Coffee Glossary

Specialty grade is a Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) cupping-score threshold — coffee that scores 80 or above out of 100 on the SCA’s standardized tasting protocol, meaning it’s free of significant defects and shows distinctive positive flavor characteristics.

Washed coffee has its fruit and mucilage removed before drying, producing a cleaner, brighter cup that shows origin character clearly. Natural coffee dries with the whole cherry intact, letting fruit sugars ferment into the bean for a heavier body and more fruit-forward, sometimes fermented flavor.

TDS stands for Total Dissolved Solids — the percentage of a brewed cup, by weight, that is dissolved coffee rather than water. It’s measured with a refractometer and used together with brew ratio to calculate extraction yield.

A varietal (or cultivar) is the specific genetic variety of the coffee plant a bean comes from, such as Bourbon, Typica, or Gesha. Varietal is a major factor in a coffee’s inherent flavor potential, similar to how grape varietal shapes wine.

Roasting drives chemical reactions (caramelization and the Maillard reaction) that develop new flavor compounds while breaking down the bean’s original acids and sugars. Light roasts stop earlier, preserving more origin character; dark roasts push further, replacing origin character with bold roast flavors.

Fair Trade is a formal third-party certification with an audited minimum price. Direct trade is an informal model where a roaster buys straight from a farm or cooperative, usually negotiating a price above commodity or Fair Trade minimums — but there’s no standard body certifying it, so terms vary by roaster.