Coffee Terminology

AKA the Coffee101 Jargon Buster

New to coffee? Start with these 10 terms

Or, click here to go straight to the main glossary

If you’re just getting into coffee, the language can feel a bit like a foreign country. The good news is you don’t need to learn everything at once. A small handful of words will help most beginner guides, café menus and help YouTube videos make a lot more sense.

Crucial Insight: Learning a few key terms makes brewing guides feel friendlier, not more technical. Once you recognise what people mean by “espresso” or “bloom”, it’s much easier to follow along and actually use the advice in your own kitchen.

If you’re just getting into coffee, the language can feel a bit like a foreign country. The good news is you don’t need to learn everything at once (or, even at all!). A small handful of words will help most beginner guides, café menus and YouTube videos suddenly make a lot more sense.

Espresso
A small, strong coffee made by forcing hot water through very finely ground coffee under pressure. It’s the base for drinks like lattes and cappuccinos, but also something to be enjoyed on its own.
Crema
The thin, golden‑brown foam that sits on top of a well‑made espresso. It looks pretty, but more importantly it tells you something about freshness and how well the shot was pulled.
Extraction
The process of pulling flavour out of the coffee grounds and into your cup. Too little extraction tastes sharp and sour; too much can taste bitter and harsh. The sweet spot is what you’re aiming for.
Grind size
How fine or coarse your coffee is ground. It’s one of the main levers you have: finer grinds slow the water down and extract more; coarser grinds speed things up and extract less.
Bloom
The first contact between hot water and coffee grounds, when trapped gases escape and the coffee puffs up a little. Letting your coffee bloom briefly can help the rest of the water flow more evenly.
Body
How the coffee feels in your mouth – light and tea‑like, or thick and heavy. It’s about texture rather than flavour, and it’s shaped by how you brew as well as the coffee itself.
Acidity
The bright, lively part of coffee’s flavour. At its best it can remind you of fruits or citrus; when things go wrong it can tip over into sharpness or sourness instead.
Arabica
A common coffee species used for most speciality coffees. It usually offers more interesting, nuanced flavours, but can be a bit fussier to grow and often costs a little more.
Robusta
Another coffee species that’s hardier and higher in caffeine. It can taste more bitter and earthy, so it’s often used in blends rather than on its own, especially in stronger, punchier espresso styles.
Dialling in
The process of adjusting your recipe; things like grind size, coffee dose and brew time, to get your coffee tasting the best it can with the beans you're brewing. Small, patient tweaks here can turn an “OK” cup into a great one.

Acidity: The bright, lively part of coffee’s flavour. At its best it can remind you of fruits or citrus; when things go wrong it can tip over into sharpness or sourness instead.

AeroPress: The AeroPress is a versatile, handheld brewing device and a great value way to produce a rich, smooth cup. Think of it as the espresso machine’s basic cousin, which works by using a plunger in a tube to drive water at high pressure through coffee. Just don’t forget you’re pressurising hot water, so get a good apron and probably a full-blown risk assessment. Although it only looks like large syringe made with two plastic tubes it’s actually a simple and brilliant bit of design which can produce espresso-like coffee and being highly versatile has lots of potential for fine tuning your brewing to make great coffee.

Affogato: The Italian word for 'drowned'. It’s what happens when you pour an espresso over a scoop of vanilla gelato. Dessert and coffee in one - because who wants to choose between them?

Americano: An Americano is a diluted espresso made by adding hot water to espresso to create a drink that is less intense than straight espresso but still fuller and more nuanced than typical drip coffee.

Stronger, more espresso‑forward Americano is made with a 1:1 coffee to water ratio(for example, 40 g espresso + 40 g water).
Classic café style: 1:2 (for example, 40 g espresso + 80 g water).
Milder, closer to drip coffee: 1:3–1:4 (for example, 40 g espresso + 120–160 g water)

A practical sweet spot many baristas prefer is between 1:1.5 and 1:2, adjusted slightly for the roast and cup size (for example, 40 g espresso + 60–80 g water).

Arabica: A species of coffee (Coffea arabica) known for sweeter, more complex flavours and generally higher quality and more expensive than Robusta coffee beans.

Barista: A coffee professional who prepares and serves coffee, especially espresso and espresso based drinks like lattes and cappuccinos, usually in a café or coffee shop. A skilled barista often provides friendly and helpful coffee advice and usually has a good understanding of different coffee beans and brewing methods. Often to be found struggling with their ‘I’m not judging you for ordering a caramel macchiato’ pretend smile.

Bloom: The first stage of brewing where you pour a small amount of hot water over freshly ground coffee and let it sit for 30–45 seconds. This allows trapped gases to escape, helping the rest of the water flow through the coffee more evenly and improving flavour. Freshly ground coffee releases carbon dioxide which steadily seeps away. It's why bags of coffee have valves to release pressure and prevent them from bursting and why its worth leaving freshy roasted for a week or so before brewing. After a week there's less gas to be released and so brewing causes less swelling to disrupt the coffee grounds.

Body: How the coffee feels in your mouth – light and tea‑like, or thick and heavy. It’s about texture rather than flavour, and it’s shaped by how you brew as well as the coffee itself.

Cafetière: (Also know as a French press ). It’s a mesh plunger in a jug with a lid. The cafetière is basically the charmingly old-school way to make coffee. Add ground coffee, pour in hot water, wait a few minutes while the brewing happens, then press the plunger down to separate the grounds from your brew. Et voilà! Rich, full-bodied coffee with zero fuss and maximum café flair. With no electricity required or complicated buttons to press its a simple way into brewing.

Café au Lait: A sophisticated sounding term for coffee with milk. It can often seem like a flat white but distinctly café au lait isn’t one of the milk coffee drinks that are based on espresso like flat whites, lattes and cappuccinos. Instead, café au lait is made by adding milk to a pour-over, cafetière, or drip style coffees.

Caffeine: A stimulant that sharpens the day, turns up the alertness dial and transforms a ‘whatever mood’ to ‘bring it on’ without breaking any of the laws about which substances are legal. Caffeine provides bitter flavours that can balance sourness to make coffee the most delicious way of getting a caffeine fix.

Channelling: Channelling in espresso occurs when water forces a narrow path through any tiny cracks in the coffee puck, leading to chaotic, uneven extraction and causing a ruined shot with muddied flavours, often tasting weak, sour, or bitter. Not only does it ruin your coffee it often escapes in wild squirts, spraying out like a caffeinated sprinkler system while simultaneously draining your wallet one uneven shot at a time.

Chemex: A stylish glass vessel that makes coffee brewing look like a science experiment. It’s so stylish it’s made it into New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Beloved by hipsters and design enthusiasts, it works like a pour over and brews a clean coffee through, thicker than usual bonded, filter papers.

Clarity is about how clean and defined the flavours are. A coffee with good clarity lets you easily 'see' different flavours (e.g., citrus plus chocolate) without them muddling together.

Good clarity is often associated with well‑filtered brews and lighter to medium roast coffees. It feels clean and transparent and lets you can pick out flavours distinctly. The aftertaste is precise and doesn’t feel muddy, dusty, or “stewed”.

Clever Dripper: The Clever Dripper is a ......and has lots of potential for fine tuning your brewing to make great coffee.

Roast

Coffee Roasting:

Coffee roasting is the process of heating raw green coffee beans so that they turn brown and develop the flavours and aromas we recognise as coffee. The longer and hotter the beans are roasted, the darker they become and the more their taste changes from light and delicate to bold and intense.

Light roast
Lightly roasted coffee keeps more of its natural character because the heat has not yet burnt off the bean’s original flavours. The beans are heated for a shorter time, to highlight and enhance natural flavours. The taste is often brighter, lighter, more complex and closer to how the bean naturally tastes. If you enjoy a clean, fresh, natural-tasting cup, a light roast may suit you well. Light roasts work well as filter or light espresso coffee.

Medium roast

At a medium roast, some of the original flavours start to soften, but you still get a well-balanced cup. The sugars inside the bean begin to caramelise, adding sweetness and a little more body while still keeping much of the original flavour with balanced acidity and some of the fruit characteristics. Many people find medium roasts a good “in-between” option that feels smooth and familiar. Medium roasts work well as filter or espresso coffee.

Dark roast
In dark roasted coffee, the bean’s natural sugars are mostly taken over by deeper, roasted flavours. The beans are heated for longer, becoming darker, shinier, and giving bold, smoky, and often more bitter notes. It is especially important to choose high-quality beans at this level to avoid overly burnt or harsh flavours. Dark roasts work well in heavy body espresso coffee and for brewing espresso to make milk based coffee drinks.

Coffee101: (This site: https://www.coffee101.net/ )

Coffee 101 is created by Martin, a home coffee enthusiast who first discovered the joy of home brewing during lockdown. Still relatively new to the world of coffee himself, Martin remembers what it’s like to start from scratch and he's keen to share the tips and insights that helped him most as he got into brewing great coffee at home.
Coffee 101 brings together all the essential information in one place. It’s a beginner-friendly, no-nonsense guide, designed to help you choose great beans and confidently and consistently brew delicious coffee in your own home.

Cold Brew: A coffee that’s been brewed by soaking coffee in water for longer than your last holiday. It’s like regular coffee’s suspiciously mild and mellow chill cousin.

Cup is shorthand for a 'cup of coffee'. In coffee writing, “in the cup” (or just "the cup”) means the experience of the brewed coffee as you drink it and is about the flavour, aroma, mouth feel and acidity of the coffee you've brewed which is now in your 'cup'.

Cupping: A tasting process to evaluate coffee’s aroma, flavour, and body - like a coffee’s version of a wine tasting – but with swallowing not spitting, plus a lot of coffee grounds and more sniffing and slurping.

Crema: The golden‑brown foam that forms on top of a well‑made espresso, created by emulsified oils and trapped gases. Smart marketing came up with ‘natural coffee cream’ to describe the foam on top of espresso and ‘crema’ is simply the Italian word for cream. Although on its own crema is bitter and acrid it brings balance to the espresso as long as there’s not too much and so a crown of crema on top of your espresso is usually a sign of a well pulled shot.

Decaf: For those who embrace coffee without risking the heart-thumping, eye-twitching side effects. Perfect for late-night sipping. It’s coffee but without the caffeine boost.

Dialling in: This is the process of fine tuning your recipe to brew the best cup of coffee the beans you're using can produce . It usually means adjusting things like grind size, how much coffee you use, and how long you brew for, then tasting and making small changes until you hit that sweet spot between sour and bitter.
Dialling in he mostly talked about when brewing espresso, but it's crucial however you're brewing to release the full potential of your coffee beans and brew the best possible coffee your beans can produce.

Doppio: Italian for “double,” it’s two shots of espresso in one cup. For those mornings when one shot just won’t cut it (so, every morning).

Drip coffee usually refers to coffee made in an automatic filter machine, where the machine handles heating the water and dripping it through the grounds for you.

Technically, this is a type of pour-over brewing, but the term 'pour-over ' is usually reserved for manual methods, where you pour the water by hand.

Espresso: A small, strong, bold shot of coffee brewed by forcing hot water through very finely ground coffee under high pressure, usually at 9 bars, for about 25–30 seconds. On a home machine, a typical espresso is 18 g of dry coffee producing about 36g of liquid in the cup (a 1:2 ratio).
Espresso is notoriously easy to get wrong, but well worth the effort to get it right, because good espresso is not only delicious in itself it's the basis of most of the milk coffee drinks.

Extraction: The process of extracting flavours from coffee grounds into hot water.

It's basically the process that goes on as we brew and dry ground coffee releases coffee flavours into solution to make a cup of coffee,

The flavours in coffee extract at different rates. Too short, and your under extracted coffee is sour; too long, and your over extracted coffee is bitter. Acidity extracts first, followed by sweetness and then finally bitterness. Caffeine extracts last – it’s what brings bitterness.

Like life, it’s all about balance.

Filter Coffee: Coffee making is actually very simple. You combine solid coffee with water, and then ideally, separate the liquid from the spent coffee grinds so you don’t end up drinking gritty bits. As the name suggests filter coffee uses a filter to seperate the coffee solids from the final brew. There are many different filter-brewing methods which broadly can be grouped under two headings:

1. Pour overs where the water passes through a bed of coffee. eg. Hario V60 and other classic cone drippers and the various sorts of electric filter coffee machines.

2. Full immersion where the coffee sits in the water and 'steeps' for a time before the coffee solids and brewed coffee are separated. eg. French press/cafetiere; the Clever Dripper & Hario Switch used the valve closed for steeping: Aeropress used with immersion style recipes.

Flat White: Claimed to have been invented by both Australia and New Zealand it’s one of the espresso based milk coffee drinks and basically a latte, but with less milk, more attitude and served in a smaller cup. Flat White’s are the choice of the discerning drinker who’s wants the ‘quiet but classy’ option: smooth, creamy, and perfect for those who want their coffee to whisper, not shout.

French Press: see Cafetière: A classic brewing method involving hot water, ground coffee, and a plunger. It’s rustic, hands-on, and a great way to pretend you’re a coffee genuius as you produce great coffee with minimal effort.

Grinding: The process of milling coffee beans to open them up and turn whole beans into ground coffee. It’s the critical and frequently under valued first step on the way to brewing great coffee. For two reasons grinding your own coffee is essential if you want to brew the best possible coffee.

1) Ground coffee goes stale much faster than whole beans, but having the freshest possible coffee is not only reason for buying whole beans:

2) Grinding your own coffee gives you control over the grind size which allows you to adjust and manipulate coffee extraction to get the best results from whatever brewing method you use.

Grind size and how the coffee is ground, controls which flavours are extracted and how quickly. This directly effects how sour, sweet, or bitter your coffee tastes.

Finer grinds expose more surface area and, depending on the brewing method, slow the flow of water, leading to higher extraction; if pushed too far this gives harsh, bitter, over‑extracted coffee.

Coarser grinds have less surface area and can let water pass more quickly, so they extract less; if too coarse, the result is thin, sharp, and under‑extracted rather than sweet and rounded. Being able to vary the grind size by grinding your own coffee beans means that you can taste your coffee and then vary the grind size to fine tune the coffee extraction and brew the best possible coffee.

Immersion Brewing: is any method of brewing where the coffee grounds sit in the water and steep together for a set amount of time before you separate them. You’re not pouring water through a bed of coffee (like a V60), and you’re not forcing water through under pressure (like espresso) – you’re simply letting coffee and water hang out until the flavour has been extracted.

Cafetière/French press, cold brew and brewers like the Clever Dripper and Hario Switch all use immersion. It’s a very forgiving way of brewing, because you mainly control just three things: how coarse the grind is, how long you let it steep and the water temperature.

Broadly speaking filter-brewing methods can be grouped under 2 headings: Immersion brewing is one, and pour-over is the other. Basically in immersion brewing the ground coffee sits in the water before the brewed coffee is separated from the spent coffee grounds. With pour-over the brewing water keeps moving and passes through the ground coffee. However, as is so often the case in the world of coffee it's not always so cut and dried, with terms being used interchangably and with different meanings depending on the context.

James Hoffmann: Coffee101's go to coffee authority, James Hoffmann has quietly turned “just a coffee” into an entire subject worth studying, and then somehow made it fun to watch.

A World Barista Champion, co‑founder of Square Mile Coffee Roasters, 'coffee influencer' and author, he’s become something of a gentle giant in the specialty‑coffee world; respected, slightly revered, and yet still the kind of person who desn't take himself too seriously while still happily obsessing over grind size at 7 a.m. on a Sunday.

His YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@jameshoffmann) with a staggering 2.48M subscribers, has turned him into the coffee world's most patient teacher: equal parts expert, enthusiast, and mildly amused uncle who keeps telling you, in the nicest possible way, there might be better ways of brewing, while graciously trying not to say that you’ve been brewing it wrong all along!

Latte: Espresso with lots of steamed milk and a little foam. The go-to drink for anyone who likes their coffee to taste mostly like milk, but still wants to feel fancy.

Latte Art: The foamy art masterpiece crafted on top of your drink, a sign that your barista is either a genius or has too much time on their hands. It’s coffee’s way of saying, “I know I’m good, but let’s embellish this a bit.”

Lungo: Somewhere between an espresso and an Americano it’s an ‘extended’ shot of espresso, using more water and a longer extraction time. It’s the opposite of the ristretto.

Macchiato: Espresso “stained” with a dollop of milk foam. Not to be confused with the sugar-laden caramel concoctions at chain cafes. The real macchiato is small, strong, and slightly misunderstood.

Mocha: For those who can’t decide between coffee and hot chocolate. Espresso, steamed milk, and chocolate syrup served up because adulthood is overrated. A sweet, chocolatey hug in a cup. If you’ve ever questioned whether you can combine coffee and dessert, this is the answer in velvety, liquid form, and yes, some claim it counts as breakfast.

Pour-Over is a manual way of slowly pouring hot water over coffee grounds to make filter coffee. It is similar to drip coffee, but it gives you much more control over variables such as water temperature, pouring speed, brewing time, and final yield.

Many coffee enthusiasts prefer pour-over because it lets them fine‑tune the taste, texture, temperature, and strength of their coffee. Pour-over demands patience, precision. Beware, pour-over often comes with the irresistible urge to explain your brewing technique to anyone nearby, even if they glaze over.

Rabbit Hole: In coffee circles, going “down the rabbit hole” means getting completely absorbed in the world of coffee; diving from one topic to another, from grind size and extraction to origin flavours and brewing techniques.

It describes that familiar process where a quick search leads to you losing track of time as you follow one link or idea after another. Much like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where curiosity leads ever deeper into a fascinating, unexpected world.

One day you’re buying beans from the supermarket, the next, you’re spending hours watching obscure coffee YouTubes, pondering whether your espresso shots could have just a bit more texture and then before you know it you're producing your own coffee website!

Real Coffee: ie not instant!

Ristretto: A ‘restricted’ shot of espresso, using less water for a more concentrated flavour. For people who think regular espresso is just too vanilla. The opposite of a Lungo which is made with more water and a longer extraction time.

Roasting: (See Coffee roasting) Coffee roasting is the process of heating green coffee beans so that they turn brown and develop the flavours and aromas we recognise as coffee. The longer and hotter the beans are roasted, the darker they become and the more their taste changes from light and delicate to bold and intense.

Robusta: A species of coffee (Coffea robusta) that’s hardier and higher in caffeine than the more expensive Arabica. It can taste more bitter and earthy, so it’s often used in blends rather than on its own, especially in stronger, punchier espresso styles.
Being cheaper to grow it's often the basis of many commercial coffees and used to make an instant coffee.

Single Origin: Coffee sourced from one specific location. By showcasing the unique flavours of its terroir it can, so it’s claimed, be the equivalent of premium wine and therefore inspire a coffee nerd’s dream.

Sustainable Coffee: Coffee grown with awarenes and care for the environment. It's coffee’s commitment to making the world a better place while still providing the pleasure of a well brewed mornning coffee.

Steep simply means to let something soak in water so the flavour can come out.

With coffee, steeping is what you do in immersion methods like French press, cold brew or the Clever Dripper: the coffee grounds sit in the water for a set time before you separate them. The longer you steep (up to a point), the more flavour you extract which is why changing steep time is one of the easiest ways to tweak how your coffee tastes.

However, beware: The flavours in coffee extract at different rates. Too short, and your under extracted coffee is sour; too long, and your over extracted coffee is bitter. Acidity extracts first, followed by sweetness and then finally bitterness. Caffeine extracts last – it’s what brings bitterness.

Speciality Coffee could be described as what happens when coffee geeks and scientists collide. Technically it’s a coffee that scores over 80 on a 100-point scale devised by the American Specialty Coffee Association (https://sca.coffee). The SCA scale grades the acidity, sweetness, body, cup cleanliness, and uniformity of the coffee

When you pick up a bag of specialty coffee, you’ll usually see details like origin, varietal, altitude, and roast date. Think of it as a TED talk in a coffee mug and also a good bet for making really good coffee

Tamping: The pressing of ground coffee into a portafilter with just the right amount of force. Too hard, and you’ll strain your wrist; too soft, and your puck will channel, and the espresso will be weak.

Third Wave: The movement treating coffee with the reverence of fine wine. Known for over obsessing about beans, brewing, and flavour notes. Third wave coffee is usually artisanal, organic and inevitably complex producing coffee which comes with tasting notes and requires swirling clockwise around your cup (in the northern hemisphere). Warning: may cause justifiable eye-rolling and forgetting that coffee is actually coffee.

Turkish Coffee: Finely ground coffee simmered (not boiled) in a small pot, usually with sugar and sometimes spices. Unfiltered, unapologetic; a brew so strong it could probably power a small car. Served in small cups, it’s a coffee equivalent of shots, but with more grit. Don’t forget to serve it with a side of sugar and a warning about possible caffeine overload.