Goodies from My Bag Lady offers the following guide to gourmet coffee for your enjoyment. Please scroll down or click on a topic below for more information.

  TERMS USED TO DESCRIBE COFFEE

• Acidity:  This term does NOT refer to acid levels present in coffee.  It describes the sharpness or snap of a coffee; similar to dryness as in a dry white wine.
• Body:  A sense of heaviness that lingers on the back of the tongue.  The same individual coffee won't have both a lot of acidity and body.  Body canbe compared to the characteristics of some red wines.
• Finish:  The aftertaste of a coffee.  Finish can be sweet and light or heavier and longer lasting, as in Espresso.
• Flavor:  A very hard qualty to describe due to personal tastes.  Coffee will take on flavor characterisitics of the soil in which it was grown.  It can hint at fruits, spices and other plants grown in the same region.  This is what makes one varietal different from another.

Coffee from the species Coffea arabica are considered to have richer flavor than Coffea robusta. C. arabica has many different varietals, each with unique characteristics. Some well-known arabica coffees include: 

Colombian — Coffee was first introduced to the country of Colombia in the early 1800s. Today Maragogype, Caturra, Typica and Bourbon cultivars are grown. When Colombian coffee is freshly roasted it has a bright acidity, is heavy in body and is intensely aromatic. Colombia accounts for about 12% of the coffee market (by value) in the world, second only to Brazil.  

Colombian Milds — Includes coffees from Colombia, Kenya, and Tanzania, all of which are washed arabicas.  Unroasted coffee beans of the Coffea arabica variety, from Brazil.

Costa Rican Tarrazu — from the San Marcos de Tarrazu valley in the highlands outside of San José.  

Ethiopian Harrar — from the region of Harar, Ethiopia. Known for its complex, fruity flavor that resembles a dry red wine.  

Ethiopian Sidamo from the Sidamo (now Oromia) region of Ethiopia as well. All three are trademarked names with the rights owned by Ethiopia.  

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe — from the area of the town of Yirgacheffe in the Gedeo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia. All three Ethiopian varieties are trademarked names with the rights owned by Ethiopia.  

Guatemala Huehuetenango — Grown at over 5000 feet in the northern region, one of the most remote growing regions in Guatemala.  

Hawaiian Kona — grown on the slopes of Hualalai in the Kona District on the Big Island of Hawaii. Coffee was first introduced to the Islands by Chief Boki, the Governor of Oahu, in 1825.  

Jamaican Blue Mountain — From the Blue Mountain region of Jamaica. Due to its popularity, it fetches a high price in the market.  

Java — from the island of Java, in Indonesia. This coffee was once so widely traded that "java" became a slang term for coffee.  

Kenyan — Known among coffee enthusiasts to have a bright, "acidic" flavor.  

Mexico - Produces hard bean coffee.  

Mocha — Yemeni coffee traded through the once major port of Mocha. Not to be confused with the preparation style (coffee with cocoa).

Santos - from Brazil's famous coffee pass through, is a low acidic light bodied brew.  

Sumatra Mandheling and Sumatra Lintong — Mandheling is named after the similarly spelt Mandailing people located in North Sumatra, Indonesia. The name is the result of a misunderstanding by the first foreign purchaser of the variety, and no coffee is actually produced in the "Mandailing region". Lintong on the other hand, is named after the Lintong district, also located in North Sumatra.  

Sulawesi Toraja Kalossi — Grown at high altitudes on the island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) in the middle of the Malay archipelago in Indonesia. Kalossi is the small town in central Sulawesi which serves as the collection point for the coffee and Toraja is the mountainous area in which the coffee is grown. Celebes exhibits a rich, full body, well-balanced acidity (slightly more than Sumatra) and is multi-dimensional in character. It has dark chocolate and ripe fruit undertones. It is an excellent coffee for darker roasting. Because of its semi-dry processing, it may roast a bit unevenly.  

Tanzania Peaberry — grown on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. "Peaberry" means that the beans come one to a cherry (coffee fruit) instead of the usual two. Peaberries are naturally occurring and account for approximately 10% of any crop. Uganda- Although it mostly produces Robusta coffee, there is a quality Arabica bean grown there known as Bugishu.  

Coffee Taster's Glossary