Roast levels
A coffee glossary starts at the roaster, because roast is the first choice our plan builder asks you to make. Terms with a full page of their own are linked. Oregon roaster examples were checked on the roasters' own sites on 2026-09-27.
Light roast
Coffee taken off the heat soon after first crack, with a dry, light brown surface. It keeps the most of the coffee's origin flavor. Sterling in Portland lists light and light-medium as its roast styles. Full page: light roast.
Medium roast
Coffee roasted past first crack and stopped before second, dry and medium brown. Origin flavor and roast flavor share the cup. Backporch in Bend sells a medium roast subscription. Full page: medium roast.
Medium-dark roast
A roast that runs to the edge of second crack, where the first spots of oil can show on the bean. Portland Coffee Roasters roasts its Goose Hollow blend and its Organic Espresso medium-dark.
Dark roast
Coffee roasted to second crack or past it. The beans turn shiny with oil and the cup tastes more of the roast than of the farm: full-bodied and bittersweet. Full page: dark roast.
Espresso roast
A roast developed for brewing as espresso rather than a fixed color. It runs from light to dark. Coava in Portland sells most of its coffees in either a drip or an espresso roast profile. Full page: espresso roast.
Cinnamon roast
The lightest named roast, stopped right at first crack, around 196 °C (385 °F) in Wikipedia's roast table. The beans are pale, and Wikipedia describes the lightest roasts as grassy, grainy and sharp.
City roast
A traditional name for a medium roast, about 219 °C (426 °F) in Wikipedia's roast table, a step darker than the New England and American roasts. The name is a tradition, not a standard.
Full city roast
A roast one step darker than city, about 225 °C (437 °F) in Wikipedia's roast table, right where second crack begins. It marks the border between medium-dark and dark on the traditional scale, just before Vienna roast.
Vienna roast
A dark roast taken just into second crack, about 230 °C (446 °F) in Wikipedia's roast table. Oil begins to show on the surface of the bean and roast flavor starts to lead the cup. It sits between full city and French roast on the traditional scale.
French roast
A very dark roast, about 240 °C (464 °F), with an oily surface and a smoky, bittersweet cup. Sleepy Monk in Cannon Beach sells two, Rusty Nail and Cannon Beach Brackish Brew, and Nossa Familia sells Mathilde's French Roast.
Italian roast
The darkest name in Wikipedia's roast table, about 245 °C (473 °F), past French roast. The beans are glossy with oil, and the cup tastes almost entirely of the roast. Nossa Familia in Portland sells Teodoro's Italian Roast.
First crack
The popping sound beans make at around 196 °C (385 °F), as water inside turns to steam and the bean swells. It marks the start of a light roast. Roasters listen for it, along with watching color and smelling the batch, to judge how far the roast has gone.
Second crack
A second round of snapping at around 224 °C (435 °F), as the bean's structure turns brittle and fractures. Roasts that reach it are dark, and oils rise to the surface.
Roast profile
The recipe a roaster follows for one coffee: how heat and time change through the batch, drawn as a curve of temperature against time. Heart in Portland builds one profile per coffee instead of labeling roasts light, medium or dark.
Styles on the bag
Single origin
Coffee from one place: one country, region, farm or lot, sold unblended so you taste that place. Coava and Case Study in Portland name the producer on their single origins. Our single origin subscription is one style option in the plan builder.
Blend
Coffee from two or more origins roasted and sold together for a flavor no single coffee gives on its own. Case Study's Burnside Blend and Roseline's Cartwheel, a mix of natural and washed coffees, are two Portland examples.
House blend
A roaster's everyday signature blend, the one it pours in its own cafes and keeps on the shelf all year. Water Avenue in Portland calls its medium Blue Creek its house blend, and Portland Coffee Roasters sells an Organic Portland House.
Espresso blend
A blend built to taste balanced as espresso, where every flavor is concentrated. Case Study's Deviation Blend combines Guatemalan, Ethiopian and Peruvian coffees for its house espresso, and Dapper & Wise roasts Stag dark for the same job. See espresso roast.
Micro lot
A small, separately kept portion of a harvest, from one farm, plot or picking, sold under its own name instead of being mixed into a larger lot. Backporch in Bend builds its Showcase Series and a Showcase subscription on micro lots.
Decaf
Coffee with most of its caffeine removed before roasting, while the beans are still green. U.S. rules require at least 97% of the caffeine removed, according to Wikipedia's decaffeination article. See our decaf subscription and the decaf methods below.
Half-caff
A mix of regular and decaf coffee, blended in one bag or sent as separate bags, for a cup with about half the caffeine. In our plan builder you can get close by choosing a two-bag box with one regular bag and one decaf bag.
Roaster's choice
A subscription or bag where the roaster picks what to send. Roseline, Heart, Dapper & Wise, Wandering Goat and Caravan all sell a roaster's choice subscription on their own sites.
Seasonal coffee
A coffee or blend sold only while a harvest or season lasts, then replaced with the next. Heart sells a Stereo Seasonal Blend, Coava rotates its single origins with the seasons, and Sleepy Monk makes a seasonal Java Jingle blend.
Instant coffee
Brewed coffee dried into soluble crystals or powder that dissolves in hot water, no brewer needed. Thump in Bend makes instant coffee with its own brewing process, and Nossa Familia and Dapper & Wise sell instant coffee too.
Processing and decaf methods
Coffee cherry
The fruit of the coffee plant. Each cherry holds two seeds, the beans, inside skin, sticky pulp and a papery hull. Processing is how the farm removes all that and dries the seeds.
Mucilage
The sticky, sugary layer between the coffee cherry's pulp and the bean's parchment. Washed coffees have it fermented or scrubbed off before drying. How much of it stays on during drying is what separates yellow, red and black honey process coffees.
Parchment
The papery hull around each coffee seed inside the cherry. Washed and honey coffees are dried in their parchment, which is milled off before export. Wet-hulled coffees from Indonesia have it removed while the bean is still wet.
Green coffee
Processed, dried, unroasted coffee beans, the form in which coffee is shipped and traded. Green coffee keeps far longer than roasted, which is why coffee is roasted close to where it is drunk.
Washed process
The farm removes the fruit before drying: the cherry is pulped, the mucilage is fermented off or scrubbed off mechanically, and the beans are washed and dried. It needs skill and water. Sterling's Ethiopia Sidama Shefina is washed.
Natural process
The oldest method: the whole cherry is dried in the sun, fruit and all, and hulled afterward. It is cheap and energy efficient, but rain or strong sun can spoil the crop. Case Study's Colombia La Cristalina is a natural.
Honey process
The skin is removed and some or all of the sticky mucilage is left on while the beans dry. Yellow, red and black honey describe how much stays on. Backporch sells a Mexico Las Lajas Yellow Honey.
Pulped natural
A semi-dry method close to honey process: the skin and pulp are removed by machine, then the beans dry with the mucilage still on. Wikipedia describes these coffees as mellow and sweet with mild acidity. Coava lists its Brazil Araponga as pulped natural.
Wet-hulled
An Indonesian method, giling basah, that removes the parchment while the beans are still wet, which suits rainy harvests. Wikipedia describes the result as low in acidity and heavy in body, with spicy and earthy notes. Water Avenue's Sumatra Mutu Batak is wet-hulled.
Anaerobic fermentation
A processing experiment in which coffee ferments in a sealed, oxygen-free tank before drying, to push unusual fruit flavors. Nossa Familia sells an anaerobic lot from Finca San Jose de las Nubes in Nicaragua.
Swiss Water Process
A decaf method with no chemical solvents. Beans soak in a caffeine-free green coffee extract, caffeine moves out into it, and carbon filters strip the caffeine from the extract so the extract goes back to work on the next batch.
Mountain Water Process
A water-based decaf method. Case Study in Portland sells a Mountain Water Process decaf from Mexico, and Roseline describes its decaf subscription as mountain water processed. See our decaf subscription for decaf from Oregon roasters.
Sugarcane process
A decaf method using ethyl acetate made from fermented sugarcane to draw out the caffeine, also called EA process. Sterling and Dapper & Wise both sell sugarcane process decafs from Colombia.
CO2 process
A decaf method that uses carbon dioxide under very high pressure, in a supercritical state, to pull caffeine out of green coffee while leaving most flavor compounds in place. Wikipedia's decaffeination article gives the pressure as about 300 atmospheres.
Origins
Ethiopia
The birthplace of arabica coffee, according to World Coffee Research. Its coffees reach Oregon both washed and natural: Sterling sells a washed Sidama Shefina, Case Study a natural Zema Ademe, and Heart lists three Ethiopian coffees at once.
Yirgacheffe
A coffee region in southern Ethiopia whose name appears on specialty bags as a mark of origin. Wandering Goat in Eugene sells a washed Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, and Backporch in Bend sells a Yirgacheffe from the Gedeb area.
Kenya
An East African origin with its own varieties, such as SL28, and a grading system based on bean size. Heart in Portland lists three Kenyan coffees, and Coava, Sterling and Lone Pine each sell a Kenyan as well.
AA grade
Kenya's top size grade, for the largest beans; AB is the next size down. It describes bean size, not flavor. Sterling's Kirinyaga AA and Lone Pine's Chorongi AA carry it, and Heart sells two AB lots.
Colombia
A Latin American arabica origin grown along the Andes. Oregon roasters we list sell Colombian lots from Huila, Caldas and Nariño, among others, and the decafs from Coava, Sterling, Lone Pine, Heart and Dapper & Wise all start as Colombian coffee.
Brazil
A South American origin where Wikipedia says about 90% of arabica is naturally processed, dried in the whole cherry. Nossa Familia's founder's family farms are in Brazil's Sul de Minas and Cerrado regions, and Sterling sells a Brazil from the Cooxupe co-op.
Guatemala
A Central American origin with growing regions such as Huehuetenango, which Wandering Goat lists. Sisters Coffee has bought from the Villatoro family in Guatemala for 21 years, and Portland Coffee Roasters started its first origin project there in 1999.
Costa Rica
A Central American origin. Portland Coffee Roasters' first direct trade shipment came from the La Hilda Estate in Costa Rica, and it still roasts La Hilda every year. Caravan in Newberg sells a Costa Rica La Victorina.
Honduras
A Central American origin that Wikipedia counts among the larger organic coffee producers. Roseline in Portland lists several Honduran lots, including one Geisha, and Portland Coffee Roasters' OPBEANS is an organic, women-produced Honduran coffee.
Sumatra
An Indonesian island and origin. The Sumatras on Oregon menus that name a process are wet-hulled, such as Water Avenue's Mutu Batak and Sleepy Monk's Sumatra. Portland Coffee Roasters sells an Organic Dark Sumatra.
Peru
A South American origin that Wikipedia names as the leading organic coffee exporter as of 2010. Caravan in Newberg sells a Peru Cafe Femenino, Sterling a Peru Kovachii, and Sisters Coffee buys from Peru's Rutas del Inca.
Rwanda
An East African origin. Noble in Ashland sells a Rwandan Mbilima, Thump in Bend lists a Rwanda single origin, and Sisters Coffee has bought from Rwanda's Nyampinga cooperative for 11 years.
Brewing
Drip coffee
Coffee made by dripping hot water over grounds in a paper or mesh filter and letting gravity pull it through, by machine or by hand. It takes a medium grind and works with every roast level, from Sterling's light roasts to Sleepy Monk's darks.
Pour over
Drip coffee made by hand: you pour hot water over grounds in a cone and set the pace yourself, which gives you control over how long the water and coffee touch. A Chemex or a cone dripper and a kettle are all it takes.
Chemex
A glass pour over brewer shaped like an hourglass with a wooden collar, used with thick folded paper filters that hold back fine particles and oils. The result is a clean, light-bodied cup. Case Study's cafes brew in formats from Chemex to AeroPress.
French press
An immersion brewer: coarse grounds steep in hot water for a few minutes, then a mesh plunger pushes them to the bottom so you can pour. With no paper filter, more oils reach the cup, which gives it a fuller body.
AeroPress
A plastic tube brewer: coffee steeps briefly, then you press it by hand through a small paper filter into the cup. It is quick, easy to clean and light enough to travel with, and it works with any roast level.
Moka pot
A stovetop brewer in which steam pressure pushes boiling water up through a basket of fine coffee into the top chamber. The result is strong and concentrated, though made at far lower pressure than an espresso machine uses.
Cold brew
Coffee steeped in cold or room temperature water for many hours, then strained, for a smooth concentrate served over ice or diluted. Sisters Coffee sells a Jack Creek Cold Brew roast and Water Avenue an organic Cold Brew Blend.
Espresso
Coffee made by forcing hot water at high pressure through finely ground coffee, in about 25 to 30 seconds, for a shot of about 25 to 30 ml. It is the base of most cafe drinks.
Grind size
How fine the coffee is ground, matched to the brewer: fine for espresso, medium for drip, coarse for French press and cold brew. Ground coffee stales much faster than whole bean.
Bloom
The first splash of water over fresh grounds, which makes them bubble and swell as trapped carbon dioxide escapes. Pour over brewers wait for it to settle before pouring the rest. A lively bloom is a sign the coffee was roasted recently.
Cafe drinks
Crema
The lighter-colored foam on top of a fresh espresso shot, sitting over the dark body of the coffee. Modern espresso's early name in Italy, crema caffè, came from it, according to Wikipedia's espresso article.
Ristretto
A short espresso: the same dose of coffee pulled with less water, for a smaller, thicker and more concentrated shot. The Italian word means restricted. Some cafes build milk drinks on ristretto shots instead of full ones.
Lungo
A long espresso: the same dose of coffee pulled with more water, for a bigger, thinner shot. It is not the same as an americano, where water is added after the shot instead of run through the coffee.
Doppio
A double shot of espresso: twice the ground coffee in the basket and twice the volume in the cup. The Italian word means double. Many cafe milk drinks are built on a doppio rather than a single shot.
Americano
Espresso topped up with hot water, close to the strength of drip coffee but with espresso's flavor. Adding the water after the shot, rather than running it through the coffee, is what separates it from a lungo.
Cappuccino
Espresso with steamed milk and a thick cap of milk foam, served in a smaller cup than a latte. The foam layer is deeper and airier, so the drink tastes more of coffee than a latte made with the same shot.
Latte
Espresso with a larger amount of steamed milk and a thin layer of foam on top, the milkiest of the classic espresso drinks. Cafes flavor it with syrups; Case Study makes house syrups for its specialty drinks.
Flat white
Espresso with steamed milk worked into a thin, velvety microfoam, served in a smaller cup than a latte. Less milk and less foam than a latte make the coffee taste stronger, while the texture stays smooth.
Cortado
Espresso cut with a roughly equal amount of warm, lightly steamed milk, served small, in a glass in many cafes. The name comes from the Spanish word for cut. It is stronger than a flat white and smoother than a straight shot.
Macchiato
Espresso marked with a small spoonful of milk foam; the Italian word means stained or marked. It is a short drink, mostly coffee. Some chain cafes use the name for a sweeter, layered milk drink, so ask before you order.
Mocha
A latte with chocolate added, as syrup, sauce or cocoa, sometimes topped with whipped cream. Espressos roasted with chocolate in mind suit it: Sisters Coffee says its Espresso Blend is built for chocolate richness.
Affogato
A scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato with a shot of hot espresso poured over it, eaten with a spoon. It is dessert and coffee at once, and the Italian name means drowned. A decaf shot works for a late dessert.
Trade and sourcing terms
Specialty coffee
High quality coffee. The term dates to 1974 and, narrowly, means beans scoring 80 points or more on a 100 point scale when cupped by trained tasters. Sisters Coffee says it became Central Oregon's first specialty roaster.
Third wave coffee
A U.S. industry term for treating coffee as a craft product: beans from named farms, lighter roasts that show origin, and careful brewing. The term dates to 1999. Full page, with the Oregon angle: third wave coffee.
Fair trade coffee
Coffee certified under fair-trade standards, which set minimum prices for farmers and ban child and forced labor. Portland Coffee Roasters sells a Fair Trade Organic Guatemala. Full page: fair trade coffee.
Direct trade coffee
Coffee a roaster buys through its own relationship with a farm or processor, with no certifier and no single standard. Portland Coffee Roasters, Nossa Familia, Backporch and Trailhead all describe direct buying. Full page: direct trade coffee.
Organic coffee
Coffee grown without prohibited synthetic chemicals and certified; in the U.S., under the USDA National Organic Program. Wandering Goat's coffees are all certified organic through Oregon Tilth. Full page: organic coffee.
Shade grown coffee
Coffee grown under a canopy of taller trees, which shelters birds and wildlife and protects soil, at the cost of lower yields than sun farms. Wandering Goat sells shade-grown coffees. Full page: shade grown coffee.
Bird Friendly
A certification from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center for coffee grown in a way that protects bird habitat. Water Avenue's Pacific Flyway, made with Bird Alliance of Oregon, carries it.
Rainforest Alliance
A U.S. nonprofit whose mission, as Wikipedia describes it, is protecting ecosystems and preserving biodiversity and sustainable production. Its seal on a bag of coffee refers to how the farm is managed. It is separate from fair trade and organic certification.
Coffee cooperative
A farmer-owned group that processes and sells its members' coffee, or buys supplies for them, and shares any profit among the members. Dapper & Wise buys much of its coffee from the Cafe Origenes co-op. Full page: coffee cooperative.
Smallholder
A farmer on a small plot who works it mainly with family labor. Fairtrade International certifies coffee only through organizations whose members are mostly smallholders, which is why fair trade coffee comes from smallholder cooperatives.
Importer
The company that buys green coffee from exporters or cooperatives, ships it and sells it on to roasters. Under Fairtrade International's rules, importers of fair trade coffee must register and pay at least the minimum price to the exporting organization.
C price
The benchmark world price for arabica, set by the "C" contract traded in New York. Fair trade minimum prices are written against it, and when the world price rises above the minimum, fair trade buyers owe a premium above the world price.
Q grader
A coffee taster certified by the Coffee Quality Institute, a nonprofit that works to improve coffee quality and the lives of the people who grow it. Q graders score coffee to a shared standard. Caravan's roastmaster in Newberg holds the certification.
Transparency report
A roaster's published account of whom it bought coffee from and what it paid, meant to back up claims about direct trade. Wikipedia's direct trade article describes such reports as one answer to critics. Heart in Portland publishes one.
B Corp
A company certified by the nonprofit B Lab for meeting standards on social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. The certification covers the whole business, not one product. Nossa Familia in Portland is a Certified B Corp.
Bean basics
Arabica
Coffea arabica, the species behind nearly 60% of world coffee output. It originated in Ethiopia and spread worldwide from the mid-1700s, per World Coffee Research. The varieties named on specialty bags, from Geisha to Pink Bourbon, are arabicas.
Robusta
Coffea canephora, the other main coffee species. It originated in western sub-Saharan Africa, has been grown commercially since around 1870, per World Coffee Research, and today comes mostly from Asia.
Variety
A distinct type of coffee plant within a species, like a grape variety in wine, with its own traits in the tree and the cup. Roasters print it on the bag: Case Study names the variety for each lot, and Roseline sells a Geisha.
Typica
One of the oldest cultivated arabica varieties. With Bourbon, it is the ancestor of most of the arabica varieties grown today, according to World Coffee Research, which lists both in its variety catalog.
Bourbon
A classic arabica variety named for the island of Bourbon, now Réunion, where the French grew it. World Coffee Research counts it with Typica as an ancestor of most modern varieties, Caturra among them.
Caturra
A compact natural mutation of Bourbon found in Brazil. Its short stature lets farmers plant it more densely than tall varieties. It is listed in World Coffee Research's catalog of arabica varieties.
Geisha
An arabica variety, also spelled Gesha, named for the Gesha area of Ethiopia and listed in World Coffee Research's variety catalog. Roseline in Portland sells a Honduras Joel Guzman Geisha alongside its regular Joel Guzman lot, so you can taste the variety against its neighbor.
SL28
A Kenyan arabica variety selected by Scott Laboratories, the source of the "SL" in its name. It appears in World Coffee Research's variety catalog. The Kenyan lots on Oregon menus, from Heart, Sterling and Lone Pine, come from the country where it was bred.
Pink Bourbon
A variety with pink-skinned ripe cherries, grown in Colombia. Dapper & Wise in Hillsboro sells a washed Pink Bourbon from producer Edilma Piedrahita, one of several Colombian lots on its single origin menu.
Peaberry
A single round bean that grows alone in a cherry instead of the usual flat-sided pair. Peaberries are sorted out and sold on their own. Sisters Coffee sells a Tanzania Umoja washed peaberry.
Coffee leaf rust
A fungal disease, Hemileia vastatrix, that strips leaves from coffee plants and cuts harvests. From the mid-1970s, growers turned to new sun-tolerant plants partly in response to it, which moved much coffee out from under shade trees.
Whole bean coffee
Roasted coffee sold unground. Whole beans stay fresh for up to about a month if kept cool; ground coffee is best used right away. Every club bag comes whole bean or ground, your choice.
Degassing
Roasted coffee gives off carbon dioxide for days after roasting. That is why coffee sold in sealed cans is left to degas first, and why coffee bags carry pressure-relief valves that let gas out without letting air in.
Roast date
The day a bag was roasted, the best guide to freshness. Heart prints a roast date and batch number on every bag. Our club's first promise is "Roasted and shipped within 3 days."
Tasting
Acidity
The bright, lively, tangy side of coffee's flavor, like citrus or green apple. Tasters count it as a quality, not a defect. It is strongest in lighter roasts, because roasting breaks down many of the acids in green coffee.
Body
How heavy the coffee feels in the mouth, from thin and tea-like to thick and syrupy. Wikipedia describes wet-hulled coffees and dark roasts as heavy in body, and a French press gives a fuller cup than a paper filter.
Sweetness
The sugary, rounded side of a coffee, from caramel to ripe fruit. Green coffee carries simple sugars, and roasting caramelizes them, which Wikipedia credits for the caramel notes in some coffees.
Bitterness
A sharp, dry taste that grows as roasts get darker and as coffee is over-extracted. A little adds depth and structure; too much reads as burnt or harsh. Wikipedia's roasting article calls dark roasts bittersweet.
Aroma
What you smell from the ground coffee and the brewed cup, before and while you drink. Tasters judge it before the first sip, and it is the first thing checked on the cupping table.
Aftertaste
The flavor that stays after you swallow, also called the finish. Tasters note how long it lasts and whether it stays pleasant or turns dry and bitter, and they score it on its own line when cupping.
Balance
How well acidity, sweetness, bitterness and body fit together, with none drowning out the rest. A balanced cup is not a flat one; it may be bright or bold, as long as nothing sticks out.
Clean cup
A coffee with no off flavors from defects in growing, processing or roasting, so its own character comes through clearly. Tasters score it on the cupping table. Clean does not mean mild or light.
Tasting notes
The flavors a roaster describes on the bag, such as chocolate, caramel or berries. They describe what the coffee resembles; nothing is added. Roseline describes Oro as chocolate, caramel and toasted nut. Our packing slip carries each roaster's notes.
Cupping
The standard way professionals taste coffee: coarse grounds steep in cups, tasters break the crust and slurp from spoons to compare and score. Coava's Portland roastery runs public cuppings on weekends.
Flavor wheel
A chart of coffee flavors from broad at the center to specific at the edge. The Specialty Coffee Association's Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel was redesigned from World Coffee Research's Sensory Lexicon.
Sensory Lexicon
World Coffee Research's reference list of 110 flavor, aroma and texture attributes in coffee, each with an intensity reference so tasters can measure them the same way. Version 2.0 came out in October 2017 and fed the redesigned flavor wheel.
Sources
Definitions are written in our own words from these sources. Oregon roaster examples come from each roaster's own pages, read 2026-09-27; each roaster profile lists what we read. Buying these coffees from the Oregon roasters who roast them keeps the jobs here; here is why that matters.
- Wikipedia: Coffee roasting
- Wikipedia: Coffee production
- Wikipedia: Decaffeination
- Wikipedia: Espresso
- Wikipedia: Third-wave coffee
- Wikipedia: Fair-trade coffee
- Wikipedia: Direct trade
- Wikipedia: Shade-grown coffee
- Wikipedia: Organic coffee
- Wikipedia: Agricultural cooperative
- World Coffee Research: Arabica and Robusta varieties catalog
- World Coffee Research: Sensory Lexicon
- Coffee Quality Institute