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Popular coffee jargon

Acidity: The pleasant tartness of a coffee. Examples of acidity descriptors include lively and flat, one of the principal attributes evaluated by professional tasters when determining the quality of coffee.
Aero Press: A hand-powered coffee brewer. Consists of two cylinders, one sliding within the other, somewhat resembling a large syringe. Water is forced through ground coffee held in place by a paper filter, creating a concentrated filter below.
Aroma: The fragrance produced by brewed coffee. Examples of aroma descriptors include earthy, spicy and floral, one of the principal attributes evaluated by professional tasters when determining the quality of a coffee.
Body: This describes the heaviness, thickness or relative weight of coffee on the tongue, one of the principal attributes evaluated by professional tasters when determining the quality of a coffee.
Caturra: This is a modern hybrid of Coffee arabica and is becoming increasingly popular with farmers. Caturra has a greater crop yield and is less susceptible to disease than classic arabica (Typica and Bourbon).
Complexity: The array of flavours and flavour shifts experienced when smelling and tasting a coffee. While not necessarily a positive attribute, complexity can sometimes be gained by blending one coffee with another or by blending a dark roast with a light roast. Some excellent single origin coffees are by themselves both complex and balanced, but agreeable complex flavours are most often achieved by blending two or more complimentary single origin coffees.
Caffeine: An odourless, slightly bitter alkaloid responsible for the stimulating effect of coffee.
Chemex: A type of pour-over-coffee brewer with distinctive hourglass-shaped vessel. Invented in 1941, the Chemex is regarded as a design classic and is on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Cupping: A method by which professional tasters perform sensory evaluation of coffee. Hot water is poured over ground coffee and left to extract. The taster first samples the aroma and then tastes the coffee by slurping it from the spoon.
Drip Method: A brewing method that allows brewed water to seep through a bed of ground coffee by gravity, not pressure.
Estate: A coffee estate is a coffee plantation. Estate coffees typically sell at a premium due to better consistency and higher quality control compared to coffees collected from many small farms.
Earthy: The aroma characteristic of fresh earth, wet soil, or raw potatoes. While not necessarily negative characteristic, earthiness may be caused by moulds during the processing of harvested coffee cherries. Earthy notes, for example, are commonly found in semi-dry processed coffees from Indonesia.
Fair Trade: A certification for coffee producers, intended to help ensure equitable trading arrangements for disadvantaged small holders who are organised into cooperatives. Fair Trade certification is also used to promote sustainable agricultural and farm management practices without the use of agrochemicals or genetically modified organisms.
Floral: The scent of flowers including honeysuckle, jasmine, dandelion and nettles. Mildly floral aromas are found in some coffees and are generally perceived along with fruity or herbal notes.
Froth / Foam: It is created when milk is heated and aerated, usually with hot steam from an espresso machine's steam wand. Used to create traditional cappuccino.
Grade: This is generally used to indicate coffee bean size, which is associated with coffee quality. While there are many exceptions, coffee beans grown at higher elevations tend to be denser, larger, and have better flavour. The process of determining coffee bean size, or grading, is done by passing unroasted beans through perforated containers, or sieves.
For example, Grade 18 beans, also called AA, will pass through a sieve with 18/64" diameter holes, but are retained by the next smaller sieve with 16/64" diameter holes. Traditionally, even grades were used for Arabicas (20, 18, 16, etc), and odd numbers were used for Robustas (17, 15, 13, etc). The method of grading coffee (classifying coffee quality) varies by country, and may include bean size, bean density, number of defects, growing altitude, taste, etc.
Grassy: Aroma associated with freshly mowed green grass, herbs, green foliage, green beans, and unripe fruit. A grassy aroma, also called green, herby, or herbal, is characteristic of sour tasting under-roasted coffee beans and under-dried or water damaged coffee beans.
Grind: The degree of coarseness to which coffee beans are ground. A crucial factor in determining the nature of a coffee brew. Grind coarseness should be varied in accordance with the brewing method. Methods involving longer brew times call for a coarse grind. A fine grind is required for a brew methods with a short extraction time such as espresso.
Honey process, pulped natural: A method of processing coffee where the cherry is removed (pulped), but the beans are sun-dried with mucilage intact. It typically results in a sweet flavour profile with balanced acidity.
Italian Roast: Dark roasted coffee with a very dark brown colour and oily surface. There is disagreement regarding the labelling of very dark roast styles, with some asserting that an Italian roast is darker than a French roast and visa versa.
Java: Indonesian coffee from the Island of Java. Early Dutch explorers brought Arabica trees to Java, which became the world's leading producer of coffee until the Rust Disease wiped out the crop. The trees were replaced with more disease-resistant, but less desirable Robusta. With the support of the Indonesian government, Arabica is once again being grown on some of the original Dutch estates.
Estate Java is a wet-processed coffee that is more acidic, lighter in body and quicker to finish than other coffees in the region. Smoke and spice are flavours often associated with this coffee's acidity. Some Javanese coffees are stored in warehouses for two or three years and is referred to as Old Java. This aging process causes the coffee to lose acidity and gain body and sweetness.
Latte Art: Creative designs made on the surface of an espresso drink. Latte art may be made by skillfully pouring milk through espresso, or with the aid of toothpicks, chocolate syrup, or sprinkles.
Microfoam: The preferred texture of finely-steamed milk for espresso-based coffee drinks is essential for pouring latte art. It is achieved by incorporating a lesser quantity of air during the milk steaming process.
Natural process: A simple method of processing coffee where whole cherries (with the bean inside) are dried on raised beds under the sun. Typically results in a lower acidity coffee with heavier body and exotic flavours.
Nutty: The aroma and flavour characteristic of fresh nuts. Coffee cuppers are careful to avoid using the term "nutty" when describing coffee with taste or aroma characteristics of rancid nuts or bitter almonds. Coffees from South America commonly have a nutty flavour.
New Crop: This refers to recently harvested coffee. Coffee harvested in October 2007, for example, would be identified as 2007/2008 crop and would be considered current crop until October 2008. Coffee from a previous harvest year is referred to as old crop, or past crop. 
Over extracted: This describes coffee with a bitter or bunt taste, resulting from ground coffee exposed to hot water for too long.
Peaberry: A small round coffee bean formed when only one seed, rather than the usual two, develops in a coffee cherry. Peaberry beans produce a different flavour profile, typically lighter-bodied with higher acidy.
Pulping: This involves removing the pulp as part of the wet process. After picking coffee cherries, the first step of processing, using the wet method, is to remove the skin and pulp. Conventional pulping machines have a rotating cylinder that collects harvested cherries immersed in water and presses them against perforations just large enough for the beans to pass. The beans of soft cherries are pushed through the perforations and collected separately while the harder green cherries along with the skin and much of the pulp from the ripe cherries are passed through the machine.
Parchment: Parchment skin is the hull of a coffee cherry seed that surrounds the coffee bean. The parchment skin is removed from the coffee bean during processing. The silver skin usually remains until it floats away, burns away, or is otherwise separated as "chaff" during the roasting process.
Pour over: A type of drip filter method in which a thin, steady stream of water is poured slowly over a bed of ground coffee contained within a filter cone.
Portafilter: This consists of a handle (usually plastic) attached to a metal cradle that holds the filter basket. Inserted into the group head and locked in place in preparation for making an espresso. Usually features a single or double spout on the underside to direct the flow of the coffee into a cup.
Puck: Immediately after espresso extraction, the bed of spent coffee grounds form a compressed waste matter resembling a small hockey puck.
Quaker: Unripened coffee beans, often with a wrinkled surface. Quakers do not darken well when roasted.
Robusta: This is a common name for Coffea Canephora plant. Coffea Canephora and Coffea Arabica are practically the only coffee species used to make coffee. Robusta coffee trees, like Arabica trees, can both grow to about 40 feet high, but Robusta beans tend to be smaller and more bitter. Robusta trees are "robust", meaning they are less susceptible to pests and disease and yield more coffee crop. Coffea Canephora is the dominant coffee species grown at low elevations due to its ability to resist pests and disease.
Scorched: Roasted coffee with burn marks caused by inadequate tumbling or by roasting too hot. Also called "tipped" or "charred". Scorched beans may look completely roasted, but are likely to have sour and bready flavours. 
Single origin: Unblended coffee from a single country, growing region, or plantation. Sometimes called straight coffee. 
Siphon brewer / vacuum brewer: An unusual brewing method that relies on the action of a vacuum to draw hot water through coffee from one glass chamber to another. The resulting brew is remarkably clean.
Speciality coffee: A premium quality of coffee scoring 80 points or above (from a total of 100) in the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) grading scale.
Steam wand: The protruding pipe found on an espresso machine that supplies hot steam used to froth and steam milk.
Tamp: The process of distributing and pressing ground coffee into a compact bed within the portafilter basket in preparation for brewing espresso. The degree of pressure applied during tamping is a key variable in espresso extraction. If it is too light, the brew water will percolate rapidly (tend to under extract), too firm and the water flow will be impeded (tend to over extract).
Tamper: The small pestle-like tool used to distribute and compact ground coffee in the filter basket.
Third wave coffee: The movement that treats coffee as an artisanal foodstuff rather than a commodity product. Quality coffee reflects its terroir.
Under extracted: This describes coffee that has not been exposed to brew water for long enough. The resulting brew is often sour and thin-bodied.
V60: A popular type of pour over coffee brewer marketed by Hario. The product takes its name from 60° angle of the V-shaped cone. Typically to brew one or two cups only.
Wet process: Ripe cherries are first immersed in water where any floating cherries are removed as defective. The remaining cherries are then pressed by machine against a perforated surface, allowing only the seed, and some attached pulp, to pass through the holes.
The remaining pulp is then removed by placing the beans into a fermentation tank to loosen the pulp before washing the pulp away with water. After the pulp is removed, the coffee beans are then dried to about 10 to 12 per cent moisture content, usually by a combination of sun drying and machine drying. Machine drying is common practice, especially in damp climates, to prevent mildew. Wet processed coffee is sometimes called washed coffee, in reference to the washing done to separate the pulp from the beans. Also called the wet method. 
Wet Mill: Equipment for processing harvested coffee cherries by the wet method.
Water Purification: Most coffee brewing systems benefit from water purification. Water purification generally improves the taste, odour and appearance of the supply water and in turn improves the coffee quality and taste.
Effective filters remove contaminates, excess chlorine, particulate matter and other impurities. Good filtering systems are inexpensive and readily available; most on the market range from a single, butted type cartridge, to a three-cartridge set-up, usually mounted on a wall under or near the brewer or espresso machine.
The placement of a filtering system should be strategic, making sure that (1) water is filtered before its introduction to the brewer or espresso machine, and (2) water filters are easily accessible for routine changing (the frequency of which is determined by the particular system and volume of machine use). Water softening is generally required to prevent accumulation of minerals in espresso machine boilers.
Yirgacheffe: The market name for one of the most admired washed coffees of Ethiopia, distinguished by its fruit-like or floral acidity and high-toned, complex flavor.