Coffee-speak
As I mentioned in last week’s blog a lot of people get confused by the different names given to coffees. The coffee vocabulary has developed as a result of things such as blending, growing, or trading in coffee beans. There are a number of originating sources of coffee names:
European Names
This name-source is the one which most commonly confuses customers buying coffee. Common sense would say that names such as French, Italian, Viennese, and Continental would indicate that the coffee comes from those places. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where reality and common sense diverge - it actually refers to the way the beans have been roasted.
For example, Italian roast usually means that the coffee has been roasted to a nice dark and oily colour, which is also commonly called a “Continental” coffee. A French roast, however, is a slightly lighter full roast. In most cases the beans in these types of roast tend to be blends as they make for a better darker roast.
Non-European Names
There are two reasons for giving a coffee a non-European name; either where the coffee was grown or where it was traded
Origin Names: This type of coffee gets its name, not from the roast, but from where the coffee plants were grown. These may go by such manes as Java, Sumatra, Mexican, Costa Rica, Brazil and Kenya. Sometimes these have an indication of the grade or size of coffee bean attached to their name such as Kenya AA, Kenya Peaberry or Guatemala Elephant.
If the coffee beans are from a single origin and are roasted in a specific way, the name given can be hybrid, for example, Italian roast Java. This can cause some serious confusion with customers!!!
Estate Names: For those of you who also like wines, this is like the difference between buying a wine because of the region and buying a particular bottle with a particular label. This level of naming is becoming more common in coffee labelling as coffee drinkers become more sophisticated and want more information about what they are drinking. The names of the coffee beans come from the Estate that it was grown in. This coffee has been kept separate from other coffee at trading and sold to the coffee merchant. This is a particular marketing tool of the Blue Mountain Jamaica estates such as Wallensford,
Market Names: The final source of non-European place names for coffee is the area where they were traded. These include names such as Santos (Brazil) and Oaxaca (Mexico).
Blend Names: Sometimes it is better to blend two or more coffee types to get the specific flavour the roaster is seeking as the single origin beans on their own would not be as pleasant for the drinker. Another reason is to maintain a supply by the coffee roaster. For example the roaster my use a Brazilian coffee bean as part of the blend, but if they should be unable to get Brazilian coffee from one supplier then any other type of Brazilian bean from another will do. Blend names can vary widely and be very confusing as some coffee sellers will use a house name for a blend. Most blends however can be worked out from their name combinations such as Santos & Java, or Mocha Java.
Band Name: This is another area that can cause the coffee retailer some minor headaches. It’s a bit like cola drinks. A retailer who sells Pepsi © will not sell Coke ©. The same thing goes for a specialist coffee retailer. A name such as Illy ©comes with is own logo and silver package, giving the customer a feeling of sophistication. Independent roasters; however will not be selling it. Not a week goes by, though without someone walking into my store and asking for a brand-name coffee.
Ambiguous Names: This final group of coffees are named for rather more obscure reasons. They are also, however, often requested by customers. Viennese coffee in Europe is coffee blended with figs but in the US it can mean a darker-than-normal roast. On the other hand, Turkish coffee is neither a type of roast nor is it from Turkey. The name comes from the way the coffee is ground and made. Turkish coffee is ground to a very fine powder (almost dust) then sweetened with lots of sugar then boiled and boiled and boiled some more before being served with the sediment a small cup.
Another example of ambiguous naming is Mocha. Firstly there is the European understanding of mocha which is a blend of coffee and chocolate. Mocha beans, however are purely coffee.
To truly be a Mocha coffee the coffee beans should be grown in Yemen near the Saudi Arabian border (the port of Mocha). However, a large proportion of the Mocha coffee available to buy is really Ethiopian-grown coffee which is being called “Mocha” although it is clearly not from that area. It is usually cheaper than the true Mocha.
So how good have you become at coffee-speak? Lets imagine you walk into a fine coffee establishment; on the shelves you spot Kenya AA. You now know that the first name tells you it’s from Kenya but the ‘AA’ must be the grading, as you doubt that there’s a place called ‘AA’. Next you see Guatemala Atitlan, and you are correct to think that it’s a coffee from Guatemala but you’re certain that there’s no such grade as Atitlan, so this must be a market name. Two points to you so far!
Now you look around and “After Dinner” and you realise that this must be a house blend; you’ll need to ask the seller what combination of beans it is. Lastly, you spot French coffee but knowing coffee isn’t grown in France; this must be a roast. Four full points to you as you have passed The Coffee Blokes ‘Spot the coffee course 101’. Not so hard when you know the language.
“American is the language in which people say what they mean as Italian is the language in which they say what they feel. English is the language in which what a character means or feels has to be deduced from what he or she says, which may be quite the opposite.”
John Mortimer in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, 26 March 1989.
European Names
This name-source is the one which most commonly confuses customers buying coffee. Common sense would say that names such as French, Italian, Viennese, and Continental would indicate that the coffee comes from those places. Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where reality and common sense diverge - it actually refers to the way the beans have been roasted.
For example, Italian roast usually means that the coffee has been roasted to a nice dark and oily colour, which is also commonly called a “Continental” coffee. A French roast, however, is a slightly lighter full roast. In most cases the beans in these types of roast tend to be blends as they make for a better darker roast.
Non-European Names
There are two reasons for giving a coffee a non-European name; either where the coffee was grown or where it was traded
Origin Names: This type of coffee gets its name, not from the roast, but from where the coffee plants were grown. These may go by such manes as Java, Sumatra, Mexican, Costa Rica, Brazil and Kenya. Sometimes these have an indication of the grade or size of coffee bean attached to their name such as Kenya AA, Kenya Peaberry or Guatemala Elephant.
If the coffee beans are from a single origin and are roasted in a specific way, the name given can be hybrid, for example, Italian roast Java. This can cause some serious confusion with customers!!!
Estate Names: For those of you who also like wines, this is like the difference between buying a wine because of the region and buying a particular bottle with a particular label. This level of naming is becoming more common in coffee labelling as coffee drinkers become more sophisticated and want more information about what they are drinking. The names of the coffee beans come from the Estate that it was grown in. This coffee has been kept separate from other coffee at trading and sold to the coffee merchant. This is a particular marketing tool of the Blue Mountain Jamaica estates such as Wallensford,
Market Names: The final source of non-European place names for coffee is the area where they were traded. These include names such as Santos (Brazil) and Oaxaca (Mexico).
Blend Names: Sometimes it is better to blend two or more coffee types to get the specific flavour the roaster is seeking as the single origin beans on their own would not be as pleasant for the drinker. Another reason is to maintain a supply by the coffee roaster. For example the roaster my use a Brazilian coffee bean as part of the blend, but if they should be unable to get Brazilian coffee from one supplier then any other type of Brazilian bean from another will do. Blend names can vary widely and be very confusing as some coffee sellers will use a house name for a blend. Most blends however can be worked out from their name combinations such as Santos & Java, or Mocha Java.
Band Name: This is another area that can cause the coffee retailer some minor headaches. It’s a bit like cola drinks. A retailer who sells Pepsi © will not sell Coke ©. The same thing goes for a specialist coffee retailer. A name such as Illy ©comes with is own logo and silver package, giving the customer a feeling of sophistication. Independent roasters; however will not be selling it. Not a week goes by, though without someone walking into my store and asking for a brand-name coffee.
Ambiguous Names: This final group of coffees are named for rather more obscure reasons. They are also, however, often requested by customers. Viennese coffee in Europe is coffee blended with figs but in the US it can mean a darker-than-normal roast. On the other hand, Turkish coffee is neither a type of roast nor is it from Turkey. The name comes from the way the coffee is ground and made. Turkish coffee is ground to a very fine powder (almost dust) then sweetened with lots of sugar then boiled and boiled and boiled some more before being served with the sediment a small cup.
Another example of ambiguous naming is Mocha. Firstly there is the European understanding of mocha which is a blend of coffee and chocolate. Mocha beans, however are purely coffee.
To truly be a Mocha coffee the coffee beans should be grown in Yemen near the Saudi Arabian border (the port of Mocha). However, a large proportion of the Mocha coffee available to buy is really Ethiopian-grown coffee which is being called “Mocha” although it is clearly not from that area. It is usually cheaper than the true Mocha.
So how good have you become at coffee-speak? Lets imagine you walk into a fine coffee establishment; on the shelves you spot Kenya AA. You now know that the first name tells you it’s from Kenya but the ‘AA’ must be the grading, as you doubt that there’s a place called ‘AA’. Next you see Guatemala Atitlan, and you are correct to think that it’s a coffee from Guatemala but you’re certain that there’s no such grade as Atitlan, so this must be a market name. Two points to you so far!
Now you look around and “After Dinner” and you realise that this must be a house blend; you’ll need to ask the seller what combination of beans it is. Lastly, you spot French coffee but knowing coffee isn’t grown in France; this must be a roast. Four full points to you as you have passed The Coffee Blokes ‘Spot the coffee course 101’. Not so hard when you know the language.
“American is the language in which people say what they mean as Italian is the language in which they say what they feel. English is the language in which what a character means or feels has to be deduced from what he or she says, which may be quite the opposite.”
John Mortimer in the ‘Mail on Sunday’, 26 March 1989.
posted by The Coffee Bloke | 10:21 pm
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