, the practical implication is that green coffee listed on an importer's offer sheet is often held in bonded storage. The price quoted may or may not include duty - it's worth confirming whether a price is ex-bond (duty unpaid) or duty-paid (cleared), as this affects your true landed cost calculation.

Related Terms

Ex Warehouse (EXW)

Contracts & Shipping

Delivery Order (DO)

Contracts & Shipping

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

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Bouquet

Flavour & Cupping

The complete aromatic impression of a coffee - fragrance, aroma

What is bouquet in coffee cupping?

Bouquet is a term used to describe the complete aromatic experience of a coffee - encompassing fragrance (the smell of dry grounds), aroma (the smell of brewed coffee), and aftertaste (the lingering scent after swallowing). It treats the full aromatic impression as a single, integrated attribute rather than separate components.

The term is borrowed from wine vocabulary, where bouquet refers to the complex aromatic character developed through fermentation and ageing - distinct from simpler varietal aromas. In coffee, bouquet is used less commonly than in wine but still appears in traditional cupping vocabulary, particularly in older industry literature.

In modern SCA cupping protocol, the aromatic attributes are evaluated and scored separately: dry fragrance and wet aroma each have their own assessment. Bouquet as an integrated term has become less common in professional cupping, where precision of individual attributes is preferred. However, it remains a useful shorthand when describing a coffee's overall aromatic impression in consumer-facing contexts - a coffee with a great bouquet smells complex and inviting from grounds to cup to finish.

Related Terms

Aroma

Flavour & Cupping

Fragrance

Flavour & Cupping

Afternose

Flavour & Cupping

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Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Foundational Arabica cultivar - parent of many specialty varieties, valued for sweetness.

What is the Bourbon coffee varietal?

Bourbon is one of the two foundational cultivars of Coffea arabica - the other being Typica. It takes its name from the island of Bourbon (now Réunion) in the Indian Ocean, where French colonists cultivated a distinct population of Arabica trees introduced from Yemen in the early 18th century.

Bourbon is a tall, productive plant relative to Typica and spread widely across Latin America from the 19th century onwards. In the cup it's associated with well-balanced acidity, pronounced sweetness, and a clean, rounded profile - qualities that have made it the genetic foundation for many of specialty coffee's most celebrated cultivars. Caturra, Catuai, SL28, SL34, Pink Bourbon, Villa Sarchi, and Tekisic all carry Bourbon genetics.

The variety exists in red, yellow, and orange colour variants - red being the most widespread. Bourbon is susceptible to leaf rust and produces modest yields compared to modern commercial cultivars. Despite this, it's still planted widely in specialty-focused regions where its cup quality justifies the investment, and it remains one of the most important names to know in the varietal landscape.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Caturra

Varietals & Genetics

Pink Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Yellow Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Orange Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

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Bourbon Mayaguez

Varietals & Genetics

Bourbon cultivar from Rwanda and Burundi - bright, fruit-forward washed coffees.

What is the Bourbon Mayaguez coffee varietal?

Bourbon Mayaguez is a Bourbon-derived cultivar associated with Rwanda and Burundi, where it forms much of the genetic foundation of both countries' coffee production. It's believed to have been introduced by Belgian missionaries in the early 20th century, with the Mayaguez designation referring to a specific selection or introduction rather than a distinct genetic group.

In Rwanda, Bourbon Mayaguez is closely tied to the country's high-altitude, fully washed coffees - known for bright citric acidity, fruit-forward character, and elegant clarity. These are among the most vibrant expressions of the Bourbon family you'll find anywhere in the world, shaped by Rwanda's volcanic soils and dramatic altitude.

The cultivar is susceptible to leaf rust, which has pushed some producers towards hybrid alternatives. But Bourbon Mayaguez remains the variety most associated with Rwanda's specialty identity and the lots that perform best at auction.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Mibirizi

Varietals & Genetics

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

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Break Bulk

Contracts & Shipping

Pre-container era shipping method - bags loaded loose in a ship's hold

What is break bulk in coffee shipping?

Break bulk refers to cargo that is loaded individually onto a vessel rather than packed inside a shipping container - in coffee's case, individual jute bags stacked loose in the ship's hold. It was the dominant method of shipping coffee for most of the 20th century before containerisation became standard.

Today, break bulk is largely obsolete in green coffee trade. The container revolution from the 1970s onwards dramatically reduced shipping costs, improved handling efficiency, and made cargo far less vulnerable to damage, theft, and moisture exposure during transit. Almost all green coffee now ships in sealed containers.

You'll encounter the term primarily in historical context - discussing how traditional large-estate coffees from India or East Africa used to reach European ports - or occasionally in very specific trade routes where containerisation infrastructure is limited. It's also a useful baseline reference point for understanding why containerised shipping was such a significant development for coffee quality and traceability.

Related Terms

Container Load

Contracts & Shipping

FCL (Full Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

LCL (Less than Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

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B

Brightness

Flavour & Cupping

The lively, vibrant quality of acidity in high-quality coffees

What is brightness in coffee?

Brightness is a sensory descriptor used to describe the lively, vibrant quality of acidity in coffee - the perceived freshness and clarity that well-developed acids bring to the cup. It's related to acidity but describes the overall impression rather than just the acid content: a bright coffee feels alive and vibrant on the palate, like a squeeze of lemon or a crisp green apple, rather than simply tasting acidic.

Brightness is primarily associated with high-quality washed coffees from high-altitude origins - Ethiopian, Kenyan, and Colombian washed lots are frequently described as bright. The organic acids responsible - particularly citric, malic, and phosphoric - create a fresh, clean sensation that is distinct from the sourness of under-extraction or defect-related acidity. The key distinction: brightness is desirable and pleasurable; sourness and sharpness are not.

For buyers evaluating green coffee, brightness is one of the clearest indicators of altitude, cherry quality, and processing care. A coffee with genuine brightness has been grown slowly at elevation, harvested ripe, and processed cleanly - each of those conditions is necessary. Brightness tends to diminish in older crop coffees and is among the first qualities to fade as green coffee ages past its freshness window, which makes it a useful real-time indicator of how well a lot has been stored and transported.

Related Terms

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

Citric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Phosphoric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

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B

Brix

Cultivation & Processing

Sugar content measurement used to assess cherry ripeness at harvest

What is Brix in coffee?

Brix is a measurement of the sugar content of a liquid, expressed as grams of sucrose per 100 grams of solution. In coffee, it's used primarily at the farm level to measure the sugar concentration of ripe coffee cherry - providing an objective indicator of cherry ripeness and quality potential at harvest.

A refractometer - a small handheld optical device - is used to measure Brix in the field. A drop of juice squeezed from a coffee cherry is placed on the lens; the device reads the sugar concentration by measuring how the liquid bends light. Ripe specialty-grade cherry typically reads between 18-24 degrees Brix, though this varies by variety and growing conditions. Lower Brix suggests underripe cherry; higher readings indicate peak or slightly past-peak ripeness.

For specialty producers and buyers who pay attention to harvest precision, Brix measurements are a useful tool for deciding when to pick and for setting intake standards at the wet mill. Cherry accepted at the washing station can be tested on arrival, with lots below a minimum Brix threshold rejected or separated. It brings objectivity to a decision - cherry ripeness - that is otherwise left to the pickers' judgement.

Related Terms

Cherry Ripeness

Cultivation & Processing

Floating

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Harvest

Cultivation & Processing

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B

Broker

General Terms

An intermediary who connects buyers and sellers of green coffee without taking ownership

What is a coffee broker?

A coffee broker is an intermediary who facilitates transactions between buyers and sellers of green coffee without necessarily taking ownership of the coffee itself. Unlike a trader who buys and then resells, a broker acts as an agent - connecting a roaster looking for a specific coffee with an importer or exporter who has it, and earning a commission on the transaction rather than a margin on the goods.

In practice, the distinction between broker, trader, and importer is often blurred. Some companies described as brokers do take title to coffee; others described as importers act in a broker capacity for certain transactions. The key characteristic is the agency relationship: a broker's value is their network and market knowledge, not their inventory.

For roasters, working with a broker can provide access to coffees or origins that their usual importer doesn't carry - a broker with strong relationships at specific origins can source specific lots on request. The trade-off is that broker-facilitated transactions often involve less direct relationship with the supply chain and less of the educational support a good specialty importer provides. Brokers are more common in higher-volume commercial trade than in the micro-lot specialty market, where importer-roaster relationships tend to be more direct.

Related Terms

Trader

General Terms

Importer

General Terms

Supply Chain

General Terms

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B

BT (Bean Temperature)

Roasting

Bean temperature - the primary roasting measurement tracking heat absorbed by the coffee

What is BT (bean temperature) in coffee roasting?

BT stands for bean temperature - the temperature reading from a probe positioned in contact with, or in the middle of, the coffee bean mass inside the roasting drum. It is the primary measurement used to track and control a roast and is the line most roasters focus on when reading a roast curve.

Bean temperature tells you the actual heat absorbed by the coffee itself, as opposed to the environmental or air temperature (ET) surrounding it. In the early stages of a roast, BT drops sharply as cold green beans absorb heat from the drum - this is the turning point. From there, BT rises steadily through the drying phase, yellowing, Maillard phase, first crack, development phase, and finally to the drop point.

The shape of the BT curve - how steeply it rises, whether the rate of rise is declining steadily or crashing - is the primary diagnostic tool for understanding what's happening in the roaster. A smoothly declining rate of rise through the Maillard phase and into development is associated with well-developed, consistent results. A sudden RoR crash produces baked coffee; a spike can push the roast too fast. Most roasting software plots BT in real time alongside ET, giving roasters an immediate picture of how the batch is progressing.

Related Terms

ET (Environmental Temperature)

Roasting

Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

Roast Curve

Roasting

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C

C-Market

General Terms

Global Arabica futures market setting the benchmark price in US cents per pound.

What is the C-Market in coffee?

The C-Market is the global Arabica coffee futures exchange, operated by ICE Futures U.S. in New York. It sets the benchmark price for green coffee worldwide - quoted in US cents per pound, moving continuously based on supply forecasts, weather events, currency movements, and speculative trading activity.

Almost everything in green coffee trade references it. When a coffee is priced at "+45 cents over C," that means the C-Market spot price plus 45 US cents per pound. When the market moves sharply - as it did in 2021 and again through 2024, hitting historic highs - every coffee in the supply chain gets more expensive, regardless of whether it has any direct relationship to commodity-grade material.

For roasters, the C-Market matters even when you're buying outside commodity channels. It sets the floor that influences how producers, exporters, and importers price their lots. Keeping a rough eye on it gives useful context when a price quote comes in higher than last season, or when an importer flags availability issues - often those conversations start with what's happening at the exchange.

Related Terms

Differential

General Terms

Coffee Futures

Contracts & Shipping

Spot Price

Contracts & Shipping

Price Volatility

General Terms

Price to be Fixed (PTBF)

Contracts & Shipping

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C

Caffeine

General Terms

Natural alkaloid responsible for coffee's stimulating effect

What is caffeine in coffee?

Caffeine is a naturally occurring alkaloid found in coffee beans, responsible for the stimulating effect that makes coffee the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance. It works by blocking adenosine receptors in the brain - adenosine is the compound that builds up over the course of a day and promotes sleepiness. By blocking those receptors, caffeine keeps you alert.

Caffeine content varies significantly by species and preparation. Arabica beans typically contain 1.2-1.5% caffeine by dry weight; Robusta contains roughly double at 2-2.7%. This is one of the reasons Robusta produces a more intense, harsher cup - the higher caffeine content contributes directly to bitterness. Contrary to common belief, roast level has a relatively minor effect on caffeine content - a dark roast and a light roast from the same green coffee contain broadly similar caffeine levels by weight, though the density change from roasting means the comparison by volume or scoop is more complicated.

For green coffee buyers sourcing decaf, caffeine removal method matters - the various decaffeination processes (Swiss Water, CO₂, Methylene Chloride, Ethyl Acetate, Sugarcane) each remove caffeine to different levels of efficiency, with regulatory standards typically requiring 97% or more removal for a coffee to be labelled decaffeinated.

Related Terms

Decaffeinated Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Alkaloid

Flavour & Cupping

Robusta

Varietals & Genetics

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C

Cajuela

Cultivation & Processing

Costa Rican harvest measure of ~20 litres of cherry - used to calculate picker wages.

What is a cajuela in coffee harvesting?

A cajuela is the standardised volume measurement used in Costa Rica to quantify harvested coffee cherry - a basket of approximately 20 litres, equivalent to around 11–12 kilograms of ripe fruit. It's the unit by which pickers are paid: daily earnings are calculated by counting cajuelas filled.

It matters as a buyer because Costa Rican farm records, yield data, and producer payment documents reference cajuelas rather than kilograms. One cajuela of cherry yields roughly one kilogram of exportable green - a practical conversion when reviewing harvest data or production figures.

The system is Costa Rica-specific. Other origins use different units - a fanega in other Latin American countries, a debi in Ethiopia - but the underlying function is the same: a standard measure that enables verifiable payment at the farm gate.

Related Terms

Fanega

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Harvest

Cultivation & Processing

Yield

Cultivation & Processing

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Caramelization

Roasting

Thermal breakdown of sugars during roasting - produces caramel, toffee, and sweet notes.

What is caramelization in coffee roasting?

Caramelization is the thermal decomposition of sugars when exposed to heat - the process by which sucrose and other sugars in the coffee bean break down and reform into hundreds of new aromatic compounds. It begins at around 170-180°C during roasting and is one of the two primary browning reactions, alongside the Maillard reaction, that shape the flavour and colour of roasted coffee.

Caramelization produces the sweet, toffee, caramel, and syrupy notes associated with medium roasts, as well as contributing to the brown colour of the beans. As roasting progresses further, caramelization increasingly gives way to pyrolysis - the destructive breakdown of organic compounds that produces the bitter, charred character of dark roasts.

The distinction between Maillard reaction and caramelization matters in practical roasting because they operate at different temperatures and respond differently to roast curve decisions. Most of the complex aromatic compounds in specialty coffee are Maillard products; caramelization contributes the sweetness and body that round them out.

Related Terms

Maillard Reaction

Roasting

Sucrose

Roasting

Pyrolysis

Roasting

Strecker Degradation

Roasting

Melanoidins

Roasting

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Carbon Dioxide Process

Cultivation & Processing

Decaf method using supercritical CO2 to remove caffeine - highly flavour-preserving.

What is the CO₂ decaffeination process?

The CO₂ process uses carbon dioxide in its supercritical state - where it behaves simultaneously like a liquid and a gas - as a highly selective solvent to extract caffeine from green coffee beans. At around 250–300 bar of pressure and 45°C, CO₂ molecules penetrate the bean's cellular structure and bind specifically to caffeine, leaving larger flavour compounds largely intact.

The caffeine-saturated CO₂ is then depressurised, the caffeine separates out, and the CO₂ is recycled. No chemical solvents, no residues - just pressure, temperature, and physics.

It's widely considered the most flavour-preserving decaffeination method available. The selectivity for caffeine over flavour compounds is genuine, not marketing. The capital investment required means it's used by relatively few producers, which is why CO₂ decaf sits at a price premium. For roasters building a premium decaf, the quality difference is worth it.

Related Terms

Swiss Water Process

Cultivation & Processing

Sugarcane Decaf

Cultivation & Processing

Mountain Water Decaffeination

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Acetic Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Carriage and Insurance Paid To (CIP)

Contracts & Shipping

Seller pays freight and comprehensive insurance; risk transfers at first carrier handover.

What does Carriage and Insurance Paid To (CIP) mean?

CIP is CPT with insurance built in. The seller pays freight to the named destination and must also take out cargo insurance - at a minimum of 110% of invoice value under Institute Cargo Clauses (A), the most comprehensive level available.

Risk still transfers to you at handover to the first carrier, as with CPT. But unlike CPT, you don't need to arrange your own cover - the seller is contractually required to provide it.

CIP has become the preferred Incoterm for containerised shipments in many modern coffee contracts, replacing the older CIF. If you're seeing it on offer sheets from European importers, it's a sign you're dealing with someone using up-to-date trade terms - and that your coffee is properly insured during transit.

Related Terms

Carriage Paid To (CPT)

Contracts & Shipping

Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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Carriage Paid To (CPT)

Contracts & Shipping

Seller pays freight to named destination; risk transfers at handover to first carrier.

What does Carriage Paid To (CPT) mean?

CPT is an Incoterm where the seller arranges and pays for transport to a named destination - typically an inland warehouse or freight terminal. But risk transfers to you the moment the coffee is handed to the first carrier, even though the seller keeps paying for the journey.

So if something goes wrong mid-transit - a container gets damaged at sea, say - that's your problem from the point of handover, even though the seller paid for that leg. For this reason, buyers under CPT terms usually arrange their own cargo insurance to cover any gap.

You're more likely to encounter CPT in European road freight than in intercontinental sea shipments. It gives you simplicity on logistics costs without leaving you uninsured - as long as you've sorted your own cover.

Related Terms

Carriage and Insurance Paid To (CIP)

Contracts & Shipping

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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Carry Costs

Contracts & Shipping

Storage, insurance, and financing charges on owned green coffee awaiting collection.

What are carry costs in green coffee buying?

When you buy green coffee but leave it sitting in an importer's warehouse rather than collecting it, the clock starts running. Carry costs are the ongoing charges - storage fees, cargo insurance premiums, sometimes financing interest - that accumulate while the coffee waits.

Most importers charge storage monthly, per bag or per tonne. It doesn't sound like much individually, but a lot that sits for three months before you collect it can cost meaningfully more than the price you originally agreed. A roaster who contracts 20 bags of a Kenyan lot in January and doesn't collect until April will find that gap on their invoice.

Carry costs matter most when you're buying forward contracts or building seasonal stock. Factor them into your unit cost from the start, not as a surprise at collection.

Related Terms

Bonded Warehouse

Contracts & Shipping

Forward Contract (Forward)

Contracts & Shipping

SPOT Coffee

Contracts & Shipping

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Cascara

Cultivation & Processing

Dried coffee cherry skin and pulp, brewed as a fruity tea-like drink

What is cascara?

Cascara - from the Spanish for 'husk' or 'shell' - is the dried skin and pulp of the coffee cherry, produced as a by-product of wet processing. When coffee cherries are pulped at the wet mill, the outer skin and fruit flesh are removed and typically discarded or composted. Cascara is produced when this material is instead collected, dried, and prepared for use.

The dried cascara can be brewed as a tea-like infusion - steeped in hot water to produce a light, fruity drink with notes of hibiscus, tamarind, and rose hip, and a gentle caffeine content lower than brewed coffee. It has a long history of traditional use in Yemen, where it's known as qishr (often made with ginger and spices), and in Bolivia and Brazil.

In specialty coffee, cascara has attracted growing interest as both a sustainable use of processing by-product and a distinct product category in its own right. For producers, selling cascara rather than composting the pulp represents additional income from the same harvest. For buyers and roasters, it's increasingly appearing on menus and in product ranges as an alternative to traditional coffee drinks. In the EU, cascara was approved as a novel food in 2022, which has opened the door to broader commercial development in European markets.

Related Terms

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

Pulp Natural

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Tree

Cultivation & Processing

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Castillo

Varietals & Genetics

Compact, rust-resistant Colombian cultivar developed by Cenicafe - dominates production.

What is the Castillo coffee varietal?

Castillo is a cultivar developed by Cenicafé - Colombia's coffee research centre - and released from 2005 onwards. It's the product of a five-generation backcrossing programme starting from a Caturra × Colombia (a Catimor derivative) cross, designed to produce strong leaf rust resistance while recovering enough cup quality to be commercially viable in specialty markets.

Compact, productive, and rust-resistant, Castillo now represents the majority of Colombia's coffee production. It exists in regional sub-varieties - Castillo El Tambo, Castillo Naranjal, and others - developed to perform well under specific local conditions.

The variety has been genuinely controversial in specialty coffee. Some cuppers find it lacks the complexity of traditional Caturra lots from the same farms. Others point to high-scoring Castillo lots at altitude and argue the difference is in growing conditions, not genetics. The honest position is somewhere in the middle: at high altitude with good management, Castillo can produce excellent coffee. Whether it reaches the ceiling of the best Caturra remains debated.

Related Terms

Cenicafe

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

Colombia F8

Varietals & Genetics

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Catimor

Varietals & Genetics

HdT and Caturra cross - disease-resistant and productive but lower cup quality.

What is the Catimor coffee varietal?

Catimor is a broad family of cultivars derived from a cross between Híbrido de Timor (HdT) and Caturra, first developed in Portugal in the 1950s. Because HdT is a natural Arabica-Robusta hybrid, Catimors carry some Robusta genetics - which gives them strong leaf rust resistance and typically high yields, but can also introduce cup quality issues.

Catimor varieties have been widely adopted across Asia, Central America, and Africa wherever leaf rust poses a serious threat. They're productive, hardy, and manageable. The trade-off in cup quality is real: at lower altitudes or under poor conditions, the Robusta genetic contribution can produce flat, woody, or astringent flavours. At higher altitudes with careful management, some Catimor sub-types produce acceptable specialty results.

The group includes numerous named cultivars: Ateng and Sigarar Utang in Indonesia, Lempira in Honduras, Sarchimor in Portugal and Costa Rica, and many others. When you see Catimor on a specification, it tells you something about disease resistance and agronomic background - it doesn't tell you much about cup quality without the full context of altitude and processing.

Related Terms

Hibrido De Timor

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

Sarchimor

Varietals & Genetics

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Catuai

Varietals & Genetics

Compact, high-yielding Arabica from Brazil - Mundo Novo and Caturra cross.

What is the Catuai coffee varietal?

Catuai is a high-yield Arabica cultivar developed by Brazil's Instituto Agronômico de Campinas in the 1950s and 1960s, from a cross between Mundo Novo and Caturra. The name comes from the Guaraní word meaning "very good."

It's a compact, dwarf plant - the Caturra parent passing on that characteristic - which makes it easier to harvest and manage than taller varieties, and well-suited to mechanised harvesting at scale. Red Catuai and Yellow Catuai are the main colour variants.

Catuai is widely grown in Brazil and Central America and forms a large proportion of commercial production in both regions. Cup quality is capable rather than distinguished - balanced body, clean moderate acidity - and while it won't typically headline a specialty menu on varietal character alone, it's been the workhorse of Brazilian and Central American production for decades. Susceptibility to leaf rust limits its long-term viability in some regions.

Related Terms

Caturra

Varietals & Genetics

Mundo Novo

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

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Caturra

Varietals & Genetics

Natural dwarf Bourbon mutation - widely planted in Colombia and Central America.

What is the Caturra coffee varietal?

Caturra is an Arabica cultivar discovered in Brazil in 1937 as a spontaneous natural mutation of Bourbon. The defining characteristic is its compact, dwarf stature - the caturra mutation - which makes it easier to harvest at higher planting densities and contributed significantly to its commercial adoption.

It was among the first compact, high-yielding Arabica cultivars widely planted in specialty coffee regions, displacing taller Typica and Bourbon plants through mid-20th century Colombia and Central America. Well-grown Caturra at altitude - in Huila, in Antigua, in Tarrazú - is associated with bright acidity, sweetness, and genuine complexity. It's produced some of those regions' most celebrated coffees.

Susceptibility to leaf rust has led to its gradual replacement by disease-resistant hybrids in some areas, which is one of the more consequential trade-offs in modern specialty coffee: a variety with real cup potential progressively displaced by agronomic necessity. Caturra is also the parent of Catuai, Castillo, and much of the Catimor group.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Catuai

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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Cenicafe

Cultivation & Processing

Colombia's national coffee research centre - responsible for Castillo, Tabi

What is Cenicafe?

Cenicafe - the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones de Café - is Colombia's national coffee research centre, based in Chinchina, Caldas. It's operated by the Federacion Nacional de Cafeteros (FNC) and is one of the most significant coffee research institutions in the world.

Cenicafe's breeding programme has produced most of the cultivars that define Colombian coffee production today. Colombia F1 through F8, Castillo, Tabi, and numerous regional Castillo sub-varieties - including Castillo El Tambo, Castillo Naranjal, and Castillo Paraguaicito - are all Cenicafe developments. Each involved decades of crossing, selection, and field trialling to combine leaf rust resistance with acceptable cup quality.

Beyond breeding, Cenicafe conducts research across agronomy, processing, climate adaptation, and post-harvest management. For buyers sourcing Colombian green coffee, understanding Cenicafe's role explains why the cultivar landscape looks the way it does - and why "Castillo" on a specification means something specific about the history of that plant material.

Related Terms

Castillo

Varietals & Genetics

Colombia F8

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

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Certificate of Origin

Contracts & Shipping

An official document confirming where coffee was grown

What is a Certificate of Origin in green coffee?

A Certificate of Origin (CO or COO) is an official document issued by an approved certifying authority in the exporting country, confirming that the coffee was grown and produced in that country. It is one of the primary documents required by customs authorities to clear an import shipment and is a mandatory part of the green coffee export chain.

For the UK, Certificates of Origin for coffee are used to establish the country of origin for customs duty purposes. Different trade agreements and preferential tariff arrangements may apply depending on where the coffee comes from - the preferential duty rate for coffee from an ACP (African, Caribbean, and Pacific) country under the UK's trade agreements may differ from the standard rate for coffee from other origins. The CO is what proves the coffee qualifies.

In specialty coffee, the Certificate of Origin also serves a traceability function - confirming provenance as the coffee moves through international trade. For buyers purchasing direct or near-direct from producing countries, the CO is part of the documentation chain that verifies the coffee is what it claims to be. In practice, most roasters buying from UK importers never see the CO directly - the importer handles it - but understanding what it is and why it exists helps make sense of the import process.

Related Terms

Bill of Landing (BOL)

Contracts & Shipping

Advice of Shipment

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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Certification

Sustainability & Ethics

Third-party verification of environmental or social standards - e.g. Organic, Fairtrade.

What is certification in coffee?

Certification is a third-party verification process confirming that a coffee has been produced, traded, or processed according to a defined set of standards. The most widely recognised schemes are Organic, Fairtrade, and Rainforest Alliance (which absorbed UTZ in 2018). Each scheme focuses on different things - environmental farming practices, minimum price guarantees, worker welfare, biodiversity conservation - and involves annual auditing by an accredited body.

For producers, certification can unlock access to premium-paying markets and in some cases a guaranteed price floor. The cost and administrative burden is significant, particularly for smallholder cooperatives without dedicated compliance capacity.

For buyers, certifications are useful shorthand - but they're not a quality guarantee and shouldn't be treated as one. Many of the world's most interesting coffees come from uncertified farms, and a certification mark tells you nothing about how a coffee tastes. Quality and ethics are both worth caring about; they just need to be evaluated separately.

Related Terms

Fairtrade

Sustainability & Ethics

Organic Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Rainforest Alliance Certification (RFA)

Sustainability & Ethics

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Chaff

Roasting

The papery silverskin that detaches from beans during roasting

What is chaff in coffee roasting?

Chaff is the thin, papery skin that detaches from coffee beans during roasting. It's the silverskin - the innermost seed coat that clings to the bean after processing - which becomes brittle and separates as the bean expands and the cellular structure changes under heat.

In a drum roaster, chaff is collected in a chaff collector or cyclone - a separate chamber where the lightweight flakes are captured as airflow carries them away from the drum. Managing chaff is both a practical and a safety consideration: accumulated chaff is a combustion risk in an enclosed roasting environment, and most dedicated home roasters include a chaff collection system for this reason. Popcorn popper roasters produce large amounts of chaff that need to be managed during the roast itself.

The amount of chaff varies by coffee. Naturals tend to produce more than washed coffees, and certain origins - Ethiopian naturals in particular - are notably chaff-heavy. A significant chaff deposit after a roast is a normal result, not a sign of a problem. Emptying the chaff collector between roasts is simply good maintenance practice, both for consistency and safety.

Related Terms

Silverskin

Cultivation & Processing

Drum Roaster

Roasting

Drying Phase

Roasting

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Charge temperature

Roasting

Drum temperature at green coffee load - sets the heat transfer profile for the roast.

What is charge temperature in coffee roasting?

Charge temperature is the temperature your drum has stabilised at before you load the green coffee. It's the starting point of the roast - and it has a disproportionate influence on everything that follows.

When cold green beans hit a hot drum, the temperature drops sharply. That drop is the turning point. How quickly the beans recover from it, and how much heat they absorb in the critical first few minutes of the roast, is directly shaped by your charge temperature. A higher charge means more heat transferred early on; a lower charge means a gentler, slower start. Charge too high and you risk scorching; charge too low and the roast can struggle to build momentum.

Every roaster has a target charge temperature for each profile, and it needs to be consistent to get consistent results. Seasonal variation, batch size differences, and even how long the machine has been running all affect where you actually land. Logging it - not just setting it - is what makes a profile reproducible.

Related Terms

Preheat

Roasting

Turning point

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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Charrieriana

Varietals & Genetics

Naturally caffeine-free Coffea species from Cameroon - of interest for breeding research.

What is Coffea charrieriana?

Coffea charrieriana is a naturally caffeine-free coffee species discovered in Cameroon and formally described in 2008 - the first documented caffeine-free species from Central Africa. It's named in honour of André Charrier, a French botanist who specialised in the Coffea genus.

Its scientific significance is in breeding potential: a naturally caffeine-free Arabica relative that could theoretically be used to develop naturally decaffeinated coffee varieties, bypassing the cost and chemistry of conventional decaffeination. Cameroon is recognised as a centre of diversity for the Coffea genus, hosting numerous wild species that researchers monitor as potential genetic resources.

In practical terms, C. charrieriana is not commercially cultivated and won't appear in a green coffee catalogue anytime soon. But it's part of the wider story of what the Coffea genus contains - and why preserving wild coffee diversity matters for the industry's long-term future.

Related Terms

Coffea

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

Decaffeinated Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

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Chemical Process

Cultivation & Processing

Decaf using solvents (methylene chloride or ethyl acetate) to extract caffeine.

What is the chemical (solvent) decaffeination process?

Chemical decaffeination uses an organic solvent to extract caffeine from green coffee beans. The two most common solvents are methylene chloride and ethyl acetate. Beans are steamed to open their pores, washed with the solvent which bonds to caffeine molecules, drained, then steamed again to drive off residual solvent before drying.

Residues in the finished coffee are minimal - typically under 1 part per million, well below EU and US regulatory limits, and reduced further during roasting since both solvents evaporate at temperatures well below roasting heat. The safety profile is well-established.

Some roasters avoid it for positioning reasons, preferring Swiss Water or CO₂ for clean-label purposes. That's a legitimate commercial choice. But if you're buying MC or EA decaf from a reputable producer and someone questions it on safety grounds, the science supports you. Cup quality from well-executed solvent decaf is typically good - often better than water-process alternatives at the same price.

Related Terms

Methylene Chloride Decaf

Cultivation & Processing

Ethyl Acetate

Cultivation & Processing

Sugarcane Decaf

Citric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Key organic acid in Arabica - produces bright, citrus-like cup character

What is citric acid in coffee?

Citric acid is one of the most prominent organic acids in Arabica coffee and a primary contributor to the bright, fruit-like acidity associated with high-quality washed coffees from origins like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Colombia.

It develops within the coffee cherry during maturation - higher-altitude, cooler growing conditions allow more time for acids including citric acid to accumulate in the seed. This is one of the key reasons altitude correlates with brighter, more vibrant cup character. Citric acid in coffee reads on the palate as clean brightness - the sensation associated with citrus fruit, which contains high concentrations of the same compound.

During roasting, citric acid is progressively degraded by heat, which is why darker roasts taste less bright than lighter ones from the same green coffee. It's most intact and expressive in light to medium roasts. On the SCA cupping form, the bright, citrus-like quality associated with citric acid contributes to the acidity score - one of the clearest indicators of green coffee quality.

Related Terms

Malic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Phosphoric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

Brightness

Flavour & Cupping

Lactic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

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Clean Cup

Flavour & Cupping

Coffee free from off-flavours and defects - a scored SCA attribute and prerequisite for

What is a clean cup in coffee?

Clean cup is a cupping term used to describe coffee that is free from off-flavours, defects, and any unwanted sensory interference. It's one of the ten attributes scored on the SCA cupping form and is a fundamental requirement for specialty-grade classification.

A clean cup allows the intrinsic character of the coffee - its origin flavours, varietal character, and processing influence - to come through without interference. It's the sensory baseline from which all other attributes are evaluated. A coffee scoring 80+ points on the SCA scale but lacking cup cleanliness cannot genuinely be considered specialty grade regardless of its other qualities.

Cleanliness is achieved through careful cherry selection at harvest, well-managed fermentation and drying, rigorous defect sorting at the dry mill, and appropriate storage and handling through the supply chain. Each stage where something goes wrong - over-fermentation, mould during drying, contamination in storage - introduces flavour compounds that compromise cleanliness. When experienced cuppers describe a coffee as "clean," they're communicating that the supply chain behind it worked: nothing got in the way of the coffee expressing what it actually is.

Related Terms

Uniformity

Flavour & Cupping

Cupping Protocol

Flavour & Cupping

Q Score

Flavour & Cupping

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Sour Bean

Cultivation & Processing

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Climate Change

Sustainability & Ethics

Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall are shrinking suitable Arabica growing land and

What is the impact of climate change on coffee?

Climate change poses one of the most serious structural threats to global coffee production. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and increased frequency of extreme weather events are already affecting the viability of existing coffee growing regions - and projections suggest the problem will intensify significantly over coming decades.

The core problem for Arabica is temperature sensitivity. Arabica thrives in a relatively narrow temperature band - roughly 18-22°C average - at altitude. As temperatures rise, suitable growing conditions shift upward in altitude. In many origins, there is limited land available at higher elevations, meaning the total area suitable for Arabica cultivation is effectively shrinking. Research published in journals including Nature Plants has projected that without adaptation, up to 50% of current Arabica growing land could become unsuitable by 2050 under high-emissions scenarios.

In practical terms, this means more unpredictable harvests, higher incidence of coffee leaf rust (which thrives in warmer, wetter conditions), more frequent drought and frost events at origin, and increasing quality variability from season to season. The specialty coffee industry's response involves supporting climate adaptation (shade trees, drought-resistant varieties, altitude migration), reducing its own carbon footprint, and funding research into climate-resilient Coffea species. For buyers, climate change is already affecting the consistency and availability of coffees from some origins.

Related Terms

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Carbon Sequestration

Sustainability & Ethics

Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainability & Ethics

F1 Hybrids

Varietals & Genetics

Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

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Co-fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Fruits, spices, or botanicals added during fermentation to influence cup flavour.

What is co-fermentation in coffee processing?

Co-fermentation is a processing method where natural ingredients - fruit, spices, botanicals, herbs - are added directly into the fermentation vessel alongside the coffee. The aim is for those additions to influence the microbial environment and interact with the bean, imparting additional flavour compounds during fermentation.

Common additions include cinnamon, passionfruit, citrus peel, and banana. The added ingredients contribute sugars, acids, and aromatics that fermenting microorganisms incorporate into their metabolic activity, which the bean then absorbs.

The results can be striking - sometimes explicitly reflecting the added ingredient. Co-fermented coffees divide opinion: proponents see them as an extension of fermentation craft; critics question whether the result is genuine coffee character or something imposed from outside. Done well, the added element enhances without dominating. Done poorly, it produces clashing or artificial flavours that overwhelm the underlying coffee.

Related Terms

Anaerobic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Lactic Fermentation

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Coffee Storage

Cultivation & Processing

Proper storage preserves green coffee freshness - best consumed within 18 months.

What is green coffee storage and why does it matter?

Green coffee is a living material - hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs and releases moisture in response to its environment, and slowly changing in cellular structure and chemistry from the moment it's processed. Storage conditions determine how quickly it ages and how much quality is preserved between origin and roastery.

Ideal conditions: cool (15–20°C), stable temperature, around 60% relative humidity, dark, and away from anything with a strong smell. Green coffee readily absorbs ambient odours - bags stored near paint, chemicals, or other strong-smelling products will pick up those smells in a way that roasting won't fix.

Standard packaging is jute or sisal with an inner GrainPro or hermetic liner. Most specialty green should be used within 12–18 months of harvest. Beyond that, expect a progressive loss of brightness and complexity as the coffee transitions towards the flat, woody character of past crop.

Related Terms

Moisture Content

Cultivation & Processing

Water Activity (aw)

Cultivation & Processing

Grain Pro

Cultivation & Processing

Density Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Triage

General Terms

C-Market

General Terms

Differential

General Terms

Third Wave Coffee

General Terms

Price Volatility

General Terms

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Complexity

Flavour & Cupping

Depth and range of flavours that shift and reveal themselves as a coffee cools

What does complexity mean in coffee?

Complexity describes the depth and range of flavours and sensations present in a coffee - the quality of having multiple distinct, interesting characteristics that shift and reveal themselves as the cup cools, rather than presenting a single flat note. A complex coffee rewards attention; a simple one says everything it has to say in the first sip.

Complexity in coffee is shaped by multiple interacting factors: the genetic diversity of the varietal or population of plants, the altitude and specific microclimate where it was grown, the processing method applied, and the roast profile used to develop it. Natural-processed coffees often show more complex fruit-driven character than washed coffees from the same origin; Ethiopian heirloom lots - grown from a diverse genetic population rather than a single cultivar - frequently produce cups with layered complexity that single-varietal commercial lots can't match.

On the SCA cupping form, complexity isn't scored as a single discrete attribute but contributes to the overall and flavour scores. Experienced cuppers will note a coffee as complex when they find themselves picking up different impressions with each slurp - florals in the aroma, stone fruit in the first sip, a chocolate finish, and a shift towards dried fruit as the cup cools. For buyers, complexity is one of the clearest indicators that a coffee has something distinctive to offer - and that the growing conditions, genetics, and processing behind it were exceptional.

Related Terms

Balance

Flavour & Cupping

Flavour Notes

Flavour & Cupping

SCA Flavour Wheel

Flavour & Cupping

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Container Load

Contracts & Shipping

A full 20ft shipping container - typically 275-325 bags (60kg) of green coffee.

What is a container load of green coffee?

The standard shipping container in green coffee is a 20-foot dry container - often written as 20ft or TEU (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Unit). It typically holds 275 to 325 bags of green coffee, most commonly 60kg bags, working out to roughly 17–19 metric tonnes per container.

For context: if you're buying 10 bags of a Kenyan AA from an importer, your coffee is sharing a container with dozens of other buyers' orders - that's a consolidated or LCL (less than container load) shipment. Larger roasters buying at volume will eventually reach the point where a full container of one or two origins makes financial sense - you trade the flexibility of smaller orders for a lower per-bag landed cost.

Understanding container capacity matters when you're planning volume. An importer quoting you a price for "FCL" means they're filling that container for you specifically.

Related Terms

FCL (Full Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

LCL (Less than Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

Break Bulk

Contracts & Shipping

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Conventional Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee not certified organic - a trade classification, not a quality descriptor.

What does conventional mean in coffee trading?

Conventional simply means not certified organic. That's the entire distinction - it says nothing about how the coffee was actually farmed. Conventional coffee may be grown using intensive synthetic inputs on a sun-grown monoculture, or it may be produced thoughtfully by a farmer who simply hasn't pursued certification.

The term comes up most in the context of certification pricing. Organic coffees command a premium over conventional equivalents, and when a certified lot loses its status - due to lapsed auditing, prohibited input use, or administrative failure - it reverts to conventional pricing.

For specialty buyers prioritising quality and traceability, conventional versus organic is less relevant than origin, processing, and farm-level practices. Many of the world's most interesting coffees are produced by uncertified farmers. Certification and quality are worth evaluating independently.

Related Terms

Organic Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Certification

Sustainability & Ethics

Fairtrade

Sustainability & Ethics

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C

Cooling Stage

Roasting

Final roasting phase - beans discharged and rapidly cooled to stop development.

What is the cooling stage in coffee roasting?

The moment you drop the roasted beans from the drum, the roast isn't quite over - residual heat inside the bean keeps development going. The cooling stage is the process of removing that heat as fast as possible to stop development at exactly the end point you intended.

Beans discharge onto a cooling tray with a rotating arm and a fan drawing cool air through from below. The goal is to bring bean temperature down to ambient in around four to five minutes. Too slow - from an undersized tray, a weak fan, or an oversized batch - and the beans coast past your intended profile. A roast carefully taken to 210°C can effectively finish at 212°C or 213°C if cooling is sluggish, shifting the cup in ways that aren't always obvious until the next day.

If you've ever had a profile that looks right on the logging software but tastes consistently darker than expected, cooling rate is worth checking before you adjust anything else.

Related Terms

Drop

Roasting

Degassing

Roasting

Roast Loss

Roasting

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C

Cost and Freight (CFR)

Contracts & Shipping

Seller pays ocean freight to destination; risk transfers to buyer at origin port.

What does Cost and Freight (CFR) mean?

Under CFR, the seller pays to get the coffee onto the ship and covers ocean freight to the named destination port. But risk transfers to you the moment it's loaded at origin - before the ship has even left the port.

That split feels counterintuitive at first: the seller is still paying for the journey, but you're bearing the risk for anything that goes wrong during it. Under CFR, you should be arranging your own marine insurance. If you're not, you're exposed.

CFR is one of the older Incoterms and is most common in bulk or break-bulk sea freight. For containerised coffee - which covers the vast majority of green coffee trade - FCA or CIP are generally more appropriate. If you see CFR on a contract, read the risk transfer clause carefully.

Related Terms

Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)

Contracts & Shipping

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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C

Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)

Contracts & Shipping

Seller pays freight and basic insurance to destination port; risk transfers at loading.

What does Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) mean?

CIF is the price-inclusive option: the seller pays freight to the destination port and provides basic cargo insurance for the voyage. Prices are typically quoted to a specific port - "CIF Rotterdam" or "CIF Antwerp" - and you'll see it frequently on commodity-grade offer sheets.

Risk still transfers at the port of loading, as with CFR. But unlike CFR, you're at least covered - the seller's insurance obligation means any damage or loss during the voyage is insured, even though you're technically bearing the risk from the moment it's loaded.

One caveat: CIF only requires minimum insurance cover under Institute Cargo Clauses (C), the least comprehensive option. For high-value specialty lots, that may not be enough. CIP - which mandates Clauses (A) cover - is the better-protected equivalent for modern containerised shipments.

Related Terms

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Cost and Freight (CFR)

Contracts & Shipping

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)

Contracts & Shipping

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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C

Costa Rica 95

Varietals & Genetics

Leaf rust-resistant Costa Rican cultivar from a Timor Hybrid and Caturra cross.

What is the Costa Rica 95 coffee varietal?

Costa Rica 95 (CR-95) is a cultivar developed by ICAFE, Costa Rica's coffee institute, through selection from a cross between Híbrido de Timor 832/1 and Caturra. It's part of a family of disease-resistant varieties developed in response to the leaf rust threats that have challenged Costa Rican production.

CR-95 was specifically developed for performance on acidic volcanic soils in high-rainfall zones - conditions common across several of Costa Rica's key growing areas. It carries solid resistance to leaf rust and is productive under these demanding conditions.

It's more significant at a national level in Costa Rica than in international specialty markets, where it doesn't command the attention of the country's honey-processed Geisha or SHB micro-mill lots. Cup quality is reasonable at altitude - workmanlike rather than exceptional - but it does the agronomic job it was bred to do.

Related Terms

Catimor

Varietals & Genetics

Sarchimor

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

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C

Crash and Flick

Roasting

A RoR pattern where the rate drops sharply then rises at first crack

What is crash and flick in coffee roasting?

Crash and flick describes a Rate of Rise (RoR) pattern at or around first crack in which the RoR drops sharply (the "crash") before rising again (the "flick"). It is one of the most discussed RoR patterns in home roasting forums and a common point of confusion and debate about what it means for cup quality.

The crash occurs when the bean mass undergoes the endothermic-to-exothermic transition at first crack while roast heat application has been wound back too aggressively beforehand - the RoR falls steeply. The flick is the subsequent exothermic burst as first crack reactions release energy, causing the RoR to rise again briefly. The resulting RoR curve looks like a sharp V shape around the first crack event.

Whether crash and flick meaningfully harms cup quality is contested. Some roasters argue that a smooth, gently declining RoR through first crack produces cleaner, more developed results. Others find that mild crash-and-flick patterns have negligible cup impact when the overall development time and end temperature are appropriate. The practical guidance most commonly given: aim for a gently declining RoR that passes through first crack without sharp crashes or spikes, treating crash and flick as a signal to refine heat management in the pre-crack window rather than as a definitive quality indicator.

Related Terms

Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

First Crack

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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C

Credit Terms

Contracts & Shipping

Payment timeline an importer extends to a roaster - how long you have to pay after

What are credit terms in green coffee buying?

Credit terms define the payment timeline a seller extends to a buyer - how long the buyer has to pay for coffee after receiving it or after the invoice date. In green coffee, credit is most commonly extended by importers to roasters, rather than by producers or exporters to importers.

The most common format is Net 30 - meaning the full invoice amount is due within 30 days. Longer terms (Net 60, Net 90) are available to established buyers with a track record. Some sellers offer early payment discounts: a term written as "2/10 Net 30" means the full amount is due within 30 days, but a 2% discount applies if paid within 10 days.

Credit terms are a practical tool for roasters managing cash flow - allowing you to receive, roast, and sell coffee before the payment is due. For importers, extending credit is a risk they manage based on trading history and volume. New buyers typically start on tighter terms (payment upfront or on delivery) and work up to credit terms as the relationship develops.

Related Terms

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Forward Contract (Forward)

Contracts & Shipping

Commitment to Buy

Contracts & Shipping

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C

Crop Year

Cultivation & Processing

A 12-month harvest period that varies by origin - Brazil starts April, Colombia October

What is a crop year in coffee?

A crop year is a 12-month period commencing on the first day of the month in which a producing country's coffee harvest begins. Unlike the ICO's standardised coffee year (October to September), crop years vary by origin - Brazil's crop year traditionally starts in April, Colombia's in October, while some East African origins start in July.

Crop year is the time reference most directly connected to when coffee was actually grown and harvested. When a lot specification or offer sheet lists a crop year, it tells you which 12-month harvest cycle the coffee comes from - more specific than simply knowing the calendar year it was shipped or purchased.

Understanding crop year helps buyers track coffee freshness accurately. A Colombian coffee from crop year 2023/24 (starting October 2023) is a different age proposition to a Brazilian coffee from crop year 2023/24 (starting April 2023), even though both carry the same year designation. For green coffee buyers managing freshness and quality windows, knowing the origin's crop year start date turns the label from an approximate reference into a precise age indicator.

Related Terms

Coffee Year

General Terms

New Crop

Cultivation & Processing

Past Crop

Cultivation & Processing

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C

Cup of Excellence

Flavour & Cupping

The world's most prestigious green coffee competition

What is Cup of Excellence?

Cup of Excellence (CoE) is the world's most prestigious green coffee competition, run annually in producing countries by the Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE). Coffees are submitted by producers, then undergo multiple rounds of cupping by national and international juries of licensed Q Graders - with only those scoring 87 points or above on the SCA 100-point scale earning the Cup of Excellence designation. The highest-scoring lots are then sold at online auction to international buyers.

Cup of Excellence auctions consistently achieve the highest prices paid for traceable green coffee anywhere in the world. Winning lots from Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Brazil, and other participating countries regularly sell for multiples of the specialty market price - sometimes tens or hundreds of dollars per pound for the top-ranking coffees. The competition has launched the careers of numerous producers and put previously unknown farms and regions on the specialty coffee map.

For green coffee buyers, Cup of Excellence results serve multiple purposes. The winning lots themselves are available at auction. But the broader CoE programme has also driven quality improvement in participating countries by showing producers that exceptional quality commands exceptional prices - and by providing a credible, internationally calibrated quality benchmark against which other coffees from the same origins can be measured.

Related Terms

Q Score

Flavour & Cupping

Q Grader

Flavour & Cupping

Specialty Coffee

Flavour & Cupping

SCA Flavour Wheel

Flavour & Cupping

Clean Cup

Contracts & Shipping

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Free Carrier (FCA)

Contracts & Shipping

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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D

Decaffeinated Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee with most caffeine removed before roasting - at least 97% removed by regulation;

What is decaffeinated coffee?

Decaffeinated coffee is coffee from which most of the caffeine has been removed before roasting. Regulatory standards in most markets require that at least 97% of the caffeine be removed for a coffee to be labelled decaffeinated - in the EU the threshold is 99.9% for soluble coffee and 99.7% for roasted beans.

Decaffeination always happens to green coffee before roasting. The main commercial methods are: Swiss Water Process (water and activated charcoal filtration, chemical-free), Mountain Water Process (similar to Swiss Water, processed in Mexico), Carbon Dioxide Process (supercritical CO₂ as a selective solvent, highest flavour retention), Methylene Chloride (chemical solvent decaf, most common commercially), Ethyl Acetate (organic solvent, sometimes marketed as natural), and Sugarcane Decaf (EA from fermented sugarcane, popular in specialty).

Each method affects the final cup differently. CO₂ and Swiss Water are considered the most flavour-preserving; solvent methods are typically cheaper but produce good cup quality in capable hands. For roasters building a decaf offering, the method matters both for cup quality and for the label claims available to them - chemical-free certifications require Swiss Water, Mountain Water, or CO₂ processing.

Related Terms

Swiss Water Process

Cultivation & Processing

Carbon Dioxide Process

Cultivation & Processing

Sugarcane Decaf

Varietals & Genetics

Kurume

Varietals & Genetics

Wolisho

Varietals & Genetics

Kudhum

Varietals & Genetics

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Varietals & Genetics

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D

Degassing

Roasting

CO2 release from roasted beans - affects packaging, resting, and extraction quality.

What is degassing in roasted coffee?

During roasting, the Maillard reaction and caramelisation produce significant volumes of carbon dioxide that become trapped inside the bean's cellular structure. Degassing is the process of that CO₂ slowly escaping after roasting - it starts immediately and continues for days to weeks depending on roast level, grind state, and storage conditions.

It matters in two practical ways. For packaging: freshly roasted coffee needs time to degas before it's sealed airtight, otherwise CO₂ builds up inside and can rupture the bag. Most specialty roasters use one-way valve bags that let CO₂ escape without letting oxygen in, allowing earlier packaging without the risk. For brewing: coffee that hasn't degassed sufficiently - particularly for espresso - can produce uneven extractions and a harsh, carbonic edge. Most roasters recommend resting espresso for at least five to ten days after roasting before use.

Lighter roasts degas more slowly than darker ones. Ground coffee degasses dramatically faster than whole beans, losing freshness much more quickly in the process - another reason to grind as close to brewing as you can.

Related Terms

Bloom

General Terms

Roast Date

Roasting

Stale Coffee

General Terms

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D

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)

Contracts & Shipping

All-in Incoterm - seller covers freight, insurance, duties, and delivers cleared.

What does Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) mean?

DDP is the most buyer-friendly Incoterm. The seller handles everything - freight, insurance, export clearance, import customs, and all applicable duties and taxes in your country. The coffee arrives at your named destination cleared and ready to collect. You don't touch a piece of paperwork.

The trade-off is cost: DDP will always price higher than FOB or CIF for the same coffee, because every logistics cost is bundled in. But what you gain is simplicity and predictability - no surprise import charges, no freight invoices to reconcile, no customs delays that are suddenly your problem to manage.

For roasters just getting started with direct or near-direct sourcing, DDP can be a useful entry point. It removes complexity while you're building relationships and understanding the import chain. As your volumes grow, moving to FOB or FCA and managing your own freight typically becomes more cost-effective.

Related Terms

DAP (Delivered at Place)

Contracts & Shipping

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)

Cultivation & Processing

Colour Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Triage

Roasting

First Crack

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

Second Crack

Roasting

Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

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D

Development Time Ratio (DTR)

Roasting

Development time as a percentage of total roast time

What is Development Time Ratio (DTR) in coffee roasting?

Development Time Ratio - abbreviated DTR - is the percentage of total roast time that falls within the development phase: from first crack to drop. It's calculated simply as development time divided by total roast time, expressed as a percentage.

For example: a roast that takes 10 minutes total, with 2 minutes from first crack to drop, has a DTR of 20%.

DTR has become one of the most widely referenced metrics in specialty roasting because it provides a comparable, relative measure of development that accounts for differences in total roast time. Two roasts with the same absolute development time of 2 minutes may be very different if one had a total roast time of 8 minutes (DTR 25%) and the other 12 minutes (DTR 17%).

A commonly cited target range for specialty roasting is 20-25% DTR, though this varies meaningfully by coffee, machine, and target profile. More important than hitting a specific number is understanding what your DTR is telling you - and using it alongside end temperature, RoR at drop, and of course the cup itself to diagnose and refine your profiles. DTR alone doesn't guarantee a well-developed roast, but it's a useful consistency checkpoint that most roasting software calculates automatically.

Related Terms

Development Time

Roasting

First Crack

Roasting

Roast Profile

General Terms

Coffee Futures

Contracts & Shipping

Fixed Price

Contracts & Shipping

Price to be Fixed (PTBF)

Contracts & Shipping

Spot Price

Contracts & Shipping

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D

Direct Trade

Sustainability & Ethics

Buying directly from a producer rather than through an importer

What is direct trade in coffee?

Direct trade refers to a sourcing relationship in which a roaster buys coffee directly from a producer - a farm, cooperative, or washing station - rather than through an importer or intermediary. The term implies a closer, more transparent relationship with more of the purchase price reaching the producer.

Unlike Fairtrade or Organic, direct trade is not a formal certification with defined standards. Any roaster can claim it without third-party verification. In practice, the term covers a wide spectrum - from roasters who genuinely visit farms, pay well above market price, and maintain multi-year relationships, to those who simply buy from an importer who bought from a producer and call it direct trade.

For buyers assessing a direct trade claim, the relevant questions are: how was the price set, was the producer involved in that conversation, how often does the roaster visit origin, and what does the relationship look like beyond the transaction? The concept is a useful pointer towards transparency and equitable sourcing - the term alone guarantees neither.

Related Terms

Relationship Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Transparency

Sustainability & Ethics

Farm Gate

Cultivation & Processing

Chemical Process

Cultivation & Processing

Swiss Water Process

Contracts & Shipping

Bonded Warehouse

Contracts & Shipping

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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E

Excelsa

Varietals & Genetics

Distinct African Coffea species - mild, Robusta-adjacent cup character.

What is Coffea excelsa?

Coffea excelsa - also known as Coffea dewevrei - is a distinct species within the Coffea genus originating in Central Africa. It's entirely unrelated to Excelso, the Colombian grade designation that shares a similar name.

Excelsa grows as a large tree up to 7 metres in natural form and produces a cup with mild, Robusta-adjacent character. It's cultivated to a limited extent in parts of Central and West Africa and Southeast Asia, sometimes used as a blend component.

It's one of the four commercially cultivated Coffea species alongside Arabica, Robusta, and Liberica, though it holds a very small share of global production. In specialty coffee, Excelsa is a genuine curiosity - occasionally encountered in blends targeting unusual character, but far from mainstream. Worth knowing primarily to avoid confusing it with Colombia's most common export grade.

Related Terms

Liberica

Varietals & Genetics

Robusta

Varietals & Genetics

Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

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E

Excelso

Cultivation & Processing

Colombian green coffee grade for screen size 15-16 - the most widely traded export grade.

What does Excelso mean in Colombian coffee grading?

Excelso is a Colombian green coffee grade based on bean size, designating beans retained by screen 15 but passing through screen 17 - the second-largest size category in the Colombian system, below Supremo (screen 17 and above). It's the most widely traded Colombian export grade by volume, forming the backbone of Colombia's commercial market.

Excelso is divided into quality tiers: UGQ (Usual Good Quality) is the standard commercial grade; EP (European Preparation) Excelso indicates additional sorting on top of machine processing.

Screen size is a useful quality proxy - larger, more uniform beans tend to roast more evenly. But grade tells you relatively little about cup quality on its own. A well-managed Excelso from Huila at 1,900 masl can easily outscore a generic Supremo from a lower-altitude commercial operation. The grade sets a floor; what happens above it depends on the people and practices behind the coffee.

Related Terms

Supremo

Cultivation & Processing

Screen Size

Cultivation & Processing

Grade

Cultivation & Processing

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E

Exothermic and Endothermic

Roasting

Endothermic reactions absorb heat (most of the roast); exothermic reactions release it

What do exothermic and endothermic mean in coffee roasting?

Endothermic and exothermic describe the direction of heat flow during the chemical reactions happening inside the roasting bean - concepts that explain one of the most important events in the roast: first crack.

An endothermic reaction absorbs heat from its surroundings. The majority of the roasting process up to first crack is endothermic - the bean is continuously absorbing energy from the roasting environment, which is why bean temperature (BT) rises steadily as heat is applied. The roaster must keep supplying energy to drive the process forward.

At first crack, the beans transition through a brief exothermic phase - the reactions occurring at this point release heat rather than absorb it. This is why the Rate of Rise (RoR) often increases or "flicks" upward at first crack even without any change in applied heat: the beans are momentarily generating their own heat. After first crack, as the exothermic burst subsides and development phase chemistry takes over, the roast returns to a broadly endothermic character.

For roasters, understanding the endo/exo shift explains why heat management at first crack is critical. If you're still applying maximum heat as the exothermic flick arrives, the combination can push the rate of rise sharply upward and drive the roast faster than intended. Many experienced roasters reduce heat input slightly just before anticipated first crack to manage this transition and maintain a controlled, declining RoR through development.

Related Terms

First Crack

Roasting

Maillard Reaction

Roasting

Pyrolysis

Roasting

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F

F1 Hybrids

Varietals & Genetics

First-generation inbred-line crosses - hybrid vigour gives superior yield and uniformity.

What are F1 hybrid coffee varieties?

F1 hybrids are first-generation crosses between two genetically distinct, inbred parent lines. In plant breeding, F1 hybrids are known for heterosis - hybrid vigour - which means they typically outperform both parent lines in yield, uniformity, and often quality. World Coffee Research (WCR) has been the primary driver of F1 hybrid development in coffee since the 2010s.

Unlike traditional varieties that reproduce true-to-type from seed, F1 hybrids don't. The second generation (F2) shows wide genetic variation, meaning farmers must purchase new seeds or use vegetative propagation (cuttings or tissue culture) each time - which increases cost but guarantees consistent, uniform plants.

Notable WCR F1 hybrids include Centroamericano, Milenio, and Starmaya, developed primarily for Central American conditions. They combine high productivity, rust resistance, and promising cup quality - with some producing very high scores at altitude. Adoption is growing but remains relatively limited. The higher seed cost and need for specialised propagation are real barriers for smallholder farmers, even when the agronomic case is compelling.

Related Terms

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

Backcrossing

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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F

Facing

Roasting

A roasting defect where beans develop a burnt patch on one side from contact with the

What is facing in coffee roasting?

Facing is a roasting defect in which beans develop a burnt or darkened patch on one flat side - the 'face' - from prolonged contact with the hot drum wall. Unlike scorching, which typically shows up early in the roast when the drum is hottest, facing can develop throughout the roast if drum rotation speed isn't keeping beans adequately mixed and tumbling.

The mechanism: if beans aren't moving freely in the drum - because rotation is too fast or too slow to achieve proper agitation, or because the batch size is too small relative to the drum volume - individual beans can press against the drum surface and sit there long enough to burn on that contact face. The result is a bean that's charred on one side while the interior remains relatively underdeveloped.

In the cup, facing produces a combination of bitter, smoky, burnt notes alongside an underdeveloped flatness - similar to scorching, but typically softer because only one face of the bean is affected. The fix is usually mechanical: adjusting drum speed, checking that batch size is within the machine's optimal range, or reviewing heat application in the early stages of the roast where contact burns are most likely to initiate.

Related Terms

Scorched

Roasting

Tipping

Roasting

Drum Speed

Roasting

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F

Fair Trade Organic (FTO)

Sustainability & Ethics

Combined Fairtrade and organic certification - carries premiums above either alone.

What is Fair Trade Organic (FTO) certification?

FTO is a combined certification confirming that a coffee meets both Fairtrade trading standards and certified organic production requirements.

Fairtrade requires producers to be paid a minimum floor price above commodity levels, plus a Fairtrade Premium - additional funds for community or business development. It also sets standards for working conditions, democratic governance of cooperatives, and environmental practices. Organic certification requires coffee was grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilisers for a defined transition period, verified through annual auditing.

Together they carry premiums above either certification alone. For buyers, FTO is a useful signal - but understanding what each standard actually requires, rather than treating all certifications as equivalent, leads to more informed sourcing conversations. Certification costs can be significant for smallholder cooperatives, and many excellent producers choose not to pursue it for practical rather than ethical reasons.

Related Terms

Fairtrade

Sustainability & Ethics

Organic Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Certification

Sustainability & Ethics

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F

Fairtrade

Sustainability & Ethics

Ethical trade certification guaranteeing a minimum price floor and community premium for

What is Fairtrade certification in coffee?

Fairtrade is one of the most widely recognised ethical trade certification systems in the world, administered by Fairtrade International and its national member organisations. In coffee, Fairtrade certification guarantees that producer organisations (cooperatives and smallholder groups) receive a minimum price for their coffee - regardless of how low the C-Market falls - plus a Fairtrade Premium that must be invested collectively in community or business development projects.

The Fairtrade minimum price for Arabica washed coffee is set periodically by Fairtrade International. When the C-Market is above the minimum, producers receive the market price; when it falls below, the minimum floor applies. The Fairtrade Premium - currently $0.20 per pound on top of the price - is paid into a communal fund that producer groups decide democratically how to spend, on things like school buildings, healthcare, processing equipment, or replanting programmes.

Fairtrade certification is often misunderstood as a quality guarantee - it isn't. It's a trading standards certification focused on price stability, community investment, and labour standards. Many Fairtrade-certified lots are commercial grade; equally, many of the world's finest specialty coffees are grown by producers who have never sought certification. The strongest critique of Fairtrade in specialty circles is that the minimum price, while valuable in market crashes, is often still below the living income benchmark for producers in many origins.

Related Terms

Price Floor

Sustainability & Ethics

Living Income

Sustainability & Ethics

Certification

Sustainability & Ethics

Direct Trade

Sustainability & Ethics

Fair Trade Organic (FTO)

Sustainability & Ethics

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F

Fan Speed

Roasting

Controls airflow through the roasting drum - affects heat transfer, smoke removal

What is fan speed in coffee roasting?

Fan speed controls the airflow through the roasting drum - how much air is being drawn through the bean mass and out of the roaster. On drum roasters with adjustable fans, speed is typically expressed as a numbered setting. On the Aillio Bullet it runs from 1 to 9; on other machines it may be expressed as a percentage or airflow rate.

Fan speed has several interconnected effects on the roast. Higher fan speeds increase airflow, which draws more heat away from the bean mass (convective cooling effect) and removes smoke and chaff more aggressively. Lower fan speeds reduce airflow, allowing more heat to build in the drum but also allowing smoke to linger longer - which can contribute to smoky off-flavours at very low settings. Fan speed also affects the movement of chaff: sufficient airflow is needed to carry detached silverskin out of the drum and into the chaff collector.

Many roasters vary fan speed during the roast rather than holding it constant - starting lower in the drying phase to preserve heat, then increasing in development to manage smoke and temperature. For home roasters on machines like the Bullet, learning how fan adjustments affect the rate of rise and overall heat trajectory is one of the more nuanced aspects of developing a refined roast profile.

Related Terms

Drum Speed

Roasting

Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

Heat Transfer

Roasting

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F

Fanega

Cultivation & Processing

Latin American harvest measure of 250kg of fresh coffee cherry.

What is a fanega in coffee measurement?

A fanega is a traditional Latin American volume measurement equivalent to 250 kilograms of fresh coffee cherry, used during and after harvest to measure volumes at the farm or wet mill intake point. It's most common in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras.

In Costa Rica, the cajuela (approximately 20 litres of cherry) is a sub-unit of the fanega - roughly 20 cajuelas to one fanega. The exact equivalent varies by region, so confirming local definitions when reviewing harvest data from a specific origin is worth doing.

For buyers, the fanega is relevant when interpreting farm-level productivity data or producer payment records. A farm yielding 40 fanegas per hectare is producing approximately 10,000 kilograms of fresh cherry per hectare - a figure that gives useful context for understanding farm scale and the economics of processing.

Related Terms

Cajuela

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Harvest

Cultivation & Processing

Yield

Cultivation & Processing

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F

Farm Gate

General Terms

The price paid to a producer at the farm itself - the most upstream price point and key

What does farm gate mean in coffee pricing?

Farm gate refers to the price paid to a producer for their coffee at the point of sale at the farm itself - before any transport, processing, export costs, or intermediary margins are added. It represents the most upstream price point in the supply chain and is the figure most directly relevant to the farmer's actual income.

Farm gate pricing has become an important transparency metric in specialty coffee. Many direct trade and relationship-sourcing frameworks publish farm gate prices alongside their green coffee offerings, allowing buyers and consumers to understand what portion of the final retail price reaches the producer. A high FOB or retail price doesn't necessarily mean a high farm gate price - the gap between what a roaster pays and what the farmer received can be significant.

Comparing farm gate prices across different supply chains helps evaluate the economic fairness of sourcing models. A coffee bought at $1.50/lb farm gate tells a different story to one bought at $3.50/lb farm gate, even if both appear on offer sheets at similar FOB prices.

Related Terms

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Transparency

Sustainability & Ethics

Living Income

Sustainability & Ethics

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F

FAS (Free Alongside Ship)

Contracts & Shipping

Seller delivers to dockside at origin port - risk transfers before loading, unlike FOB.

What does Free Alongside Ship (FAS) mean in green coffee trading?

FAS is an Incoterm in which the seller's obligation ends when the coffee has been delivered to the dock at the named port of origin, alongside the vessel. From that point, all costs and risks - loading onto the ship, ocean freight, insurance, and everything onwards - transfer to the buyer.

The key distinction from FOB: under FOB, risk transfers when the coffee crosses the ship's rail (i.e., once it's loaded). Under FAS, risk transfers earlier - when the coffee is placed at the dock ready for loading, before it's actually on board. In practical terms the difference is narrow, but it matters if anything happens between the dock and the hold.

FAS is less commonly used in specialty green coffee than FOB. You're more likely to encounter it in bulk commodity trade. If it appears on a contract, the named location will be the port of origin - e.g., FAS Mombasa - and you'll be responsible for arranging and paying for loading onto the vessel.

Related Terms

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

Free Carrier (FCA)

Contracts & Shipping

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F

Fazenda

General Terms

Portuguese for farm - appears on Brazilian green coffee specifications to identify the

What does fazenda mean in coffee?

Fazenda is the Portuguese word for farm or estate, used in Brazil to describe coffee-producing properties. It appears frequently on Brazilian green coffee specifications and export documentation - Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, Fazenda Santa Inês, Fazenda Ipanema are among the most recognised names in Brazilian specialty coffee.

Brazil's coffee industry is dominated by larger-scale farm operations compared to the smallholder model common in East Africa and Central America. A fazenda may range from a family-run operation of a few dozen hectares to a large commercial estate of thousands of hectares with its own dry milling infrastructure and direct export capability.

When you see Fazenda on a lot specification, it tells you the coffee comes from a named Brazilian farm - the equivalent of Finca in Spanish-speaking origins. The name is useful context for traceability and for tracking quality year to year from producers whose lots you've bought and valued before.

Related Terms

Finca

General Terms

Estate

General Terms

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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F

FCL (Full Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

Filling an entire 20ft shipping container - more cost-efficient per bag than sharing

What is a Full Container Load (FCL) in green coffee shipping?

FCL means a buyer is filling an entire shipping container with their own coffee rather than sharing space with other buyers' orders. A standard 20-foot dry container - the most common in green coffee trade - typically holds 275 to 325 bags of 60kg green coffee, or roughly 17-19 metric tonnes.

FCL shipments are generally more cost-efficient per bag than LCL (Less than Container Load) shipments, because you're not paying the consolidation and handling premium that comes with sharing a container. They're also structurally more stable in transit - a fully packed container is less prone to shifting and damage than a partial load.

The trade-off is commitment: you need enough volume and demand to justify filling a container. For most roasters starting out, LCL is the practical route. As volume grows, the economics of FCL become more attractive, and buying direct from exporters at container scale opens up pricing discussions that aren't available at smaller volumes.

Related Terms

LCL (Less than Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

Container Load

Contracts & Shipping

Break Bulk

Contracts & Shipping

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F

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Microbial breakdown of fruit compounds - shapes washed, honey, and natural flavour.

What is fermentation in coffee processing?

Fermentation is what happens when bacteria and yeasts get to work on the sugars and organic compounds in the coffee fruit. It's one of the most influential variables in processing - and one of the least visible to anyone who hasn't stood at a washing station watching it happen.

In washed processing, fermentation has a practical function: it breaks down the sticky mucilage layer after pulping, making it possible to wash the beans clean. Leave pulped coffee in a tank for 12–72 hours and the mucilage releases. But what happens chemically during those hours isn't neutral - acids develop, volatile compounds form, and the bean absorbs things that shape how it ultimately tastes in the cup.

In natural and honey processing, fermentation happens more slowly as the drying fruit interacts with the bean over days or weeks. In experimental methods - anaerobic, lactic, carbonic maceration - it's actively manipulated. Well-managed fermentation produces complexity, sweetness, and clarity. Poorly managed fermentation - too long, too warm, contaminated - produces sour, vinegary, or phenolic faults that can ruin an otherwise exceptional lot.

Related Terms

Anaerobic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Roasting

Development Time Ratio (DTR)

Roasting

Second Crack

Contracts & Shipping

Fixed Price

Contracts & Shipping

Price to be Fixed (PTBF)

Contracts & Shipping

FAS (Free Alongside Ship)

Contracts & Shipping

DAP (Delivered at Place)

Contracts & Shipping

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

Incoterm

Contracts & Shipping

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F

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Seller loads coffee at origin port; risk and freight costs transfer to the buyer.

What does Free on Board (FOB) mean?

FOB is the most common Incoterm in green coffee trading. The seller gets the coffee to the named port and loads it onto the vessel - once it crosses the ship's rail, risk and all freight costs from that point transfer to you.

A price quoted "FOB Mombasa" or "FOB Santos" includes everything needed to load the coffee at origin: the cost of the coffee itself, inland haulage to port, export clearance, and port handling charges. What it doesn't include is the ocean freight to your country, marine insurance, import duties, or anything on your side of the journey.

FOB is useful because it creates a clean, comparable benchmark. When you're looking at two coffees from different exporters - one quoting FOB Mombasa, one quoting FOB Djibouti - you can add the same freight and insurance costs to both and compare them on an equal footing. Most of the green coffee pricing you'll see on offer sheets and in futures markets is quoted FOB.

Related Terms

Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)

Contracts & Shipping

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)

Contracts & Shipping

Free Carrier (FCA)

Varietals & Genetics

SL-28

Varietals & Genetics

SL-34

Varietals & Genetics

Pink Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Chiroso

Varietals & Genetics

Wush Wush

Varietals & Genetics

Cup of Excellence

Flavour & Cupping

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G

Gesha 1931

Varietals & Genetics

Historically documented Gesha accession from Ethiopia - grown by Gesha Village Estate.

What is the Gesha 1931 coffee varietal?

Gesha 1931 is a specific accession of the Gesha (Geisha) variety, named for the year it was first formally collected by a British botanist near the village of Gesha in southwestern Ethiopia. The designation distinguishes this specific genetic material from other Gesha accessions and selections that have since proliferated in specialty coffee.

It's grown and offered by Gesha Village Coffee Estate in Bench Maji Zone, Ethiopia - the farm believes its plants are from the original 1931 collection site or closely related forest material. That provenance, and the farm's rigorous quality management at altitude, has produced lots that achieve very high auction prices and critical scores.

The cup profile sits firmly within the broader Gesha character - floral, bergamot, stone fruit, tea-like. The combination of forest environment, altitude, and documented lineage is what distinguishes Gesha 1931 lots and commands the premium they attract.

Related Terms

Geisha

Varietals & Genetics

Gori Gesha

Varietals & Genetics

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Varietals & Genetics

JARC Varietals

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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G

Gold Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Between yellow and red honey - moderate mucilage, sun-dried faster than red

What is gold honey processing?

Gold honey processing sits between yellow and red honey in the honey processing spectrum. More mucilage is retained than in yellow honey, but the drying conditions are sunnier and faster than for red honey - the golden colour of the drying beans giving the method its name.

Gold honey is most commonly associated with Costa Rica, where producers have refined the classification of honey sub-categories into a precise craft. It represents a deliberate middle point: enough mucilage to produce more sweetness and body than yellow honey, but dried in warmer, sunnier conditions with less humidity than red honey, producing a somewhat cleaner and more controlled result.

In the cup, gold honey typically shows medium sweetness, rounded body, and mild fruit character - more present than yellow honey, less intense than red. The cleaner drying conditions produce a slightly more predictable cup than the slower, more fermentation-influenced red and black categories. It's a useful option for buyers who want clear honey character without the intensity of the darker variants.

Related Terms

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Yellow Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Red Honey Processing

Varietals & Genetics

Gesha 1931

Varietals & Genetics

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Green Coffee Appearance

Cultivation & Processing

Visual quality check on unroasted beans - defect count and screen size per 300g sample.

What is green coffee appearance?

Green coffee appearance is a physical assessment of unroasted beans - primarily the defect count per 300-gram sample and the screen size distribution. It's an early quality indicator used in grading, pre-shipment checks, and informal evaluation before roasting.

The SCA grading system categorises defects into primary (full black, full sour, dried cherry, fungal damage) and secondary (partial defects, floaters, broken beans), with penalty points assigned to each category. Specialty grade requires zero primary defects and five or fewer secondary defects per 300g.

Beyond defect counting, appearance covers colour consistency - vibrant green or bluish-green signals freshness; yellowing suggests ageing - and screen size uniformity, which indicates even sorting. A clean, consistent appearance doesn't guarantee a great cup, but an inconsistent one is usually a warning sign worth investigating before you commit to buying or roasting.

Related Terms

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Moisture Content

Cultivation & Processing

Potato Defect

Cultivation & Processing

Density Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Screen Size

Cultivation & Processing

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G

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Physical assessment of green coffee to count and categorise defects

What is green grading in coffee?

Green grading is the physical assessment of unroasted green coffee beans to identify and quantify defects, evaluate appearance, and determine whether a lot meets specialty grade standards. It is performed on a standardised 350g sample drawn from the lot and involves visually sorting the sample to count and categorise defects according to the SCA or other grading protocols.

The SCA green grading system classifies defects into two categories. Primary defects - including full blacks, fulls ours, dried cherry, fungus damage, foreign matter, and severe insect damage - each count as a full defect unit. Secondary defects - including partial blacks, partial sours, parchment, floaters, shells, broken beans, cuts, and husks - require multiple occurrences to equal one defect unit. Specialty grade requires zero primary defects and a maximum of five secondary defect units per 350g sample.

Green grading is typically performed at the dry mill before export, on arrival at the import warehouse, and sometimes again by roasters before a new lot is committed to production roasting. For buyers, understanding green grading helps interpret the defect counts and preparation standards listed on offer sheets, and provides context for how a lot's physical quality relates to its cup potential. A lot described as "EP" (European Preparation) or "Double Washed" has been graded and prepared to specific standards that reduce defect counts below the export minimum.

Related Terms

Triage

Cultivation & Processing

Density Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Colour Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Triage

Cultivation & Processing

Varietals & Genetics

Ethiopian native varieties - the world's greatest reservoir of Arabica diversity.

What are heirloom and local landrace coffee varieties?

Heirloom and local landrace are terms for native coffee varieties that developed naturally over generations within a specific region, without intentional breeding programmes. They're most closely associated with Ethiopia - the centre of origin for Coffea arabica - where an estimated six thousand to ten thousand distinct wild and semi-wild varieties exist.

In Ethiopian coffee, the terms are often used loosely and sometimes interchangeably. Heirloom typically refers to locally grown varieties of unidentified or mixed genetic background; landrace more specifically describes populations that have adapted to local conditions over many generations of cultivation without formal selection or characterisation.

For buyers, this diversity is part of what makes Ethiopian coffee so compelling and so hard to replicate. A mixed heirloom lot from a well-managed Yirgacheffe washing station carries the accumulated genetic complexity of varieties adapted to that specific altitude, soil, and climate over centuries. That's why Ethiopian coffees can produce flavour profiles that genuinely don't exist anywhere else - not because of a specific named cultivar, but because of what grows there naturally.

Related Terms

JARC Varietals

Varietals & Genetics

Mixed heirloom

Varietals & Genetics

Kurume

Cultivation & Processing

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

White Honey Processing

Contracts & Shipping

Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF)

Contracts & Shipping

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)

Contracts & Shipping

DAP (Delivered at Place)

Contracts & Shipping

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

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I

Intercropping

Sustainability & Ethics

Growing other crops alongside coffee - improves soil health, farm income

What is intercropping in coffee production?

Intercropping is the agricultural practice of growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same land. In coffee, it typically means planting other food or cash crops - bananas, plantain, fruit trees, legumes, or timber species - alongside coffee plants rather than dedicating land exclusively to coffee monoculture.

Intercropping serves multiple functions. The companion plants can provide shade for the coffee, moderating temperature and slowing cherry maturation in ways associated with better flavour development. Leguminous plants fix nitrogen in the soil, reducing the need for synthetic fertiliser inputs. Food crops provide farmers with additional income and food security during the gap between coffee harvests. Timber species provide long-term economic value and structural canopy.

For buyers thinking about sourcing sustainability, intercropped farms tend to be more economically resilient than pure coffee monocultures - a bad coffee harvest doesn't mean total income failure if other crops are producing. They also tend to maintain better soil health over time. Agroforestry systems, which are a more formalised and diverse version of intercropping, are increasingly recognised as the most ecologically sound approach to coffee cultivation.

Related Terms

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

Shade Tree

Sustainability & Ethics

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J

Jackson

Varietals & Genetics

Typica-derived cultivar from Mysore, India - foundational genetics for Rwanda and Burundi.

What is the Jackson coffee varietal?

Jackson is a Typica-derived cultivar selected on a farm in Mysore, India in the early 20th century - named after Mr. Jackson, on whose estate the plants were found. It's believed to descend from coffee seeds brought from Yemen to India in the 1670s via the Dutch and Portuguese trade routes.

Jackson is a tall-growing Typica-family plant. Its most significant role in the coffee story isn't what it produces in India but what it contributed to East Africa: introduced to Rwanda and Burundi by Belgian colonists, it became part of the foundational genetics of both countries' coffee production alongside Bourbon Mayaguez.

In international specifications, Jackson is rarely named separately - it's more likely to be labelled simply as Bourbon or by lot designation. Its importance is historical: one more thread in the complex web of how Ethiopian genetics reached the rest of the world.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

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J

JARC Varietals

Varietals & Genetics

Ethiopian research selections - bred for yield, disease resistance, and adaptability.

What are JARC coffee varietals?

JARC stands for the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre - Ethiopia's government research institution responsible for developing improved coffee varieties for Ethiopian farmers. JARC selections are derived from Ethiopia's vast wild and cultivated gene pool, developed to improve yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, and farm productivity.

Over several decades, JARC has released dozens of numbered selections - 74110, 74112, 741, 744, 7454, and others - each associated with specific growing regions and altitude ranges. Some have been widely adopted by Ethiopian farmers; others remain regionally specific.

For specialty buyers, JARC varietals occasionally appear on lot specifications from exporters offering greater traceability, distinguishing the coffee from a generic mixed heirloom designation. It's a sign of a producer paying attention to what they're growing. Most Ethiopian green coffee still ships under broader heirloom or regional designations, but the trend towards named JARC selections is growing as the market rewards origin specificity.

Related Terms

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Varietals & Genetics

Kurume

Varietals & Genetics

Dega

Varietals & Genetics

Wolisho

Varietals & Genetics

Kudhum

Varietals & Genetics

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J

Java Cultivar

Varietals & Genetics

Typica-related variety widely grown in Cameroon, introduced from East Java.

What is the Java Cultivar?

Java Cultivar is a coffee variety widely grown in Cameroon, related to the Abyssinia type found in East Java, Indonesia. The name reflects where the planting material came from historically - not where it primarily grows today.

In Cameroon's western highlands, Java Cultivar has adapted well to local conditions and become a significant part of the country's coffee landscape, producing a cup with moderate acidity and body suited to the region's growing environment.

The main thing worth knowing is what Java Cultivar isn't: it's not the same as Javanese Typica variants like Bergendal or Pasumah, and it's entirely unrelated to the commercial coffee region of Java in Indonesia. If you encounter it on a Cameroonian specification, it's a regional descriptor for this adapted variety rather than a reference to Indonesian coffee.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Abyssinia

Varietals & Genetics

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

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J

Jute

Contracts & Shipping

Natural woven fibre bags used to pack and ship green coffee - the standard in the trade.

What is jute in green coffee packaging?

Jute is a natural plant fibre used to make the woven sacks that green coffee is packed and shipped in. It's been the standard bag material in the coffee trade for well over a century - durable, breathable, and practical for the stacking and handling demands of warehouse and freight logistics.

The most common sizes for green coffee are 60kg and 69kg bags, though 70kg bags are also widely used depending on origin conventions. Jute bags are almost always used in combination with an inner hermetic liner - GrainPro, EcoTact, or similar - which does the actual work of protecting the coffee from moisture and oxidation. The jute provides structural integrity; the liner provides preservation.

Synthetic alternatives to jute exist - polypropylene woven bags are used in some commercial trade - but jute remains the most common option in specialty green coffee. When you're reading a green coffee specification or receiving a warehouse delivery, jute bags are what you'll typically be handling.

Related Terms

Bag

Contracts & Shipping

Liner

Contracts & Shipping

Grain Pro

General Terms

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K

Kent

Varietals & Genetics

Indian Typica selection - first useful rust-resistant Arabica cultivar (1937).

What is the Kent coffee varietal?

Kent is a Typica-derived cultivar selected in the early 20th century on the Kent estate in Mysore, India. It was the first commercially useful coffee cultivar with partial resistance to coffee leaf rust - a breakthrough significant enough that it was distributed to farmers across India and parts of East Africa.

The resistance Kent offers is incomplete and has eroded over time as new CLR strains have evolved. Indian coffee research institutions no longer recommend it as a rust-resistant option - more effective alternatives like S.288 and S795 have superseded it.

But Kent's historical significance is real: it was the first demonstration that selecting for disease resistance in Arabica was possible and commercially viable. It's the ancestor of S795 - India's most widely planted commercial cultivar - and its influence persists through the varieties it helped create.

Related Terms

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

S.288

Varietals & Genetics

S795

Varietals & Genetics

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K

Kenyan Double Washing

Cultivation & Processing

Two-stage fermentation and wash - produces the exceptional clarity of top Kenyan coffees.

What is the Kenyan double washing process?

Kenyan double washing - sometimes called the 72-hour process - is a traditional washed method that includes two separate fermentation and washing stages rather than one. It's one of the factors behind the exceptional clarity and brightness associated with Kenya's best lots.

In the first stage, depulped coffee ferments in tanks for around 24–36 hours. After washing, instead of going straight to drying, the coffee undergoes a second extended soak in fresh clean water for 12–24 hours before a final rinse and move to raised beds.

The additional soaking is thought to further remove fermentation by-products and ensure the beans are extremely clean before drying. The result is the characteristic brightness, citric clarity, and clean sweetness that makes top Kenyan washed coffees from Nyeri, Kirinyaga, and Murang'a so distinctive. The process uses significantly more water than standard washed processing, which is why it's practiced primarily at well-equipped centralised factories.

Related Terms

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Washing Station

Cultivation & Processing

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K

Koji

Cultivation & Processing

Experimental processing applying koji mould to coffee

What is koji processing in coffee?

Koji processing is an experimental method in which spores of the mould Aspergillus oryzae - the same organism used to produce sake, miso, soy sauce, and other fermented foods - are applied to coffee cherry or parchment and allowed to grow. The koji mould produces enzymes during its growth that significantly alter the composition of the coffee.

The key enzymatic activities are protease (which breaks down proteins into amino acids, increasing the perception of body and umami-like sweetness) and amylase (which breaks down starches into fermentable sugars, making more substrate available for subsequent microbial fermentation). In other words, koji acts as a pre-ferment: it transforms the composition of the coffee before conventional fermentation even begins, making the subsequent fermentation richer and more substrate-available.

Koji must grow in an oxygen-rich environment and at controlled humidity and temperature - requirements that make it more technically demanding than standard fermentation methods. After koji growth, the coffee typically undergoes a secondary fermentation using the koji's enzymatic output as substrate. The resulting cup is often described as having exceptional body, umami depth, and complex sweetness that's distinct from both conventional naturals and anaerobics. For buyers, koji lots are at the frontier of experimental processing - rare, premium, and increasingly appearing in competition contexts and high-end specialty offers.

Related Terms

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Anaerobic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

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K

Kona Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Kona Typica - Hawaii's most tightly regulated and expensive coffee designation.

What is the Kona Typica coffee varietal?

Kona Typica is a Typica-derived variety grown exclusively in the Kona district on the western slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa volcanoes on Hawaii's Big Island. Introduced in the early 19th century, it's adapted over generations to Kona's specific conditions: volcanic soils, afternoon cloud cover that moderates direct sun, and consistently warm temperatures.

Kona coffee is protected by strict regional designation regulations - only coffee grown within a specific geographic zone can carry the "Kona Coffee" label. That controlled designation, combined with the high labour costs of small-scale Hawaiian farming, makes Kona among the world's most expensive coffees.

The cup profile is clean, mild, and well-balanced - moderate acidity, good sweetness, approachable character. The price reflects the protected status and production costs as much as it does exceptional complexity by global specialty standards. What you're paying for with Kona Typica is authenticity and provenance as much as anything in the cup.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Terroir

Cultivation & Processing

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K

Kopi Labu

Cultivation & Processing

Sumatran term for swollen, high-moisture beans immediately after wet-hulling.

What is Kopi Labu?

Kopi Labu is a Sumatran term - translating roughly as "pumpkin coffee" in Bahasa Indonesia - used to describe green beans at the swollen, high-moisture stage immediately after wet-hulling. When parchment is stripped from coffee before it's fully dried, the exposed bean is soft, pale, and visibly swollen from the moisture still held inside. That pumpkin-like appearance is where the name comes from.

At Kopi Labu stage, the bean typically has 35–40% moisture - far above the 11–12% needed for export. It then goes back to drying to reach the target level.

Understanding Kopi Labu helps explain why Sumatran coffees look and taste the way they do. The cellular disruption of hulling at high moisture, followed by a second drying phase, fundamentally alters the bean's structure - producing the dark opal-green colour, irregular surface, and porous texture that characterises Giling Basah coffee, and the earthy, full-bodied, low-acid cup that follows.

Related Terms

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

Asalan

Cultivation & Processing

Sulawesi

Varietals & Genetics

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K

Kudhum

Varietals & Genetics

Ethiopian heirloom from Guji zone - related to Kurume, floral and sweet at altitude.

What is the Kudhum coffee varietal?

Kudhum is an Ethiopian heirloom variety primarily associated with the Guji zone, where it's one of the named local selections grown by smallholder farmers at altitude. In Yirgacheffe, a closely related or identical variety is sometimes called Kurume - reflecting regional naming variation rather than a distinct genetic difference.

Like other Ethiopian heirlooms, Kudhum is a naturally occurring, generationally selected population rather than a formally bred cultivar. At high altitude in Guji, it's known for sweet, floral, complex cups that contribute to the reputation those coffees have built in international specialty markets.

The Kudhum/Kurume distinction illustrates something broader about Ethiopian varietals: the same or very closely related material gets different names depending on which zone it's grown in, who catalogued it, and when. Genetic testing has confirmed significant overlap across many named Ethiopian varieties. The names are useful for traceability even if the genetic boundaries are sometimes blurry.

Related Terms

Kurume

Varietals & Genetics

JARC Varietals

Varietals & Genetics

Dega

Varietals & Genetics

Wolisho

Varietals & Genetics

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Varietals & Genetics

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K

Kurume

Varietals & Genetics

JARC-selected Ethiopian heirloom from Guji and Gedeo - floral, Yirgacheffe character.

What is the Kurume coffee varietal?

Kurume is an Ethiopian heirloom variety selected by the Jimma Agricultural Research Centre (JARC) and grown in the Guji and Gedeo zones of southern Ethiopia, including the Yirgacheffe sub-region. It's associated with the sweet, floral, and fruit-forward cup profiles that have made Gedeo and Guji coffees consistently sought-after in specialty markets.

In the Guji zone, the same or closely related variety is sometimes called Kudhum - regional naming conventions rather than distinct genetics. Both names point to high-altitude Ethiopian selections with similar characteristics.

Kurume appears on specifications from producers offering increased varietal traceability, distinguishing the lot from a generic heirloom designation. When you see it on a well-sourced Ethiopian specification, it's a positive signal - an exporter paying enough attention to what's growing on the farms they work with to name it accurately.

Related Terms

JARC Varietals

Varietals & Genetics

Dega

Varietals & Genetics

Wolisho

Varietals & Genetics

Kudhum

Varietals & Genetics

Heirloom / Local Landraces

Varietals & Genetics

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L

Lactic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Organic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria during fermentation

What is lactic acid in coffee?

Lactic acid is an organic acid produced by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) during the fermentation of coffee. In controlled fermentation, LAB convert sugars into lactic acid - the same process that produces yogurt, cheese, and sourdough bread. In coffee processing, lactic acid contributes a soft, creamy, mild acidity that is distinct from the brighter, sharper character of citric acid or the fruity sharpness of malic acid.

Lactic acid is the target compound in lactic processing - the method popularised by La Palma y El Tucán where fermentation conditions are deliberately managed to favour LAB over other organisms. The resulting coffees are often described as having a clean, dairy-like sweetness, smooth acidity, and creamy mouthfeel rather than sharp fruit character.

In standard washed and natural processing, lactic acid is produced as a natural by-product of fermentation alongside many other compounds. Its concentration in the final cup depends on fermentation duration, temperature, microbial population, and how much lactic acid survives into the dried bean and through roasting. Some lactic acid is produced during roasting itself. At moderate concentrations it adds smoothness and roundness to a coffee's acid profile; at high concentrations it can produce a yogurt-like or dairy ferment note that's distinctive but can be polarising.

Related Terms

Citric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Malic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

Phosphoric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

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L

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Controlled fermentation favouring lactic acid bacteria - smooth, creamy cup character.

What is lactic fermentation in coffee processing?

Lactic fermentation is a controlled method where the fermentation environment is managed to favour lactic acid bacteria (LAB) over other microorganisms. LAB convert the sugars in coffee mucilage into lactic acid - the same acid found in yoghurt, cheese, and sourdough - rather than the more varied by-products of standard mixed fermentation.

Conditions that promote LAB activity: low oxygen (anaerobic or near-anaerobic environments), lower temperatures, and sufficient moisture. Producers working with lactic fermentation manage these variables precisely, sometimes adding water to create the right substrate for LAB dominance.

The flavour results are distinctive. Where standard anaerobic fermentation tends towards tropical fruit intensity, lactic fermentation typically produces a softer, rounder, creamier cup - mild milky acidity, sometimes described as smooth and clean rather than wild. It's a relatively precise outcome to achieve, which makes it one of the more technically demanding experimental processing methods.

Related Terms

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Anaerobic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Co-fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Starter (in coffee processing)

Cultivation & Processing

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L

Landed Cost

Contracts & Shipping

The total cost of green coffee at your roastery including purchase price, freight, duty

What is landed cost in green coffee buying?

Landed cost is the total cost of green coffee once it has arrived at your roastery or a local warehouse - including not just the purchase price of the coffee but every cost incurred to get it there. For UK roasters buying green coffee, landed cost typically includes: the green coffee price (usually quoted FOB), ocean freight, marine insurance, import duty, VAT (reclaimed if you're VAT registered), port handling charges, customs clearance fees, and UK domestic freight from port to warehouse or roastery.

Understanding landed cost is essential for accurate margin planning. A coffee quoted at £4.50/kg FOB Mombasa might land at £5.80/kg once freight, duty, and handling are added - and using the FOB price rather than the landed cost when calculating your roasted coffee price will produce seriously flawed margin calculations.

The simplest way to think about it: landed cost is the true unit cost of green coffee before any roasting or packaging costs are added. Everything above that is your roastery's contribution to value. Building a landed cost model - even a rough one that accounts for typical freight and duty rates for your main origins - is one of the most practically useful financial exercises a new roaster can do.

Related Terms

Free on Board (FOB)

Contracts & Shipping

Delivered Duty Paid (DDP)

Contracts & Shipping

Accessorials

Contracts & Shipping

Differential

General Terms

Carry Costs

Contracts & Shipping

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L

Laurina

Varietals & Genetics

Rare dwarf Bourbon mutation from Reunion - naturally low caffeine and delicate cup.

What is the Laurina coffee varietal?

Laurina - also known as Bourbon Pointu - is a dwarf natural mutation of Bourbon, native to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean. It's characterised by conical-shaped cherries (pointed, giving the name Pointu), small elongated beans, and notably low caffeine content - approximately half that of standard Arabica.

Historically significant on Réunion, where it was among the original cultivated coffees before disease and commercial pressure largely displaced it. Today it's cultivated in very small quantities on the island as a rare, expensive specialty product.

The variety is highly susceptible to leaf rust and produces low yields - economically challenging at any meaningful scale. In the cup, Laurina shows delicate, floral, sweet character, with the low caffeine content sometimes linked to its softer flavour profile. It's attracted research interest as a potential starting point for developing naturally low-caffeine Arabica varieties, which - given the size of the decaf market - is a genuinely interesting breeding direction.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Decaffeinated Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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L

LCL (Less than Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

Sharing container space with other buyers - standard for smaller orders

What is a Less than Container Load (LCL) in green coffee shipping?

LCL means your green coffee shipment shares container space with other buyers' orders. A freight forwarder or consolidator groups multiple smaller shipments together to fill a container, and each buyer pays for the space and weight their cargo occupies rather than the whole box.

For most roasters buying in the 5 to 50 bag range, LCL is the standard arrangement. It's how the majority of specialty green coffee moves from importer warehouse to roastery - consolidated with other orders, loaded onto a truck, and delivered. The downside compared to FCL is cost per bag (the consolidation handling adds up) and a slightly higher risk of damage from cargo shifting in a partially-filled container during transit.

Understanding the difference matters when you're comparing freight quotes. An LCL quote will include consolidation fees; an FCL quote assumes you're filling the box. The break-even point where FCL becomes more economical than LCL varies by route and freight rates, but is often in the range of 8-10 tonnes.

Related Terms

FCL (Full Container Load)

Contracts & Shipping

Container Load

Contracts & Shipping

Accessorials

Contracts & Shipping

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L

Lempira

Varietals & Genetics

Catimor-derived Honduran cultivar from IHCAFE - rust-resistant and high-yielding.

What is the Lempira coffee varietal?

Lempira is a cultivar developed and distributed by IHCAFE, Honduras's national coffee institute, as part of the country's response to leaf rust threats. It's a Catimor-type hybrid derived from a Caturra × Catuai cross, characterised by rust resistance, compact stature, and high productivity.

Widely planted in Honduras, it's become one of the more common cultivars in the country's commercial production. It performs well across a range of altitudes and gives farmers a practical, disease-managed option where leaf rust pressure is significant.

In the cup, Lempira is capable of clean, commercially sound results at altitude - but it's not the variety Honduran specialty buyers get excited about. Its importance is agronomic: it gives farmers a viable, productive option under difficult disease conditions. The specialty lots that attract international attention from Honduras tend to come from traditional varieties like Bourbon and Caturra on farms where disease management has allowed them to survive.

Related Terms

Catimor

Varietals & Genetics

Sarchimor

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

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L

Liberica

Varietals & Genetics

African Coffea species - large beans, grown in Southeast Asia, heavy smoky cup character.

What is Coffea liberica?

Coffea liberica is one of the four commercially cultivated coffee species, originating from Liberia in West Africa. It's distinct from Arabica and Robusta in plant form and cup character: large tree-like plants with thick branches and oversized leaves; cherries and beans significantly larger than Arabica; and a cup profile tending towards heavier body with woody, fruity, or smoky characteristics.

Commercial production is concentrated in parts of Southeast Asia - particularly the Philippines (where it's locally known as Barako), Malaysia, and Indonesia - introduced in the late 19th century when CLR devastated Arabica crops across the region. It tolerates lower altitude and higher temperatures than Arabica, making it viable in lowland tropical environments where Arabica struggles.

Liberica holds a small fraction of global production. In the Philippines it's culturally significant and commands a local premium. In international specialty coffee it's rare - occasionally featured by roasters seeking unusual or heritage coffees - but far from mainstream. For most buyers it's an interesting footnote rather than a practical sourcing option.

Related Terms

Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

Robusta

Varietals & Genetics

Coffea

Varietals & Genetics

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L

Liner

Contracts & Shipping

Hermetic inner bag inside the jute sack - protects green coffee from moisture, oxygen

What is a liner in green coffee packaging?

A liner is a hermetically sealed inner bag placed inside a jute or sisal export sack to protect the green coffee from moisture, oxygen, and ambient odours during shipping and storage. The liner does the preservation work; the outer jute bag provides the structural support.

Common liner brands include GrainPro, EcoTact, Vidaplast, and AZ bags. All work on the same principle: a sealed barrier that prevents moisture exchange and oxidation, significantly slowing the rate at which green coffee ages. Without a liner, green coffee sits in direct contact with its environment - absorbing humidity, losing moisture in dry conditions, and picking up any ambient smells from surrounding storage.

The presence of a liner on a green coffee specification is a positive signal - it indicates the exporter or importer is investing in preservation. For specialty lots shipping long distances or held in storage before sale, the difference a quality liner makes to cup quality over time is meaningful. GrainPro has become the generic trade term for hermetic liners regardless of brand, much like Hoover became synonymous with vacuum cleaners.

Related Terms

Jute

Contracts & Shipping

Bag

Contracts & Shipping

Grain Pro

General Terms

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L

Lipids

Roasting

Fats and oils comprising 15-17% of Arabica dry weight

What are lipids in coffee?

Lipids are the fats and oils found in coffee beans, making up approximately 15-17% of the dry weight of Arabica green coffee (Robusta contains less, around 10%). In the green bean, lipids are concentrated in the endosperm and protected by a waxy outer layer; during and after roasting, they migrate to the bean surface as the cell walls break down - which is why darker-roasted beans appear oily and shiny.

Lipids play several important roles in coffee quality. They are carriers of flavour compounds and contribute to the perceived body and mouthfeel of brewed coffee, particularly in espresso where the high-pressure extraction captures more lipid content than paper-filtered brew methods. The characteristic richness and coating sensation of espresso is partly attributable to emulsified lipid droplets in the extraction.

The flip side of coffee's lipid content is rancidity. Coffee oils are susceptible to oxidation - once exposed to air, they begin to degrade into off-flavours including rancid, stale, and cardboard notes. This is one of the primary drivers of roasted coffee going stale: the lipids on the bean surface and within the broken cell structure oxidise progressively after roasting. Whole beans stale more slowly than ground coffee because grinding dramatically increases the surface area of lipids exposed to oxygen. For green coffee, the waxy outer layer of the bean protects lipids from oxidation, contributing to green coffee's significantly longer shelf life compared to roasted.

Related Terms

Roast Level

Roasting

Stale Coffee

General Terms

Mouthfeel

Flavour & Cupping

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L

Living Income

Sustainability & Ethics

The income needed for a decent standard of living in a specific place

What is living income in coffee?

Living income is the net annual income required for a household in a particular place to afford a decent standard of living - covering food, water, housing, healthcare, education, clothing, and a modest buffer for emergencies. It is not the same as a minimum wage, a living wage, or the Fairtrade floor price: it is a place-specific, independently benchmarked figure that represents what people actually need to live with dignity.

In coffee, living income has become a central concept in the ongoing debate about whether specialty premiums genuinely benefit producers. Research by organisations including the Fairtrade Foundation, IDH, and Cornell University has repeatedly found that the majority of smallholder coffee farmers - including those supplying specialty markets - earn significantly less than the living income benchmark for their region. A coffee sold at $3/kg FOB may sound like a premium price relative to the C-Market, but if the living income benchmark for that growing region is the equivalent of $6/kg, the "premium" still leaves the producer in poverty.

For buyers, understanding the distinction between living income and living wage - and between market price and the income producers actually derive - is essential for evaluating the ethical claims of different sourcing models. Paying above the C-Market is a starting point, not an endpoint.

Related Terms

Living Wage

Sustainability & Ethics

Price Floor

Sustainability & Ethics

Fairtrade

Roasting

Strecker Degradation

Roasting

Pyrolysis

Roasting

Pyrazines

Roasting

Melanoidins

Roasting

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M

Malic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Organic acid in coffee producing apple and stone fruit character

What is malic acid in coffee?

Malic acid is one of the key organic acids in Arabica coffee, contributing to the apple-like, stone fruit, and soft berry acidity associated with certain origins and varietals. It's naturally present in the coffee cherry and is one of the acids that persists through processing into the green bean.

Malic acid is the dominant acid in apples and many stone fruits, which is why coffees high in malic acid are often described with those fruit references during cupping. It's generally perceived as softer and rounder than citric acid - where citric acid produces bright, citrus-like brightness, malic acid tends to read as fruit sweetness with a gentler acid structure.

Origins and varietals influence malic acid expression. Ethiopian and Kenyan coffees often show pronounced malic alongside citric character. Processing method also plays a role - natural-processed coffees, where the bean spends more time in contact with the drying fruit, can show elevated malic acid expression compared to washed lots from the same cherry. Malic acid is degraded during roasting, which is why it's most expressive in lighter roast profiles.

Related Terms

Citric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Phosphoric Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Acidity

Roasting

Caramelization

Roasting

Body

Flavour & Cupping

Roast Level

Roasting

Lipids

Roasting

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M

Methylene Chloride Decaf

Cultivation & Processing

Solvent decaf - commercially widespread and within safety limits.

What is methylene chloride decaffeination?

Methylene chloride (MC) - also called dichloromethane - is a chemical solvent used in one of the most widely used commercial decaffeination methods. Steamed beans are washed with the solvent, which bonds selectively with caffeine molecules. A second steaming removes residual solvent before drying.

Residue levels in the finished coffee are typically under 1 part per million - well within EU and US regulatory limits, and reduced further during roasting since MC evaporates well below roasting temperatures. The safety profile is well-established and scientifically robust.

Some roasters avoid it for clean-label positioning, preferring Swiss Water or CO₂. That's a legitimate commercial choice. But if you're buying MC decaf from a reputable producer and someone questions it on safety grounds, the science supports you. Cup quality from well-executed MC decaf is typically good - often better than water-process alternatives at the same price.

Related Terms

Chemical Process

Cultivation & Processing

Ethyl Acetate

Cultivation & Processing

Decaffeinated Coffee

Varietals & Genetics

JARC Varietals

Varietals & Genetics

Kurume

Varietals & Genetics

Dega

Varietals & Genetics

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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M

Moisture Content

Cultivation & Processing

Percentage of water in green coffee - target 10-12% for export; affects shelf life

What is moisture content in green coffee?

Moisture content is the percentage of water present in a green coffee bean, measured as a proportion of the bean's total weight. It's one of the most important quality metrics in green coffee - affecting flavour, shelf life, roasting behaviour, and the risk of mould or deterioration during storage and transit.

The target moisture content for export-ready green coffee is typically 10-12%. Above this range and the coffee is at risk of mould growth, fermentation during shipping, and accelerated quality decline. Below it and the coffee becomes brittle, roasts unevenly, and loses the cellular integrity that protects flavour compounds.

Moisture is measured using calibrated moisture meters at every key stage of the supply chain - at the dry mill before export, on arrival at the import warehouse, and sometimes again before roasting. A lot arriving with significantly different moisture to what was declared at origin is a quality concern worth flagging. For roasters, unusually low moisture content in green coffee can indicate over-dried beans that may roast faster than expected and require profile adjustment.

Related Terms

Water Activity (aw)

Cultivation & Processing

Green Coffee Appearance

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Storage

Cultivation & Processing

Carbon Dioxide Process

Cultivation & Processing

Sugarcane Decaf

Cultivation & Processing

Decaffeinated Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Ethyl Acetate

Cultivation & Processing

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M

Mouthfeel

Flavour & Cupping

The tactile sensation of coffee in the mouth - texture, smoothness, coating

What is mouthfeel in coffee?

Mouthfeel describes the physical sensation of coffee in the mouth beyond simple flavour - the tactile qualities of texture, weight, and how the liquid interacts with the surfaces of the mouth and tongue. It's closely related to body but captures a broader range of sensations, including smoothness, silkiness, astringency, dryness, and coating quality.

Where body specifically refers to the perceived weight or heaviness of the coffee, mouthfeel encompasses the full tactile experience: a coffee can have medium body but silky, smooth mouthfeel; another might be full-bodied but slightly drying or rough in texture. Both attributes are relevant to quality assessment but describe different dimensions of the same sensory experience.

Mouthfeel is influenced by the concentration of dissolved solids, oils, and colloidal particles in the brewed coffee - which in turn reflect the green coffee's density and cellular structure, the processing method, roast level, and brewing method. Washed coffees generally have cleaner, lighter mouthfeel than naturals; espresso has heavier, more coating mouthfeel than filter coffee from the same beans. For buyers evaluating green coffee, mouthfeel contributes to understanding how a coffee will perform across different brew formats and market applications.

Related Terms

Body

Flavour & Cupping

Balance

Flavour & Cupping

Lipids

Roasting

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M

Mucilage

Cultivation & Processing

Sticky fruit layer between cherry skin and parchment - defines washed, honey, and natural.

What is mucilage in coffee?

Mucilage is the sticky, pectin-rich fruit layer surrounding the coffee bean after the outer cherry skin has been removed. It sits between the pulp and the parchment - a layer of viscous, sugar-dense material that clings to the bean and plays a central role in almost every processing decision a producer makes.

In washed processing, mucilage is entirely removed through fermentation and washing before drying. In honey processing, varying amounts are deliberately left on the bean to interact with it during drying - more mucilage retained means sweeter, more fruit-forward results. In natural processing, the whole cherry dries intact with mucilage, skin, and all.

Mucilage is where fermentation happens - where bacteria and yeasts work on the sugars to produce the acids and compounds that ultimately shape the bean's flavour. Understanding mucilage is understanding why the same cherry, processed three different ways, produces three fundamentally different cups. It's the processing variable physically closest to the seed.

Related Terms

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Pectin

Cultivation & Processing

Demucilage

Cultivation & Processing

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M

Mundo Novo

Varietals & Genetics

Natural Typica-Bourbon hybrid from Brazil - high yield, consistent, parent of Catuai.

What is the Mundo Novo coffee varietal?

Mundo Novo is a Brazilian cultivar that arose as a natural hybrid between Typica (locally called Sumatra) and Red Bourbon. First identified in the Mundo Novo municipality of São Paulo state in the 1940s, it's since become one of the most widely planted varieties in Brazil.

Vigorous, tall, and productive, Mundo Novo is well-suited to Brazil's lower-altitude commercial growing conditions. Cup quality is reliable rather than distinctive - clean, moderate acidity, full body - making it well-suited to the large-volume commercial blending that underpins Brazil's position as the world's largest coffee producer.

Its significance extends beyond what it directly produces: Mundo Novo is one of the two parents of Catuai, itself one of Brazil's most planted varieties. Much of what grows in Brazil today carries Mundo Novo genetics, even when the variety isn't named on the specification.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Catuai

Varietals & Genetics

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N

Nano-lot

General Terms

An exceptionally small green coffee parcel - typically below 60kg

What is a nano-lot in green coffee?

A nano-lot is an exceptionally small parcel of green coffee - smaller than a micro-lot - produced from a single small plot, a single tree variety, or a specific experimental processing batch on one farm. While micro-lots are commonly understood as lots of a few bags to a few hundred kilos, nano-lots are typically below 30-60kg of green coffee, sometimes representing just a handful of bags or even a single bag of exceptional material.

Nano-lots are most common at the very top end of the specialty market - competition coffees, experimental processing trials, rare varietals, or the output of a single exceptional tree or row of trees on a farm. They command the highest per-kilo prices in the green coffee world, reflecting both their extreme scarcity and the labour-intensive attention required to produce, track, and export material at such small scale.

For home roasters and micro-roasteries, nano-lots represent an opportunity to work with truly exceptional and distinctive green coffee that would never reach commercial volumes. The challenge is availability - nano-lots are typically pre-sold before they ship, often to buyers with established producer relationships or through curated importer offerings. For GCC's customers, nano-lot releases represent the most exciting end of the green coffee spectrum: coffee that exists in genuinely limited quantities and may never be available again.

Related Terms

Micro-Lot

Cultivation & Processing

Allocation

Contracts & Shipping

Cup of Excellence

Flavour & Cupping

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N

NANS (No Approval, No Sale)

Contracts & Shipping

SAS clause where a rejected sample cancels the contract entirely

What is NANS (No Approval, No Sale) in green coffee contracts?

NANS - No Approval, No Sale - is a specific SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample) clause that means if a buyer rejects the pre-shipment sample, the contract is cancelled outright. There's no obligation on either party to proceed.

It's the cleaner of the two main SAS variants. The alternative - Replace or Repeat - requires the seller to offer a new sample in place of the rejected one, which can extend the timeline and create further negotiation. NANS draws a clear line: sample rejected, deal off.

For buyers, NANS provides a straightforward exit from a forward commitment if the coffee doesn't arrive at the agreed quality level. For sellers, it's a higher-risk term - a single rejected sample ends the transaction. Which variant appears in a contract is worth paying attention to when reviewing terms, particularly on higher-value or harder-to-replace lots.

Related Terms

SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample)

Contracts & Shipping

Replace / Repeat

Contracts & Shipping

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Varietals & Genetics

Tupi

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

Villa Sarchi

Varietals & Genetics

Yellow Catuai

Varietals & Genetics

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O

Offer Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Representative sample of a specific lot available to buy

What is an offer sample in green coffee?

An offer sample is a representative sample tied to a specific lot that's available to purchase. When an importer or exporter sends you an offer sample, they're saying: this coffee exists, here's what it tastes like, and there's a quantity available at a stated price if you want it.

Unlike a type sample, an offer sample is directly traceable to a specific parcel. If you cup it and want to buy, the sample you approved should be representative of what arrives. In some cases - particularly for smaller spot lots - an approved offer sample may double as the pre-shipment approval, meaning no further sampling is required before the coffee ships.

Offer samples are how most green coffee discovery happens. When an importer sends you their new-arrival list with samples attached, those are offer samples. Cupping them carefully and giving clear, timely feedback - even when you're not buying - builds the kind of relationship that gets you the interesting lots early.

Related Terms

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

Type Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Representative Sample

Contracts & Shipping

SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample)

Contracts & Shipping

Quality Claim

Contracts & Shipping

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O

Offer Sheet

Contracts & Shipping

The document through which importers and exporters list available green coffee lots

What is an offer sheet in green coffee?

An offer sheet is the document or listing through which an importer, trader, or exporter presents available green coffee lots for sale. It typically includes for each lot: origin, region, farm or cooperative, processing method, varietal, altitude, harvest date or crop year, cupping score, flavour notes, preparation standard, packaging, quantity available, and price (usually quoted FOB, CIF, or ex-warehouse depending on the seller).

Offer sheets are the primary commercial interface between green coffee sellers and buyers. They range from basic spreadsheets to detailed PDFs with full traceability information and cupping reports. The level of detail on an offer sheet reflects how seriously a supplier has invested in traceability and documentation - a detailed offer sheet with altitude, varietal, and processing specifics tells you more about the supply chain than one that simply lists country and price.

For new roasters, learning to read offer sheets confidently is one of the first practical skills in green coffee buying. The key questions to ask about any lot: what's the landed cost once freight and duty are added, what does the cupping score mean for this importer's scoring methodology, when was it harvested and where in the freshness window does it sit, and is there a sample available before committing to purchase?

Related Terms

Allocation

Contracts & Shipping

Lot Traceability

Sustainability & Ethics

Differential

Varietals & Genetics

Pink Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Yellow Bourbon

General Terms

Degassing

Flavour & Cupping

Malic Acid

Flavour & Cupping

Brightness

Flavour & Cupping

Acidity

Flavour & Cupping

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

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P

Pink Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Rare Bourbon colour variant from Colombia - intense fruit, floral complexity, high scores.

What is the Pink Bourbon coffee varietal?

Pink Bourbon is a rare variation of Bourbon distinguished by pink-to-orange coloured ripe cherries - unlike the standard red or yellow variants. It's primarily found in Colombia and has attracted significant specialty attention for its distinctive cup quality.

The genetic origins aren't fully clarified - it may be a natural mutation of Red Bourbon, a hybrid between Red and Yellow Bourbon, or a distinct selection. That ambiguity hasn't slowed its commercial momentum: high-altitude Colombian Pink Bourbon lots have performed consistently well at Cup of Excellence and specialty competitions.

In the cup, Pink Bourbon shows intense fruit character, floral complexity, and a sweet, vibrant profile that distinguishes it from standard Bourbon selections. Relative rarity and strong cup scores have made it one of the most sought-after named Colombian varietals. If you see it on a well-sourced Colombian micro-lot, it's earned that designation.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Orange Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Yellow Bourbon

Contracts & Shipping

SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample)

Contracts & Shipping

NANS (No Approval, No Sale)

Contracts & Shipping

Quality Claim

Contracts & Shipping

Representative Sample

Contracts & Shipping

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P

Preheat

Roasting

Bringing the roaster to a stable target temperature before loading beans

What is preheat in coffee roasting?

Preheat is the process of bringing a roasting machine up to a stable target temperature before loading any green coffee. Just as you preheat an oven before baking, preheating a coffee roaster ensures the drum and machine components have absorbed enough thermal energy to deliver consistent heat transfer from the moment the beans are charged.

Without adequate preheat, a roaster's thermal behaviour will be unstable at the start of the roast - the machine is still warming up, the drum is heating unevenly, and the roast will behave differently to a session where preheat was consistent. This variability is one of the most common causes of batch-to-batch inconsistency in home roasting.

Target preheat temperatures vary by machine, batch size, and roast profile. On the Aillio Bullet, the IBTS (infrared bean temperature sensor) measures drum surface temperature directly during preheat, allowing precise and repeatable charge temperature targets. On machines without drum temperature sensors, a stable preheat duration - running the machine at a consistent power setting for a fixed time - is the practical equivalent. The key principle: every batch should start from the same thermal baseline.

Related Terms

Charge temperature

Roasting

Drum Temperature

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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P

Preparation

Cultivation & Processing

Dry milling and sorting standard applied before export - communicated on offer sheets.

What does preparation mean in green coffee?

Preparation refers to the dry milling and grading steps that prepare green coffee for export - specifically the level of sorting, screen sizing, and defect removal that has been applied to a lot. It's communicated through grade designations, screen specifications, and preparation descriptions on green coffee offer sheets.

Different markets have historically specified different preparation standards. European buyers have required higher levels of hand-sorting than other markets - hence the European Preparation (EP) designation for lots that have received additional manual defect removal after machine sorting.

Preparation doesn't describe the flavour of the coffee or the quality of the cherry, but it affects the consistency and cleanliness of what arrives at the roastery. A poorly prepared lot with a high defect count will produce inferior roasted results compared to a well-prepared lot from the same farm. When preparation standard is part of the price justification, it's worth understanding exactly what it involved.

Related Terms

European Preparation

Cultivation & Processing

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Dry Milling

Cultivation & Processing

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P

Price Floor

Sustainability & Ethics

A minimum price below which coffee cannot be sold regardless of market conditions

What is a price floor in coffee trading?

A price floor is a minimum price level set by agreement or certification - below which the coffee cannot be sold regardless of market conditions. The most widely known price floor in coffee is the Fairtrade minimum price, which guarantees certified producers a floor price when the C-Market falls below it. Some direct trade and relationship sourcing agreements include informal or formal price floors as part of their trading terms.

The rationale is straightforward: coffee production has real costs - labour, inputs, processing, living expenses - and when C-Market prices fall below those costs, farmers lose money on every harvest. Without a price floor, sustained low markets can force farmers out of production, damage trees through underinvestment, and destroy farming communities. The 2018-19 C-Market crash, which saw prices fall below $1/lb - well below the cost of production in most origins - illustrated the stakes.

A meaningful price floor must be set at or above the cost of production to have real impact. Critics of the Fairtrade minimum price note that at certain periods it has been set at or below market levels, rendering it ineffective. Some specialty importers and roasters publish their own commitment to price floors - stating that they will not pay below a defined minimum per pound regardless of C-Market movements - as part of their sourcing transparency.

Related Terms

Fairtrade

Sustainability & Ethics

Living Income

Sustainability & Ethics

C-Market

General Terms

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P

Price to be Fixed (PTBF)

Contracts & Shipping

A contract where the differential is fixed but the base C-Market price is agreed later

What is Price to be Fixed (PTBF) in green coffee trading?

Price to be Fixed - commonly abbreviated PTBF or PBF - is a contract structure where the final price of the green coffee is not agreed at the time of signing but is instead linked to a future C-Market price. The buyer and seller agree on a differential (a premium or discount above or below the C-Market) but leave the actual base price to be determined later, typically when the buyer instructs the seller to "fix" against a specific futures contract date.

For example: a buyer contracts a Colombian lot at "+45 cents over C, PTBF." The differential is locked; the C-Market component floats. When the buyer decides to fix - perhaps when they believe the market is at a favourable level - the price is calculated as: the C-Market price on the fixing date + 45 cents per pound.

PTBF contracts allow buyers to speculate on or hedge against C-Market movements. If you fix when the market is low, your total cost is lower; if you fix when it's high, you pay more. This flexibility comes with complexity and risk - you need to actively monitor the market and have a view on where prices are heading. Most new roasters are better served by fixed price contracts until they have a clear understanding of how the C-Market moves and how their business is exposed to it.

Related Terms

Fixed Price

Contracts & Shipping

C-Market

General Terms

Differential

General Terms

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P

Price Volatility

General Terms

The large, unpredictable swings in green coffee market prices

What is price volatility in green coffee?

Price volatility describes the frequency and magnitude of price swings in the green coffee market - how dramatically and unpredictably coffee prices can move over short or extended periods. The C-Market price for Arabica coffee is notoriously volatile, driven by a complex mix of weather events, currency movements, geopolitical instability, speculative trading, and shifting supply-demand balances.

Historic examples illustrate the scale: in the 2010-11 season, the C-Market rose above 300 cents per pound - the highest level in decades - before crashing to below 100 cents by 2018-19, a price at which millions of producers were losing money on every harvest. More recently, drought in Brazil pushed prices above 260 cents in 2021-22 before they fell sharply again. These swings happen at a scale and speed that individual producers and small roasters cannot easily absorb.

For buyers, price volatility creates both risk and opportunity. Forward contracts and PTBF agreements are tools for managing exposure. For producers - particularly smallholders without access to hedging instruments - volatility is existential: a crash in the C-Market can mean two or three consecutive seasons of below-cost prices with no ability to diversify or absorb the loss. Understanding volatility explains why stable, long-term buying relationships and above-market pricing commitments matter so much to producer livelihoods, and why specialty pricing models that decouple from C-Market movements are genuinely significant.

Related Terms

C-Market

General Terms

Coffee Futures

Contracts & Shipping

Living Income

Sustainability & Ethics

Price Floor

Sustainability & Ethics

Differential

General Terms

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P

Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Steps transforming cherry into green beans - washed, natural, or honey method.

What does processing mean in coffee?

Processing refers to the series of steps that transform freshly harvested coffee cherries into green, exportable beans ready for roasting. It's one of the most significant determinants of a coffee's flavour profile - comparable in importance to origin and variety.

The three primary methods: Washed (the cherry skin and mucilage are removed before drying, producing clean, bright, origin-expressive cups); Natural (whole cherries dry in the sun with fruit intact, producing heavy body, lower acidity, and pronounced fruit character); and Honey (skin removed but mucilage retained during drying, sitting between washed and natural in sweetness and fruit influence).

Beyond these three, a growing range of experimental methods - anaerobic fermentation, carbonic maceration, lactic fermentation, and co-fermentation - have significantly expanded the processing landscape in recent years, enabling flavour profiles that weren't previously possible. Processing is now understood as one of the most powerful creative tools available to a producer.

Related Terms

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Honey Process

Roasting

Strecker Degradation

Roasting

Pyrolysis

Flavour & Cupping

Cupping Protocol

Flavour & Cupping

Cup of Excellence

Flavour & Cupping

SCA Flavour Wheel

Flavour & Cupping

Clean Cup

Flavour & Cupping

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Q

Q Score

Flavour & Cupping

A numerical quality rating out of 100 assigned by a licensed Q Grader using the SCA

What is a Q score in green coffee?

A Q score is a numerical quality rating out of 100 assigned to a green coffee by a licensed Q Grader using the SCA cupping protocol. It is the most widely used and internationally recognised quality metric in the specialty green coffee trade - appearing on offer sheets, export documentation, and roaster sourcing notes around the world.

Scores are calculated by summing the ratings across the ten SCA cupping attributes: fragrance/aroma, flavour, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, uniformity, clean cup, sweetness, and overall. Each attribute is scored out of 10 (or as present/absent for uniformity, clean cup, and sweetness), with defects deducted separately. A coffee scoring 80 or above qualifies as specialty grade; scores of 85+ indicate high-quality specialty coffee; 90+ is exceptional and commands significant premium.

For buyers evaluating green coffee, Q scores provide a useful starting reference but should always be verified by personal cupping. Different Q Graders calibrate slightly differently, scores can shift between tasting sessions, and a number cannot capture everything relevant about a coffee - processing method suitability, freshness, how it performs at a specific roast level, or how well it fits a particular market. The Q score is a door-opener, not a substitute for tasting.

Related Terms

Q Grader

Flavour & Cupping

Cupping Protocol

Flavour & Cupping

Cup of Excellence

Flavour & Cupping

Clean Cup

Flavour & Cupping

Specialty Coffee

General Terms

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Q

Quakers

Cultivation & Processing

Underdeveloped, unripe beans that stay pale in the roaster - bland and papery in cup.

What are quakers in roasted coffee?

Quakers are unripe, underdeveloped coffee seeds that fail to roast properly - staying significantly lighter in colour than the surrounding beans after roasting. They're caused by unripe cherries making it through the processing and sorting chain and into the roast batch.

They're easy to spot: pale tan or cream-coloured beans standing out against the darker brown of properly developed coffee. They contribute peanut-like, papery, or bland flavours that can noticeably degrade the cup even at low numbers.

The primary prevention is at origin: selective harvesting of ripe cherry dramatically reduces quaker frequency. Float separation - which removes low-density beans including unripe ones - is also effective at the wet mill. In the roastery, quakers can be picked out by hand after roasting for high-quality specialty lots. The SCA's roasted coffee standard considers more than three quakers per 100 grams an indication of a substandard lot.

Related Terms

Cherry Ripeness

Cultivation & Processing

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Underdeveloped

Roasting

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Quality Claim

Contracts & Shipping

Formal request for compensation when arrived coffee doesn't match the approved

What is a quality claim in green coffee trading?

A quality claim is a formal request from a buyer to a seller for compensation - typically a discount on future purchases or a partial refund - when a shipment of green coffee arrives in materially worse condition than the approved pre-shipment sample.

Quality claims arise when there's a meaningful discrepancy between what was approved and what was received: a higher defect count than expected, a cup profile that has shifted significantly, or physical damage to the lot during transit. They're most common when long transit times, poor storage conditions, or handling issues have degraded the coffee between PSS approval and arrival.

Arbitration - escalating to a formal third-party dispute resolution process - is possible but should be a last resort. Most quality claim situations are resolved through direct communication: a clear, evidence-based explanation of the discrepancy, supported by cupping notes and green grading data, gives both parties the basis for a fair resolution. Long-term trading relationships are built on handling these situations with transparency on both sides.

Related Terms

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

NANS (No Approval, No Sale)

Contracts & Shipping

SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample)

Contracts & Shipping

Replace / Repeat

Contracts & Shipping

Offer Sample

Contracts & Shipping

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Quality Control

Cultivation & Processing

Systematic protocols for verifying green and roasted coffee quality across the chain.

What is quality control in coffee?

Quality control in coffee is the set of practices and checkpoints used to verify that green and roasted coffee meets defined standards at every stage of the supply chain - from farm to cup.

At origin, QC includes cherry selection at harvest, monitoring fermentation and drying conditions, moisture testing of dried parchment, physical defect assessment of green samples, and cupping pre-shipment samples. At the import and warehouse level it means verifying incoming lots match the approved sample in appearance and cup character, and monitoring storage conditions over time.

At the roastery, QC covers incoming green assessment, calibration of roasting profiles against target parameters (Agtron colour meters, roast logging), production batch consistency checks, and sensory tasting before release. A rigorous QC programme catches quality issues before they reach the customer, protects your reputation, and provides the data needed to make better sourcing decisions for future crops.

Related Terms

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Cupping Protocol

Flavour & Cupping

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

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Rainforest Alliance Certification (RFA)

Sustainability & Ethics

Sustainability certification for environmental and social farming standards.

What is Rainforest Alliance certification in coffee?

Rainforest Alliance certification is an independent, third-party sustainability certification verifying that coffee was produced using practices meeting standards for environmental protection, biodiversity conservation, social equity, and farmer and worker wellbeing.

The Rainforest Alliance merged with UTZ Certified in 2018, combining two programmes into a unified standard. Farms are assessed against a risk-based scorecard covering soil and water management, biodiversity, worker rights and welfare, farm management systems, and climate adaptation. The frog logo is one of the most recognised sustainability marks in the global food sector.

Importantly, Rainforest Alliance certification does not require organic practices - chemical use is permitted within defined limits. This distinguishes it from organic certification while still addressing environmental management. For buyers, it's a useful sustainability signal, but it's worth understanding what it does and doesn't require before treating it as equivalent to organic or Fairtrade.

Related Terms

Bird Friendly

Sustainability & Ethics

Organic Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Certification

Sustainability & Ethics

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Raised Beds

Cultivation & Processing

Elevated mesh drying platforms - better airflow than patios, cleaner cup profiles.

What are raised drying beds in coffee processing?

Raised drying beds - sometimes called African beds - are elevated platforms with a mesh or slatted surface used to dry coffee after processing. They're standard infrastructure at specialty washing stations across East Africa, Central America, and increasingly worldwide.

The elevation and mesh surface allow air to circulate beneath and through the coffee as it dries - promoting more even, faster drying than ground-level patio drying on a non-permeable surface. This reduces the risk of mould or local fermentation developing in coffee that can't breathe from below.

Raised beds require regular turning multiple times per day to ensure even moisture loss and prevent clumping. For natural and honey processed coffees this management is especially intensive, as the fruit and mucilage create stickier conditions. The extra airflow is worth the effort: raised bed dried coffees consistently show cleaner, more vibrant cup profiles than patio-dried equivalents from the same cherry.

Related Terms

Patio-Drying

Cultivation & Processing

Drying Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Washing Station

Cultivation & Processing

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Rambung

Varietals & Genetics

Typica-derived cultivar introduced to Java in 1928 - largely displaced by Catimor types.

What is the Rambung coffee varietal?

Rambung is a Typica-derived cultivar native to Ethiopia and introduced to Java in 1928 as part of the Dutch colonial coffee programme. Alongside Bergendal, Pasumah, and BLP, it forms part of the group of Typica variants brought to Indonesia from African and Ethiopian sources in the colonial era.

Like other traditional Typica derivatives in Indonesia, Rambung is low-yielding and has been largely replaced on most commercial farms by more productive Catimor-type varieties. It contributes to the characteristic full-bodied, low-acid profile of traditional Javan coffees when processed using Giling Basah.

It's maintained on some heritage or conservation plots in Indonesia and appears in discussions of traditional Indonesian coffee genetics. If you're building a picture of Sumatran or Javan origin history, Rambung is one of the names that traces the Dutch colonial introduction route from Ethiopia through Java.

Related Terms

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Java Cultivar

Varietals & Genetics

Wet Hulled Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

Rate of bean temperature increase during roasting - key metric for profile control.

What is Rate of Rise (RoR) in coffee roasting?

Rate of Rise measures how quickly bean temperature is increasing at any given moment during the roast, expressed in degrees per minute. It gives you a live picture of the roast's momentum - one of the most useful tools for understanding what's actually happening inside the drum, rather than just reacting to temperature readings.

The pattern most associated with well-developed specialty roasts is a declining RoR: starting relatively high after the turning point and decreasing steadily as the roast progresses. That steady deceleration is generally linked to even, thorough development. A sharp RoR crash - where the rate drops suddenly towards zero - is one of the primary causes of baked coffee. A sudden spike at the wrong moment can push the roast too hard, too fast.

Most modern roast logging software - Cropster, Artisan, RoasTime - plots RoR in real time alongside bean temperature. Learning to read that curve, and to anticipate where it's heading rather than just reacting to where it is, is one of the clearest markers of deliberate roasting versus reactive roasting.

Related Terms

BT (Bean Temperature)

Roasting

Roast Curve

Roasting

Crash and Flick

Roasting

Development Time Ratio (DTR)

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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Red Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

~50% mucilage left on bean during drying under partial shade

What is red honey processing?

Red honey processing is a honey variant in which approximately 50% of the mucilage is left on the bean after pulping. The name comes from the reddish colour the mucilage turns as it oxidises during drying - deeper than yellow honey, lighter than black.

To achieve red honey, producers typically dry the coffee under partial shade, slowing the process down and increasing humidity around the drying beds compared to yellow honey. The extended drying time - often 2-3 weeks - allows more fermentation activity in the mucilage and more intense interaction between the remaining fruit sugars and the bean.

In the cup, red honey sits noticeably further from washed processing than yellow honey. Expect more pronounced sweetness, fuller body, and a more evident fruit character - dried fruit, stone fruit, or jam-like qualities depending on the origin and varietal. It requires more careful management than lighter honeys to avoid mould or over-fermentation, and is best suited to buyers who want honey character with more presence than white or yellow can provide, without committing to the intensity of black honey.

Related Terms

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Gold Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Black Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Yellow Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Regenerative Agriculture

Sustainability & Ethics

A farming philosophy aiming to actively restore ecological systems

What is regenerative agriculture in coffee?

Regenerative agriculture is a farming philosophy that goes beyond sustainability - aiming not just to minimise harm but to actively restore and improve the ecological systems within and around a farm. In coffee, regenerative approaches typically emphasise soil health, biodiversity, water cycle restoration, carbon sequestration, and the reduction or elimination of synthetic inputs, while also attending to the social and economic resilience of farming communities.

The distinction from organic or sustainable farming is one of intent and outcome. Organic certification specifies what you can't do (no synthetic pesticides or fertilisers); sustainability frameworks aim to maintain current conditions; regenerative agriculture explicitly targets improvement - building soil organic matter, increasing biodiversity, sequestering carbon, and enhancing the farm's capacity to withstand climate variability over time.

In the specialty coffee world, regenerative agriculture has gained significant traction as climate change threatens the viability of current growing regions and practices. Initiatives like the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, Enveritas, and various producer-facing programmes are exploring how regenerative principles can be applied to coffee landscapes. For buyers, a regenerative claim on a lot specification is worth investigating: unlike organic or Fairtrade, there is currently no universal standard or certification for regenerative coffee, so the specific practices and verified outcomes matter more than the label.

Related Terms

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Biodiversity

Sustainability & Ethics

Carbon Sequestration

Contracts & Shipping

NANS (No Approval, No Sale)

Contracts & Shipping

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

Quality Claim

Contracts & Shipping

Offer Sample

Contracts & Shipping

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Representative Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Sample drawn from a specific lot at a named location

What is a representative sample in green coffee trading?

A representative sample - sometimes called a stocklot sample - is a sample drawn directly from a specific quantity of coffee held at a named location. Unlike a type sample, which shows a general style, a representative sample corresponds to an actual parcel: this is the coffee, this is where it is, this is what it tastes like.

To be genuinely representative, the sample should be drawn from multiple bags within the lot rather than a single bag - the aim being to give an accurate, holistic picture of the coffee rather than cherry-picking the best material. Standards for how this is done vary between warehouses and exporters, which is worth bearing in mind when evaluating samples from suppliers you don't know well.

Representative samples are the foundation of honest green coffee trading. An offer sample is a representative sample offered with a specific lot available to buy. A pre-shipment sample (PSS) is a representative sample drawn just before export. Both depend on the sampling being done properly to be meaningful. When a sample doesn't match the landed coffee, poor representative sampling is often part of the explanation.

Related Terms

Offer Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Type Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

Roast Log

Roast Curve

Roasting

Roast Log

Roasting

Development Time Ratio (DTR)

Roasting Milestones

Roasting

The key reference points during a roast - yellowing, first crack, and second crack

What are roasting milestones in coffee roasting?

Roasting milestones are the key reference points during a roast that mark transitions between phases or signal important events in the bean's development. The primary milestones are: yellowing (beans turn from green to yellow, marking the end of the drying phase), first crack (beans begin audibly cracking as internal pressure is released, marking the start of the development phase), end of first crack, and second crack (if the roast continues into darker territory).

Milestones are what roasters use to navigate the roast in real time. Rather than relying solely on temperature targets, experienced roasters track the time between milestones - how long from charge to yellowing, yellowing to first crack, and first crack to drop. These time intervals, and the temperatures at which each milestone occurs, tell you how a roast is tracking against the intended profile.

Roasting software like RoasTime, Cropster, and Artisan allow roasters to mark milestones as they occur, automatically calculating the time spent in each phase. These logged milestones become the diagnostic record that helps you understand why one roast tasted different to another, and how to adjust the next batch to get closer to your intended result.

Related Terms

First Crack

Roasting

Yellowing

Roasting

Second Crack

Varietals & Genetics

SL-34

Varietals & Genetics

Batian

Varietals & Genetics

Villa Sarchi

Varietals & Genetics

Obata

Varietals & Genetics

Tupi

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Cultivation & Processing

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SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample)

Contracts & Shipping

Contract clause making purchase conditional on sample approval

What is SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample) in green coffee contracts?

SAS - Subject to Approval of Sample - is a contract term that allows a buyer to sign a purchase agreement in advance of receiving and cupping the coffee, with the condition that the contract is only fulfilled if the sample meets their quality standards.

In practical terms: you agree to buy a lot at a stated price, but that agreement is contingent on the pre-shipment sample meeting your expectations. If the sample doesn't pass, you're not obligated to take the coffee - you don't need to provide detailed justification beyond stating that it doesn't meet your quality requirements.

SAS terms typically come in two variants: NANS (No Approval, No Sale - the contract simply falls away if the sample is rejected) or Replace/Repeat (the seller offers an alternative sample in place of the rejected one). SAS clauses are a practical protection in forward contracting, where you're committing to coffee that hasn't yet been fully processed or hasn't arrived in your market.

Related Terms

NANS (No Approval, No Sale)

Contracts & Shipping

Replace / Repeat

Contracts & Shipping

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

Offer Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Quality Claim

Contracts & Shipping

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SCA Flavour Wheel

Flavour & Cupping

The SCA's visual reference tool mapping hundreds of coffee flavour descriptors from broad

What is the SCA Flavour Wheel?

The SCA Flavour Wheel is the specialty coffee industry's primary reference tool for describing and categorising the sensory attributes of coffee. Developed by the Specialty Coffee Association in collabouration with World Coffee Research and released in updated form in 2016, it maps hundreds of specific flavour and aroma descriptors in a circular diagram organised from broad categories at the centre to specific references at the outer edge.

The wheel is divided into primary categories - fruity, floral, sweet, nutty/cocoa, spicy, roasted, green/vegetative, sour/fermented, and others - each of which branches into subcategories and then into specific reference descriptors. Moving from the centre outward takes you from "fruity" to "berry" to "raspberry" - progressively narrowing the descriptor to something precise and communicable.

The Flavour Wheel does two things. First, it gives cuppers shared vocabulary - when two people use the same wheel, "stone fruit" or "jasmine" means the same thing to both. Second, it trained the industry to describe coffee with reference to familiar foods and aromas rather than abstract quality assessments. For home roasters and green coffee buyers, learning to navigate the Flavour Wheel transforms cupping from an impressionistic exercise into something communicable - and makes offer sheet tasting notes significantly more meaningful.

Related Terms

Cupping Protocol

Flavour & Cupping

Flavour Notes

Flavour & Cupping

Aroma

Cultivation & Processing

Excelso

Cultivation & Processing

Supremo

Roasting

Roast Level

Roasting

Development Time

Roasting

Roasting Milestones

Roasting

Rate of Rise (RoR)

Roasting

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Seed

Cultivation & Processing

The botanical term for the coffee bean - the seed inside the coffee cherry

What is the seed in coffee?

In botanical terms, the coffee bean is a seed - the reproductive embryo of the coffee plant, contained within the fruit (the coffee cherry). What we call a "bean" is technically the seed of a drupe: the innermost structure of the cherry, protected by silverskin, parchment, mucilage, pulp, and outer skin.

A standard coffee cherry contains two seeds, facing each other with their flat sides pressed together - which is why most coffee beans have that characteristic flat face. When only one seed develops and the other fails to form, the single seed grows rounder and fuller without the constraint of a twin: this is a peaberry.

Understanding the seed structure matters for processing: every stage of post-harvest work - pulping, fermenting, washing, drying, hulling - is systematically removing the layers surrounding the seed to reveal it in its green state, stable and ready for export and roasting. The quality of that seed - its density, moisture content, and cellular integrity - is the product of everything that happened during the plant's growing season, and the raw material from which all roasting and brewing quality ultimately flows.

Related Terms

Coffee Tree

Cultivation & Processing

Drupe

Cultivation & Processing

Green Bean

General Terms

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Semi-Washed

Cultivation & Processing

Umbrella term for processing methods between washed and natural

What is semi-washed coffee processing?

Semi-washed is a broad term used to describe processing methods that fall between fully washed and natural - where some but not all of the fruit material is removed before or during drying. In practice it's used most commonly as a synonym for honey processing in Central American contexts, or for the wet-hulled Giling Basah method in Indonesia.

The term can cause confusion because it's applied loosely across different producing regions to mean different things. In Brazil it often refers to pulped natural processing. In Indonesia it describes wet-hulling where parchment is removed at high moisture. In some East African contexts it has been used to describe coffees where fermentation is shortened or skipped.

Because semi-washed lacks a standardised definition, it's worth asking what it specifically means when you encounter it on a lot specification. The more precise terms - honey process, pulp natural, wet-hulled, Giling Basah - communicate more clearly what actually happened to the coffee. Semi-washed is useful as a general pointer towards a middle-ground processing approach, but not precise enough to rely on as a quality or flavour descriptor.

Related Terms

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Washed Coffee

Cultivation & Processing

Pulp Natural

Cultivation & Processing

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Semperflorens

Varietals & Genetics

Bourbon-derived Brazilian cultivar with year-round flowering - mainly research interest.

What is the Semperflorens coffee varietal?

Semperflorens is a unique Bourbon-derived cultivar discovered in Brazil in 1934. Its defining characteristic is year-round flowering - rather than the single annual flush that Arabica normally produces in response to seasonal rainfall. The name is Latin for "always flowering," which describes it exactly.

The practical implication of continuous flowering is that cherries are at different stages of development on the same plant simultaneously throughout the year. This complicates selective harvesting but potentially offers producers a more even income stream rather than a single concentrated harvest event.

Semperflorens is not commercially significant and isn't planted at any meaningful scale. It's maintained in research collections as a botanical curiosity and has attracted some scientific interest in understanding the genetics of flowering periodicity in coffee - which has potential breeding implications. Not a variety you'll ever buy, but an interesting corner of the genetic landscape.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

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Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

Coffee grown under trees - traditional method, benefits biodiversity and cup quality.

What does shade grown mean in coffee production?

Shade-grown coffee is cultivated under a canopy of trees rather than in full sun. It's the traditional growing method for most of the world's coffee and mimics the natural habitat of wild Coffea arabica, which evolved as an understory species in Ethiopia's highland forests.

The shade canopy moderates temperature (reducing thermal stress on plants), retains soil moisture, reduces erosion, and creates biodiversity - supporting bird populations, insects, and microorganisms that contribute to ecosystem health. The shaded environment also slows cherry maturation, which can contribute to more developed flavour complexity.

Shade-grown is often used as a marketing term, and what constitutes shade-grown varies significantly in practice. The most rigorous shade standard is Bird Friendly, administered by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Centre, which sets specific minimum canopy cover and species diversity requirements. Without a verified standard behind the claim, shade-grown tells you less than it might suggest.

Related Terms

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Bird Friendly

Sustainability & Ethics

Intercropping

Sustainability & Ethics

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Shade Tree

Sustainability & Ethics

Trees grown alongside coffee plants to provide canopy cover

What is a shade tree in coffee farming?

A shade tree is any tree grown alongside coffee plants to provide overhead canopy cover, moderating the growing environment. Shade trees are a defining feature of traditional coffee agroforestry systems and are central to shade-grown and Bird Friendly farming approaches.

The practical effects of shade on coffee are significant. A canopy of shade trees moderates temperature extremes - keeping the microclimate beneath cooler and more stable than full-sun exposure. This slows cherry maturation, allowing more time for sugar and acid development in the bean. Shade also reduces water stress on coffee plants during dry periods, maintains soil moisture through leaf litter, and in the case of leguminous trees, fixes nitrogen into the soil.

Common shade tree species used in coffee farming vary by origin. Erythrina species (known as poró in Central America and Mexico), Grevillea, banana and plantain, citrus trees, and timber species like cedar are widely used. Each brings different canopy characteristics, root competition levels, and additional value - timber, fruit, or nitrogen fixation. The choice of shade species and the density of the canopy both affect how much light reaches the coffee and therefore how the plant grows and when cherry matures. Full shade and deep shade produce different growing conditions to dappled or partial shade, making shade management one of the subtler variables in farm-level quality control.

Related Terms

Agroforestry

Sustainability & Ethics

Shade Grown

Sustainability & Ethics

Intercropping

Sustainability & Ethics

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Sidikalang

Varietals & Genetics

Typica-derived variety from North Sumatra - both a cultivar and regional origin name.

What is the Sidikalang coffee varietal?

Sidikalang is a Typica-derived variety from the Sidikalang area of North Sumatra's Dairi Regency. The name refers as much to a regional origin designation as to a specific cultivar - the town of Sidikalang has given its identity to the local coffee style, much like Lintong or Mandheling.

Like other Indonesian Typica descendants, it traces back to the Dutch colonial introductions of the 17th and 18th centuries. Coffee from the Sidikalang area is typically processed using Giling Basah - wet-hulling - producing the characteristic full body, low acidity, and earthy, tobacco-like cup profile associated with North Sumatran origins.

The variety performs best at altitude and has largely been displaced on commercial farms by higher-yielding Catimor/Ateng types. But some smallholders maintain older Typica-origin plants, and the name Sidikalang on a specification tells you something about where in Sumatra the coffee comes from and the processing tradition behind it.

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SL-34

Varietals & Genetics

French Mission Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Batian

Varietals & Genetics

Ruiru 11

Varietals & Genetics

Kenyan Double Washing

Cultivation & Processing

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SL-34

Varietals & Genetics

Scott Labouratories selection from French Mission Bourbon - bright and fruit-forward.

What is the SL-34 coffee varietal?

SL-34 is a Kenyan cultivar selected by Scott Labouratories in the 1930s from French Mission Bourbon material - specifically trees at Loresho Estate in Kabete. Alongside SL-28, it forms the backbone of Kenya's specialty coffee identity.

A tall, vigorous plant well-adapted to Kenya's higher rainfall areas, SL-34 produces a cup broadly similar to SL-28 - bright acidity, pronounced sweetness, fruit complexity - but often described as slightly less intense and more overtly fruit-forward than SL-28's sharper, more wine-like quality. Where SL-28 is all angles and intensity, SL-34 tends to be rounder and more accessible.

Like SL-28, it's susceptible to leaf rust and requires disease management. The two varieties are frequently grown together on Kenyan farms and processed together at cooperatives - the combination producing the layered complexity that top Kenyan lots are known for. If you're drinking an exceptional Kenyan washed coffee, there's a good chance SL-28 and SL-34 are both in the cup.

Related Terms

SL-28

Varietals & Genetics

French Mission Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Batian

Flavour & Cupping

Cup of Excellence

Flavour & Cupping

Third Wave Coffee

General Terms

Direct Trade

Sustainability & Ethics

Commodity Coffee

General Terms

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SPOT Coffee

Contracts & Shipping

Green coffee in a warehouse, available for immediate purchase and delivery.

What is spot coffee?

Spot coffee is green coffee that's sitting in a warehouse right now, available to buy and collect without waiting. No vessels to track, no harvest to wait for - it's physically landed, cleared, and ready.

The term comes from commodity trading, where "spot" means you're buying the physical goods at today's price for immediate delivery, as opposed to a futures or forward contract. In green coffee, spot is what you'll find on most importers' live offer lists: a selection of landed, in-stock lots with current pricing.

For roasters, spot is your fastest route to green coffee. If you've run out of a staple or want to try something new without committing months in advance, spot availability is where you start. The trade-off compared to forward contracting is choice - by the time a lot lands and hits the spot list, the most sought-after allocations may already be gone. The roasters who consistently get first access to the best coffees are usually the ones who've committed forward.

Related Terms

Forward Contract (Forward)

Contracts & Shipping

Afloat

Contracts & Shipping

Spot Price

Contracts & Shipping

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Spot Price

Contracts & Shipping

The current market price for coffee available for immediate purchase

What is the spot price in coffee trading?

The spot price is the current market price for coffee available for immediate purchase and delivery - what you pay right now for coffee that exists today, as opposed to a futures contract for coffee to be delivered at a future date. In commodity trading, "spot" means the transaction settles immediately rather than at a specified future point.

In green coffee, spot price is closely tracked alongside the C-Market futures price. The two are related but not identical - the spot price reflects actual supply and demand for physical coffee available now, while futures reflect market expectations about future prices. During periods of tight supply or strong demand, the spot price can trade at a premium to nearby futures; during oversupply, it may trade at a discount.

For roasters and importers, understanding the distinction between spot price and futures price matters when evaluating offers. An importer quoting a price for coffee sitting in a UK warehouse is quoting a spot price. An importer quoting for a Colombian harvest that hasn't shipped yet is building a price from futures plus differential plus freight. The two involve different risk profiles - spot is immediate and certain; futures-linked pricing fluctuates until the coffee is fixed or delivered.

Related Terms

C-Market

General Terms

Coffee Futures

Contracts & Shipping

Differential

General Terms

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St.Helena Green Tipped Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Rare pure Yemeni Arabica introduced to St. Helena in 1733.

What is St. Helena Green Tipped Bourbon?

St. Helena Green Tipped Bourbon is a historically significant coffee variety associated with the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. Coffee was introduced there in 1733 when the East India Company brought seeds from Yemen (specifically Mocha). The plants that established on the island over centuries developed into a distinct population recognisable by their characteristic green-tipped shoots.

The variety is pure Arabica of Yemeni origin - one of the oldest documented coffee populations outside of Ethiopia and Yemen. Napoleon Bonaparte reportedly favoured St. Helena coffee during his exile on the island, a piece of provenance that has contributed to its story and price.

St. Helena coffee is produced in tiny quantities due to the island's small land area and extreme remoteness. The cup profile is clean, delicate, and mild - soft acidity and a gentle nutty sweetness. The price reflects rarity and the legend around it as much as anything in the cup. It's a genuinely interesting historical artefact as much as it is a coffee.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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Stale Coffee

General Terms

Coffee that has lost freshness through oxidation and volatile compound loss

What is stale coffee?

Stale coffee is coffee that has lost its fresh aromatic character through oxidation, moisture exposure, or the natural off-gassing of volatile compounds over time. Both green and roasted coffee can go stale, though the mechanisms and timescales are different.

Roasted coffee goes stale relatively quickly. The Maillard and caramelisation reactions that produce hundreds of aromatic compounds during roasting create volatile molecules that begin escaping and reacting with oxygen from the moment the roast ends. Well-packaged roasted coffee (valve bag, sealed container) held in cool, dark storage can remain fresh for 4-6 weeks; improperly stored or packaging-free roasted coffee can go noticeably stale within days.

Green coffee goes stale much more slowly - over months or years rather than weeks. The cellular structure of the unroasted bean protects volatile precursors from rapid oxidation, which is why green coffee can hold its quality for 12-18 months in good conditions when roasted coffee from the same lot would be unusable within two months. For GCC's home roaster customers, this is one of the defining advantages of working with green coffee: you control when staleness begins by controlling when you roast.

Related Terms

Roast Date

Roasting

Degassing

Roasting

Coffee Storage

Cultivation & Processing

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Starter (in coffee processing)

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast or bacteria culture added to fermentation to guide and replicate flavour outcomes.

What is a starter in coffee fermentation?

A starter in coffee processing is a pre-prepared culture of specific yeast or bacteria strains added to the fermentation vessel to guide the process in a desired direction. Rather than relying solely on the naturally occurring microflora on cherry and in the environment, the producer introduces a known, controlled microbial population.

Starters can be derived from previous successful fermentation batches (saving and reinoculating effective cultures), purchased commercially, or developed through research and selection for specific flavour outcomes. The introduced culture competes with and can dominate the natural microflora, producing more consistent and repeatable fermentation results.

Starter use is associated with more controlled experimental processing - particularly anaerobic and lactic fermentation methods. Producers using starters can more reliably reproduce specific flavour profiles across batches and harvests, a significant advantage for buyers sourcing micro-lots where consistency from year to year actually matters.

Related Terms

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yeast Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

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Stenophylla

Varietals & Genetics

West African wild Coffea - tolerates heat better than Arabica, comparable cup quality.

What is Coffea stenophylla?

Coffea stenophylla is a wild coffee species endemic to the highland forests of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast in West Africa. Distinct from Arabica and Robusta, it's one of the few Coffea species to have attracted serious commercial interest in recent years.

Research published in 2021 drew significant attention when it confirmed that wild stenophylla plants had survived in Sierra Leone's highlands despite being assumed extinct in the wild for decades. The research also found something remarkable: when cupped by experienced tasters, stenophylla produced a flavour profile broadly comparable to quality Arabica - complex, nuanced, and clean.

The significance is in what stenophylla can tolerate. It grows at higher temperatures and lower altitudes than Arabica can survive - making it a potential candidate for climate adaptation as growing conditions shift in traditional Arabica regions. Research and commercial trials are ongoing. It may not be commercially relevant for many years, but it's one of the most genuinely interesting stories in the coffee industry right now.

Related Terms

Coffea

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Breeding

Cultivation & Processing

Climate Change

Sustainability & Ethics

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Stocks

Contracts & Shipping

Physical inventory of green coffee held anywhere in the supply chain

What are stocks in the green coffee trade?

Stocks refer to the physical inventory of green coffee held at any point in the supply chain - in warehouses at origin, in transit, in importing country warehouses, or in roastery storage. At a global level, total coffee stocks are a key indicator of supply and demand balance and influence price formation on the C-Market.

The ICO distinguishes between stocks in exporting countries (held by producers, processors, traders, and exporters) and stocks in importing countries (held by importers, roasters, and traders). Changes in global stocks - whether building or drawing down - are closely tracked as a signal of supply tightness or surplus. Low global stocks tend to push prices higher; high stocks indicate ample supply and can suppress prices.

For roasters and buyers, the more immediate practical meaning of stocks is the inventory of green coffee they have on hand or committed. Managing green coffee stocks involves balancing freshness (coffee held too long degrades), capital efficiency (too much stock ties up cash), and supply security (too little leaves you vulnerable to disruption or price spikes). Understanding how global stock levels affect the C-Market helps explain why green coffee prices can move independently of the quality of any individual lot.

Related Terms

C-Market

General Terms

Coffee Futures

Contracts & Shipping

Forward Contract (Forward)

Contracts & Shipping

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Strecker Degradation

Roasting

A reaction between amino acids and Maillard products that produces potent aromatic

What is Strecker degradation in coffee roasting?

Strecker degradation is a chemical reaction that occurs during roasting in which alpha-amino acids react with carbonyl compounds (produced by the Maillard reaction) to form aldehydes and alpha-amino ketones. These Strecker aldehydes are among the most potent and important aromatic compounds in roasted coffee - despite being present in tiny concentrations, they contribute significantly to the characteristic smell of freshly roasted coffee.

The reaction is named after the German chemist Adolph Strecker, who first described it in the 19th century. In coffee roasting, it operates alongside and after the Maillard reaction, using Maillard products as its starting materials. Each amino acid produces a characteristic Strecker aldehyde: methionine produces methional (potato, cooked vegetable), phenylalanine produces phenylacetaldehyde (honey, rose), leucine produces isovaleraldehyde (malt, chocolate).

Strecker degradation is one of the three principal flavour-generating reactions in coffee roasting - alongside the Maillard reaction and caramelisation. Together these three processes, driven by heat and occurring in sequence and in parallel, convert the largely odourless precursors in green coffee into the hundreds of volatile compounds responsible for roasted coffee's aroma. Understanding that Strecker degradation operates sequentially from Maillard products helps explain why roast development time matters: extended time in the development phase allows more complete Strecker reactions and fuller aromatic development.

Related Terms

Maillard Reaction

Roasting

Pyrazines

Roasting

Pyrolysis

Cultivation & Processing

Swiss Water Process

Cultivation & Processing

Carbon Dioxide Process

Cultivation & Processing

Carbon Dioxide Process

Cultivation & Processing

Sugarcane Decaf

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

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Third Wave Coffee

General Terms

The specialty coffee movement treating coffee as a traceable artisan product

What is third wave coffee?

Third wave coffee describes the movement - beginning in the late 1990s and accelerating through the 2000s and 2010s - that treats coffee as an artisan product with traceable origin, distinct flavour, and a value chain worth understanding from farm to cup. It followed the first wave (mass-market instant and commodity coffee) and the second wave (the cafe culture and espresso drinks popularised by chains like Starbucks).

The third wave is defined by a cluster of values and practices: sourcing traceable, high-quality green coffee; roasting to highlight origin character rather than mask it with dark profiles; training staff to brew with precision and care; paying producers above commodity prices; and communicating the story behind each coffee to consumers. Specialty coffee, the SCA, the Cup of Excellence competition, the rise of the home roasting community - all are expressions of third wave thinking.

The term is now sometimes contested - critics argue the "waves" model oversimplifies a diverse industry, and some use "fourth wave" to describe a more data-driven, fermentation-focused, or sustainability-oriented direction. But third wave remains the most widely understood shorthand for the specialty coffee culture that GCC and its customers operate within: coffee taken seriously as a craft, a commodity with a story, and a product worth paying fairly for at every point in the chain.

Related Terms

Specialty Coffee

General Terms

Direct Trade

Sustainability & Ethics

Relationship Coffee

Sustainability & Ethics

Transparency

Sustainability & Ethics

Commodity Coffee

General Terms

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Tipping

Roasting

A roasting defect where the bean tip burns - caused by excessive early heat or too-fast

What is tipping in coffee roasting?

Tipping is a roasting defect in which the tip of the coffee bean develops a dark, burnt spot - typically appearing at the pointed end where the embryo of the seed was located. Unlike scorching (which burns the flat face of the bean) or facing (which burns one full side), tipping is localised to the very tip of the bean.

Tipping is caused by roasting too fast or at excessively high temperatures, particularly in the early stages of the roast when beans are most vulnerable to surface burning. Some green coffees are more prone to tipping than others - lower-density beans, older crop, or certain varietals may tip more easily under the same conditions. The defect is usually visible in the roasted batch as beans with a noticeably darker tip compared to the rest of the surface.

In the cup, tipping introduces bitter, acrid, or smoky notes that mar an otherwise clean profile. Mild tipping may be subtle; severe tipping will be obvious. The fix is typically to reduce charge temperature, lower initial heat input in the drying phase, or increase drum speed to improve bean agitation and prevent heat concentrating at the bean tips. Tipping should be assessed alongside scorching and facing as part of a post-roast quality check on every batch.

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Scorched

Roasting

Facing

Roasting

Charge temperature

Roasting

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Trader

General Terms

A company that buys and sells green coffee commercially without roasting it

What is a green coffee trader?

A green coffee trader buys and sells green coffee as a commercial activity, typically without roasting it. Traders may operate at various points in the supply chain - buying from exporters at origin, selling to importers in consuming countries, or facilitating transactions between producers and buyers who might not otherwise connect. Some traders specialise in specific origins or grades; others deal in volume across a broad range of coffees.

The trader's role is to provide liquidity and market access - connecting sellers who need to move coffee with buyers who need supply, often bridging information and logistical gaps between different parts of the world. Large trading houses like Ecom, Volcafe, and Sucafina handle significant volumes of both commodity and specialty green coffee. Smaller specialty traders focus on curated lots and relationship sourcing.

The distinction between trader, importer, and broker is not always clean - many companies perform multiple roles simultaneously. What matters for buyers is understanding where in the chain their supplier sits and what value they're adding: a trader who sources directly from producers and publishes farm gate prices is a very different proposition to one who aggregates commodity lots for volume trade.

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Broker

General Terms

Importer

General Terms

Supply Chain

General Terms

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Transparency

Sustainability & Ethics

Open disclosure of prices and supply chain information

What does transparency mean in specialty coffee sourcing?

Transparency in coffee sourcing refers to the open disclosure of pricing, supply chain information, and producer relationships across the value chain. A transparent sourcing model publishes what was paid at each stage - farm gate price, FOB price, and ideally the roaster's margin - so that producers, buyers, and consumers can assess whether value is being distributed fairly.

The transparency movement in specialty coffee has been driven by roasters who recognised that "direct trade" and "relationship sourcing" claims needed verifiable backing. Publishing full price breakdowns, sharing audit results, and naming individual producers by name rather than just country or region are all expressions of sourcing transparency.

For buyers sourcing green coffee, transparency matters in both directions. Understanding what you paid versus what reached the producer tells you something about the supply chain you're participating in. And being able to communicate that chain accurately to your own customers - roasters selling to cafes, or cafes selling to consumers - is increasingly expected in a market where provenance and ethics are purchase drivers, not optional extras.

Related Terms

Direct Trade

Sustainability & Ethics

Lot Traceability

Sustainability & Ethics

Farm Gate

General Terms

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Tree Cultivation

Cultivation & Processing

Complete lifecycle management of coffee plants from nursery to renovation.

What is tree cultivation in coffee production?

Tree cultivation in coffee covers the complete process of growing and managing coffee plants throughout their productive lifespan - from nursery propagation through ongoing pruning, renovation, and eventual replanting.

Coffee trees start as seeds germinated in nursery conditions and are transplanted to the field after 6–12 months as seedlings. Under good growing conditions, a tree produces its first commercial harvest at three to four years. With proper management, trees remain productive for 20–30 years, typically peaking in years five to fifteen.

Key practices include spacing and density planning, shade management, fertilisation, pruning to maintain productive branch structure and control height, sucker removal, and periodic renovation (stumping old trees to stimulate new productive growth). These decisions shape the agronomic and quality outcomes of a farm over decades - some of the most consequential long-term choices a producer makes.

Related Terms

Coffee Tree

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Crop Cycle

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Flowering

Cultivation & Processing

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Tree-dry Natural

Cultivation & Processing

Cherries dried on the branch before harvest - intensely concentrated, wine-like cup.

What is a tree-dry natural in coffee processing?

Tree-dry natural is a processing method where coffee cherries are left to dry partially or fully while still attached to the branch, rather than being selectively picked at peak ripeness and dried on beds or patios.

The cherry desiccates on the tree - the fruit shrivels around the bean before being stripped or falling during harvest. This extended contact between drying fruit and bean influences the flavour profile significantly: tree-dried naturals often show intensely concentrated fruit character, deep sweetness, and sometimes wine-like complexity that's hard to achieve through conventional drying.

Tree-dry naturals are inherently more difficult to control for quality than standard naturals, as conditions on the tree are variable and cherries at different stages of drying coexist on the same branch. The method is associated with certain Ethiopian and Yemeni production traditions and is attracting growing interest in specialty circles as producers explore non-standard processing approaches.

Related Terms

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

Natural Hydro Honey

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee Harvest

Cultivation & Processing

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Triage

Cultivation & Processing

Dry mill sorting step removing defective beans - determines final lot defect count.

What is triage in green coffee processing?

Triage is the sorting stage at which defective green coffee beans - those unfit for consumption due to mould, insect damage, or other contamination - are removed from a lot. The term is borrowed from medical triage: assessing and prioritising by severity.

In practice, triage happens during the hand-sorting or optical sorting stage at the dry mill. Primary defects (full black, full sour, dried cherry, fungal damage) are the priority for removal. Secondary defects - partial damage, floaters, minor discolouration - are also targeted depending on the preparation specification for the lot.

Triage quality directly determines the defect count of the final lot and contributes to the cup score of the finished coffee. Well-executed triage is a sign of careful post-harvest management and shows up in the preparation grade of the exported coffee. When you're comparing two lots with the same origin and processing but different prices, triage quality is often what you're actually paying for.

Related Terms

Green Grading

Cultivation & Processing

Dry Milling

Cultivation & Processing

Colour Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Density Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

Hand Sorting

Cultivation & Processing

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Trigonelline

Flavour & Cupping

Key coffee alkaloid that breaks down during roasting to produce roasted

What is trigonelline in coffee?

Trigonelline is an alkaloid found in significant concentrations in green coffee - typically around 0.5-1% of the dry weight of Arabica beans. It's the second most abundant alkaloid in coffee after caffeine and has a distinct role in shaping the flavour of roasted coffee.

During roasting, trigonelline breaks down through a process called pyrolysis, producing pyridines - a family of aromatic compounds that contribute to the roasted, nutty, and slightly smoky character of coffee. It also degrades into niacin (vitamin B3), which is one of the reasons roasted coffee is a dietary source of that vitamin.

Trigonelline itself has a bitter taste and some physiological activity, though its effects are far less pronounced than caffeine. Its significance for roasters and cuppers is mainly indirect - the roasting breakdown of trigonelline is one of the chemical processes contributing to the roasted aroma development tracked on roast curves. Light roasts retain more intact trigonelline; darker roasts have converted more of it into pyridines and niacin.

Related Terms

Caffeine

General Terms

Alkaloid

Flavour & Cupping

Maillard Reaction

Roasting

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Tupi

Varietals & Genetics

Brazilian Sarchimor cultivar from IAC - compact, rust-resistant, commercially productive.

What is the Tupi coffee varietal?

Tupi is a Brazilian cultivar developed by the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas from Sarchimor breeding material - a Villa Sarchi × Híbrido de Timor cross. Released in 1998, it's grown primarily in Brazil's coffee belt.

Compact, productive, and rust-resistant, Tupi is an agronomically practical choice for Brazilian farmers managing leaf rust pressure. It carries some Robusta genetic content through the HdT parent, though successive selection has aimed to minimise any negative cup quality effects.

Cup quality is commercially acceptable - suited to Brazil's large-volume production where reliable yield and disease management matter more than the flavour distinction of a specialty single-origin. Tupi is a working variety rather than a starred one.

Related Terms

Sarchimor

Varietals & Genetics

Obata

Varietals & Genetics

Coffee Leaf Rust

Contracts & Shipping

Representative Sample

Contracts & Shipping

Pre-Shipment Sample (PSS)

Contracts & Shipping

SAS (Subject to Approval of Sample)

Contracts & Shipping

Commitment to Buy

Contracts & Shipping

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Typica

Varietals & Genetics

Foundational Arabica cultivar - excellent cup, low yield, parent of most named varieties.

What is the Typica coffee varietal?

Typica is one of the two foundational cultivars of Coffea arabica - the other being Bourbon - and the most widely disseminated variety in history. Originating in Ethiopia and Yemen, it was spread by Dutch and Portuguese traders from the 17th century onwards to Java, Suriname, the Caribbean, and throughout Latin America, forming the genetic foundation of most of the world's cultivated Arabica.

Tall and conical, with large elongated beans and a clean, sweet, well-structured cup - the classic Jamaica Blue Mountain and Kona coffees are both Typica. The quality ceiling is high: when conditions are right, Typica produces coffees with exceptional clarity and sweetness.

The commercial trade-offs are significant: low-yielding and susceptible to leaf rust, Typica has been displaced on most farms by more productive modern cultivars. But it remains planted in regions where the quality premium justifies it, and it's prized in specialty contexts as the genetic source from which most of the cultivar landscape descended. Caturra, Catuai, Maragogype, Pacamara - the family tree is enormous, and Typica is one of its two root.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Arabica

Varietals & Genetics

Varietal

Varietals & Genetics

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Underdeveloped

Roasting

Roast defect from insufficient heat or time - grassy, sharp, lacking sweetness.

What is underdeveloped coffee?

Underdeveloped coffee hasn't had enough heat or time to fully unlock its sugars, structure, and aromatic potential. It often tastes grassy, hay-like, or pea-like - signs that the roast ended too early or didn't carry enough energy through the development phase to do the job properly.

The irony in specialty coffee is that underdevelopment is one of the most common roasting faults - precisely because roasters are trying to go light and preserve origin character. The line between a well-developed light roast and an underdeveloped one is genuinely narrow. Both can look similar in colour; the difference shows up in the cup as thin body, sharp unrefined acidity, and an absence of the sweetness that good green coffee should have.

Development Time Ratio monitoring helps - ensuring enough of the total roast time falls after first crack for proper sugar development. But ultimately the cup is the guide. Learning to recognise underdevelopment by taste, rather than by numbers alone, is one of the more important skills you build as a roaster.

Related Terms

Baked

Roasting

Development Time Ratio (DTR)

Roasting

Roast Profile

Roasting

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Underripe Cherry

Cultivation & Processing

Coffee fruit harvested before full maturity - produces thin, astringent

What is underripe cherry in coffee?

Underripe cherry is coffee fruit harvested before it has reached full maturity - picked while still green, yellow, or insufficiently developed to have accumulated the sugar, acidity, and flavour precursors that define quality coffee. It is one of the most common and significant quality problems in coffee production, particularly in strip-picked or machine-harvested lots.

Underripe cherries are smaller and denser than fully ripe ones, with lower Brix readings (typically below 18°) and a higher proportion of starches relative to sugars. When processed and roasted, the seeds from underripe cherry produce quaker beans - beans that don't roast properly and remain noticeably lighter than the rest of the batch. In the cup, underripe cherry contributes astringent, grassy, vegetal, or thin flavours that suppress the sweetness and complexity of a lot.

The standard mitigation is selective hand-picking - returning to the same trees multiple times throughout the harvest season and taking only fully ripe cherry on each pass. Where selective picking isn't economically feasible, floating (density sorting in water) and colour sorting at the dry mill can remove some underripe material before export. For buyers, a high proportion of underripe cherry in the raw material is a processing problem that no amount of skill at the dry mill can fully correct.

Related Terms

Cherry Ripeness

Cultivation & Processing

Floating

Cultivation & Processing

Quakers

Cultivation & Processing

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Uniformity

Flavour & Cupping

Scored SCA attribute measuring consistency across the five cups in a cupping session

What is uniformity in coffee cupping?

Uniformity is one of the ten scored attributes on the SCA cupping form and measures the consistency of flavour across the five cups prepared from the same lot during a cupping session. Each of the five cups contributes 2 points to the uniformity score (maximum 10) - a cup scores its full 2 points only if it tastes consistent with the others. If one cup shows a different flavour profile, defect, or off-note not present in the other four, it loses its points.

The purpose of cupping five cups rather than one is precisely to assess uniformity. A lot where four cups are excellent but one shows a ferment note or phenolic defect has a problem - it suggests inconsistency in the green coffee, possibly from mixed lots, uneven drying, or a batch that wasn't uniform in cherry ripeness or processing.

For green coffee buyers, uniformity is a meaningful quality signal. A high uniformity score confirms that the lot is consistent throughout - you can trust that the cupping result reflects what the whole bag, or container, is like. A low uniformity score despite good individual cups raises questions about sorting, blending, or processing inconsistency that may not be visible in the green appearance alone.

Related Terms

Clean Cup

Flavour & Cupping

Cupping Protocol

Flavour & Cupping

Q Score

Cultivation & Processing

Honey Process

Cultivation & Processing

Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Yellow Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Gold Honey Processing

Varietals & Genetics

Kurume

Varietals & Genetics

Dega

Cultivation & Processing

Lactic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Anaerobic Fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Co-fermentation

Cultivation & Processing

Starter (in coffee processing)

Cultivation & Processing

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Yellow Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Yellow-ripening Bourbon variant from Brazil - sweet, rounded cup in well-processed lots.

What is the Yellow Bourbon coffee varietal?

Yellow Bourbon is a colour variant of Bourbon characterised by yellow-coloured ripe cherries - the result of reduced anthocyanin expression, the same pigment that produces the red colouration in standard Bourbon.

Primarily associated with Brazil, where it's widely grown alongside Red Bourbon, particularly in Minas Gerais. It was historically misidentified as lower quality, but selective improvement work - especially by the IAC - produced Yellow Bourbon selections that cup well. Some of Brazil's most celebrated naturals and pulped naturals are Yellow Bourbon lots.

In the cup: sweetness, round body, mild acidity consistent with the Bourbon family. Well-processed Yellow Bourbon from Cerrado or Sul de Minas produces clean, approachable lots with caramel and fruit-forward notes. It's a variety that rewards processing care - the best Yellow Bourbon lots show why Brazil can compete seriously in specialty, not just commercially.

Related Terms

Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Pink Bourbon

Varietals & Genetics

Orange Bourbon

Cultivation & Processing

White Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Gold Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Red Honey Processing

Cultivation & Processing

Natural Process

Cultivation & Processing

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Yellow Point

Roasting

The moment beans turn from green to pale yellow during roasting

What is the yellow point in coffee roasting?

The yellow point - also called the yellow stage or dry end - is the moment during roasting when green coffee beans transition from their initial green colour to a uniform pale yellow. It marks the end of the drying phase and the beginning of the browning reactions that define the rest of the roast.

The yellow point typically occurs when internal bean temperature reaches around 150-160°C, though the exact temperature varies by bean density, moisture content, and roasting machine. Visually it's a clear marker: the grassy, greenish colour of the raw bean gives way to a pale straw or yellow hue, and the dry, papery smell of the drying phase shifts towards something sweeter and more bread-like.

For home roasters, the yellow point is a useful calibration reference. Logging the time at which beans turn yellow relative to the start of the roast gives you a repeatable data point that helps you track whether a new batch is following the same trajectory as previous roasts. If beans are yellowing significantly earlier or later than usual, it's a signal that charge temperature, batch size, or ambient conditions have shifted. Roasters who pay attention to the yellow point develop a more intuitive feel for how a roast is progressing before first crack arrives.

Related Terms

Yellowing

Roasting

Maillard Phase

Roasting

Drying Phase

Roasting

First Crack

Roasting

Roasting Milestones

Roasting

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Yellowing

Roasting

Visual transition from green to yellow during roasting

What is yellowing in coffee roasting?

Yellowing is the visual transition that marks the end of the drying phase and the beginning of the Maillard phase in the roasting process. As moisture evaporates from the green beans, they shift from their initial blue-green colour through to a pale straw or golden yellow - a colour change that typically coincides with an internal bean temperature of around 150-160°C.

The colour change itself is a reliable visual reference point that experienced roasters use to monitor how a roast is progressing. If yellowing happens earlier than usual in a roast session, the drum may be running hotter than intended; later than expected, and the roast may be slow to build momentum. Logging the time at which yellowing occurs - alongside charge temperature, turning point, and first crack - is part of building a reproducible roast profile.

Yellowing is sometimes also called 'colour change' or 'dry end' in roasting software and literature. The smell of the roaster also shifts at this stage - the grassy, vegetal aroma of the drying phase gives way to something sweeter and more bread-like as the Maillard reactions begin to take hold just beyond this point.

Related Terms

Yellow Point

Roasting

Maillard Phase

Roasting

Drying Phase

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Abyssinia

A

Acaiá

A

Accessorials

A

Aceh District

A

Acerbic

Acetic Acid

A

Acetic Process

A

Acidity

A

Advice of Shipment

A

Aeropress

A

Afloat

A

After-dinner Roast

A

Afternose

A

Aftertaste

A

Aged Coffee

A

Agroforestry

A

Agronomy

A

Agtron Spectrophotometers

A

Aldehydes

A

Alkaloid

A

Allocation

A

Altitude

A

Ambient Temperature

Anacafe 14

A

Anaerobic Fermentation

A

Andung Sari

A

Arabica

A

Arabigo

A

Arabusta

A

Aroma

A

Asalan

A

Ateng

B

Backcrossing

B

Bag

B

Baked

B

Balance