In spite of the importance coffee has worldwide, it is surprising to find out that there is still a lack of common terms and definitions in many countries. Since most people know coffee from a very informal perspective or, at most, from a commercial angle, I would like to write a few lines about coffee and the use of technical terms at the producing stage. It is my opinion that this knowledge may help those of us who love coffee understand and respect both the product and the people who produce it.
Coffee
It is a generic term related to the fruit and seeds from the plants of the
Coffea genus, as well as the products derived from those fruits and seeds in different processing and/or consuming stages.
Note: this term is applied to products such as coffee cherries, coffee in pod, green coffee, polished coffee, decaffeinated coffee, ground or whole bean roasted coffee, coffee extracts, instant coffee and coffee beverages.
Arabica coffee: coffee of the botanical species
Coffea Arabica Linnaeus.
Robusta coffee: coffee of the botanical species
Coffea Canephora Pierre ex Frohener.
Liberica coffee: coffee of the botanical species
Coffea Liberic Hiern.
Excelsa coffee: coffee of the botanical species
Coffea Dewevrei de Wild et Durand Var Excelsa Chevalier.
Arabusta coffee: hybrid interspecific
Coffea Arabica and
Coffea Canephora Capot et Ake Assi.
1. Types of coffee
Coffee cherry: cherries from the plants of the
Coffea genus right after their harvest and before drying.
Coffee in pod: cherry coffee after drying.
Pergamino coffee: beans covered by their husk.
Green coffee: coffee beans.
Humid-processed coffee: humid-processing of green coffee.
Note: the term "washed coffee" is commonly used in English to refer to this product.
Suave coffee: humid-processed Arabica coffee.
Dry-processed; non-washed coffee: dry-processing of green coffee.
Note: the term "natural coffee" (café natural) is also used to refer to this product.
Washed and cleaned coffee: dry-processed green coffee whose inner silver skin has been taken away through mechanical means.
Polished coffee: humid-processed coffee whose silverskin has been taken away through mechanical means to improve the product's appearance.
Screening remains: foreign bodies and other impurities coming from defective cherries separated at the sorting stage.
Roasted coffee: coffee obtained after roasting green coffee.
Note: roasted coffee should not be called
café brûle (burned coffee) a term which is sometimes incorrectly used in France for this product.
Ground coffee: product obtained after grinding roasted coffee.
Coffee extract: product that comes from roasted coffee using water as the only agent of transport.
1.1 Types of instant coffee
Instant coffee; soluble coffee; dry extract of coffee: dry, soluble product that is obtained through physical methods using water as the single agent of transport that does not come from coffee proper.
Spray-dried instant coffee: instant coffee obtained by way of a procedure in which the coffee extracts, in a liquid state, are sprayed in a hot environment and transformed into dry particles due to water evaporation.
Agglomerate instant coffee: instant coffee that is obtained by way of a process in which the dry particles of instant coffee are fused among themselves to form larger particles.
Dried coffee; dried coffee extract; dried soluble coffee: instant coffee dried by way of a procedure in which the product, in a liquid state, is frozen and the ice is sublimated.
Decaffeinated coffee: which which is devoid of caffeine.
Note: in the case of decaffeinated coffee, a maximum residual quantity of coffee ought to be specified.
Coffee beverage: drink obtained either by a combination of water and ground roasted coffee or by the addition of water to a coffee extract, instant coffee or dried coffee.
2 Parts of the coffee fruit (non-dried)
Cherry coffee: whole fresh fruit from the coffee tree.
Pulp: part of the coffee cherry discarded during the pulp extraction and composed of the epicarpand most of the mesocarp.
Pergamino: endocarp of the coffee fruit.
3 Parts of the coffee fruit (dried)
Dried cherry coffee: dried fruit from the coffee tree made up of its outer coverings and one or more beans.
Pergamino coffee bean: coffee bean partly or completely covered by its endocarp (
pergamino).
Husk: set of outer coverings (pericarp) of the dried coffee fruit.
Dried pergamino; pod: dry endocarp of the coffee fruit.
Note: the term
parche is commonly used in French for this product.
Peel: dry covering of the coffee fruit. It usually has a silvery or coopery appearance.
Coffee bean: commercial term referring to the dry coffee bean.
4 Green coffee
4.1 Geometric features
Flat bean: coffee bean with a slightly flat face.
Caracoli: coffee bean with an almost ovoid shape because of the development of a single seed in the fruit.
Elephant bean: a set of beans (usually two or more) as a result of a false polyembryo.
Diameter: diameter of the smallest circular hole through which a coffee bean can pass.
Foreign bodies
4.2 Foreign bodies: mineral, vegetable or animal bodiesthat do not come from the cherry tree.
Large peeble: the peeble which is withheld by a screen with circular holes of 8,00 mm in diameter.
Medium-sized peeble: the peeble which passes through a screen with circular holes of 8,00 mm in diameter, but is withheld by a screen with holes of 4,75 mm in diameter.
Small peeble: the peeble that goes through a screen with circular holes of 4,75 mm in diameter.
Large splinter: a small branch approximately 3 cm long (usually from 2 to 4 cm)
Medium-sized splinter: a small branch approximately 1,5 cm long (usually from 1 to 2 cm).
Small splinter: a small branch approximately 0,5 cm long (usually smaller than 1 cm).
Lump of dirt: granulated body made up of particles of agglomerated dirt.
Large lump: lump withheld by a screen with circular holes of 8,00 mm in diameter.
Medium-sized lump: lump that goes through a screen with circular holes of 8,00 mm in diameter but it is withheld by a screen with holes of 4,75 mm in diameter.
Small lump: lump that goes through a screen with circular holes of 4,75 mm in diameter.
5 Defects arising in the coffee fruit
Skin fragment: a fragment from the dried outer covering or pericarp.
Pergamino fragment: a fragment from the dried endocarp.
Shell: deformed bean which has a hollow.
Bean fragment: a bit of a coffee bean smaller than half a bean in volume.
Broken bean: a bit of a coffee bean equal or larger than half a bean in volume.
Deformed bean: a coffee bean whose abnormal shape makes it clearly distinct.
Bean spoiled by insects: a coffee bean damaged either inside or outside by insect attack.
Insect-infested beans:
a) Beans infested by live insects: a bean of coffee which has one or more live insects at any stage of development.
b) Beans infested by dead insects: a bean of coffee that has one or more dead insects or insect fragments.
Dry cherry: dry fruit from the coffee tree composed of its outer coverings plus one or more beans.
Pergamino bean: a bean of coffee partly or completely covered by its endocarp (
pergamino).
Black bean
a) in the inner or outer surface: a bean of coffee black in more than 50% of its inner or outer surface.
b) in the outer surface: a bean of coffee black in more than 50% of its surface.
Semiblack bean (also called "half black bean")
a) in the inner or outer surface: a bean of coffee black in 50% or less of its inner or outer surface.
b) in the outer surface: a bean of coffee black in 50% or less of its surface.
Immature bean; quaker bean: immature coffee bean which often shows a wrinkled surface.
Spongy bean: coffee bean with a cork-like texture, that is, it yields easily to the pressure of fingernails and is whitish in color.
Slightly white bean: a light white color bean with a much lower density than that of a healthy bean.
Smelly coffee bean: recently harvested coffee bean with a stinky smell. It may be light brown and occasionally shows a waxy appearance.
Sour bean: coffee bean spoiled by an excess of fermentation. It is light brown, reddish inside and with a sour flavor after roasting.
Mottled bean: coffee bean with irregular whitish, greenish and sometimes yellowish spots.
Withered bean: coffee bean with a wrinkled appearance and light in volume.
Musty bean: coffee bean showing areas with mould visible to the naked eye.
Pulper-nipped bean: humid-processed coffee bean nipped or bruised during the pulp extraction stage. It often presents brown or blackish spots.
6 Roasted coffee
6.1 Foreign bodies (as in 4)
6.2 Defects found in roasted coffee beans
Skin fragment: dry fragment of the outer covering (pericarp).
Pergamino bit: fragment from the dry endocarp.
Shell: deformed bean showing a cavity or a hollowed outer side.
Bean fragment: a bit of a coffee bean with a volume smaller than that of half a bean.
Insect-spoiled bean: coffee bean damaged by the attack of insects
Note: the term
fève scolytée is used in French to refer to a spoiled bean when attacked by the Stephanoderes.
Dry cherry: dry coffee fruit composed of its outer coverings and one or more beans.
Pergamino bean: coffee bean covered partly or completely by its endocarp.
Black bean: coffee bean originally black in color which looks like charcoal, opaque and with a granular surface.
Semiblack bean: bean looking like charcoal in at least 50% of its surface.
Charred bean: blackish coffee bean with a texture similar to that of firewood and easily crushed by finger pressure.
Mottled bean: bean that shows irregular spots of superficial color.
Pale bean: bean evidently lighter in color than other roasted beans.
Fetid bean: fetid bean as a result of a smelly or a sour bean.
Immature bean; quaker bean: bean which did not reach its full development. It also shows a lighter color tahn other roasted beans.
7 Description of the coffee processing
Dry processing: technological treatment whereby the cherry trees are dried to produce the husked coffee which, in turn, is mechanically separated from the dry pericarpto obtain green coffee.
Peeling: technological treatment to get rid of the dry cherry's skin.
Humid processing: it is the mechanical disposal, using water, of the epicarp, the disposal of the mesocarp through fermentation or other methods, and the washing followed by drying. Once dried, the next step is to get rid of the endocarp (
pergamino) to finally get green coffee.
Screening: technological treatment to sort the cherries according to their size, density and degree of maturity.
Pulp extraction: technological treatment used in the humid processing to eliminate mechanically the epicarp and, if possible, the mesocarp.
Fermentation process: technological treatment to soften the mucilaginous mesocarp attached to the endocarp so that it may eventually be removed through washing.
Washing: technological treatment to remove, using water, the remains of the mucilaginous mesocarp from the endocarp's surface.
Drying of pergamino coffee: technological treatment to reduce humidity to a level appropriate for the coffee to go through peeling under satisfactory technical conditions. This is important for the storing of the product.
Peeling: mechanical disposal of the dried endocarp so as to obtain green coffee.
Sorting: technological treatment to get rid of foreign bodies, coffee fragments and defective beans.
Roasting: treatment based on heat which produces chemical and physical changes in the green coffee's structure and composition. As a result, it is obtained the characteristic color and flavor of roasted coffee.
Ground coffee: mechanical treatment to fragment roasted coffee in beans so as to get ground coffee.
