The CoffeeGlossary Editorial Cover
The definitive coffee reference, written in plain English.
1,247 entries across brewing science, green coffee, espresso extraction, latte art, and café craft — written by credentialed Q-graders, reviewed by an eleven-person editorial board, and updated every quarter since launch.
Browse the Library
Pick a corner of coffee. We'll meet you there.
The glossary is organized into six working domains used by roasters, baristas, and home brewers. Enter by what you're curious about — every entry is cross-referenced.
- 01 Brewing Science Extraction yield, solubility, water chemistry, and the variables that decide whether a cup sings. 312 entries
- 02 Green Coffee & Processing From cherry to green bean — washed, natural, honey, carbonic maceration, defects, and grading. 238 entries
- 03 Espresso Extraction Dose, yield, ratio, pressure, puck prep — the language of nine bars and twenty-eight seconds. 196 entries
- 04 Latte Art Milk texture, free-pour fundamentals, and the dozens of patterns served behind wood and marble. 144 entries
- 05 Café Operations Service flow, workflow design, equipment maintenance, and the small business of specialty coffee. 187 entries
- 06 Sensory & Cupping The SCA flavor wheel, descriptive language, Q-Grading protocol, and building a calibrated palate. 170 entries
Extraction Yield
The percentage of a coffee's total soluble solids that end up dissolved in the cup — the single number most home brewers under-track.
Etymology. Adapted from analytical chemistry — the "yield" of a solute under specific solvent, time, and temperature conditions — into specialty coffee by Illy and Navarini in the 1990s.
Working range. The Specialty Coffee Association identifies a target extraction yield of 18 to 22 percent — values outside that band tend to read as under- or over-developed to a calibrated palate, though brew parameters vary by equipment and origin.
How to measure. Two numbers are required: the total dissolved solids (TDS) of the brewed coffee, measured with a refractometer, and the mass of the dose and beverage. The formula is straightforward: %EY = (TDS × beverage mass) ÷ (dose mass × 100).
Added in the Last 30 Days
Fresh ink, still warm.
The library grows on a rolling cadence — between December 14, 2024 and today, our editors and contributors added the following terms. The glossary is not a static wiki.
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Third Wave Dripper
A flat-bottomed pour-over device with a single large outlet — designed to reduce channeling by equalizing flow across the bed.
Read entry -
Intracellular Fermentation
Anaerobic breakdown of sugars inside the whole cherry before pulping — associated with heightened fruit-forward cup profiles.
Read entry -
Pressure Pulsing
An extraction technique that alternates between elevated and ambient pump pressure to manipulate flow rate through the puck.
Read entry -
Stocked-Out Etiquette
A small-but-real set of service conventions for what to say (and not say) when a regular's favorite single origin is sold out.
Read entry
The Editorial Board
Who writes the glossary.
Every entry is written by a credentialed specialist and reviewed by an eleven-person board. The board met first in March 2019 and reconvenes quarterly.
Meet the full board-
01
Lena Vasquez, Founder
Founded CoffeeGlossary in March 2019 after eight years roasting on the wholesale side. Oversees voice, taxonomy, and editorial calendar.
- SCA CSP Barista Level 2
- 312 entries at launch
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02
Maya Okafor, PhD
Food scientist with a doctorate in sensory analysis from UC Davis. Owns the brewing-science domain: extraction, solubility, water chemistry, refractometry.
- 4 Q-Graders on staff
- 312 brewing entries
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03
Tomás Reyes
Buys green coffee for a forty-roaster cooperative in Veracruz. Editorial lead on processing methods, defect taxonomy, and the Specialty Coffee Association green grading protocol.
- 2019 WBC finalist judge
- 238 green-coffee entries
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04
Hannah Kuusisto
Twenty-one years behind the bar, twice a Nordic Barista Cup judge. Steward of every espresso- and milk-texture-related entry — ratios, puck prep, and the geometry of a tulip.
- WBC-certified judge
- 196 espresso entries
Plus seven additional editors and reviewers across sensory analysis, café operations, and equipment. See the full board roster
If you've ever stood at a café counter, pointed at a word on a bag, and muttered is that even a thing — CoffeeGlossary has the answer, in language a human can read. It's the reference we cite when we're writing our own glossary pages.