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Glossary

Here are a few commonly used words or terms to help improve your coffee knowledge! Click on the words or phrases to reveal the meanings...

Acidity

The brightness which creates the life in a coffee. Although unrelated to the pH of the actual coffee, the acidity can be detected and analyzed by those who are good at cupping (see Cupping)

Milk

The white stuff that come from cows (and other animals but we prefer it from a cow!) Moooooooo…!!

Americano

An Americano is basically the reverse of a Long Black (see Long Black). Hot water is added to a bold double shot of espresso engulfing the crema and making it a very bold drink.

Arabica

The premium coffee species grown from 1000m above sea level. These special trees are nurtured and limited in size to attain as many nutrients from the ground to give the smoothest flavor profile in every cup.

Barking

This is a noise made by a dog when it wants something. We wouldn’t advise that you feed coffee to a dog.

Cart

This is one of our funky retail outlets we use to sell coffee, cold drinks, food and snacks from a 4m2 footprint! All water and drainage is on board so we can place these easily in hard to reach places!

Coffee berry

When the coffee tree blooms in flower, following the flower is a coffee berry which is a green berry inside which the coffee bean is growing.

Coffee cherry

Once the coffee berry ripens it becomes a coffee cherry which is red in color and ready for picking. The green coffee bean (the bit which we roast) is contained inside. The coffee cherry then goes through a process called pulping to remove the outer cherry skin to deliver the green coffee bean inside.

Coffee

Our DNA! Its what runs through our veins as a company, whatever we do, it usually is to do with coffee, whether sourcing it, roasting it, supplying it, drinking it or loving it!

Crema

This is the foam which is found atop an espresso shot, often light and golden brown in colour and appears when the coffee is fresh and perfectly extracted and should remain for a few minutes or more

Cup

This is what you pour coffee into. You can also use it for tea but we prefer coffee!

Flavor

Combining your senses of taste and smell you are able to determine flavor through the sensory impression created in your mouth! In coffee terms, it is the overall evaluation when cupping a coffee and takes into account all of the evaluation criteria whilst going through the cupping process. There have been 847 flavours detected in Coffee, that’s 1 more than in wine!!

Franchise

Do you want to own your own Coffee Planet? Well now you can by taking a franchise opportunity from Coffee Planet. We have done all the hard word of building everything you need to know to run your own Coffee Planet – a business in a box!
Contact us now to learn more!

Green coffee

These green coffee beans are what we roast to produce the wonderful dark brown roasted beans we grind up for every cup of coffee. They are grown on trees at high altitude and formed inside a hard outer bean (see Coffee Berry) to protect them until they are ripe and ready for picking.

Hooter

Your nose!

Instant coffee

This is badness in a jar (usually)! We only do fresh roasted coffee – we don’t like instant! Demand fresh beans!!

Kiosk

Generally a Coffee Planet Kiosk is an outlet which is between 200-800sq ft and serves a reduced version of the full Coffee Planet menu. Generally kiosk outlets will be grab and graze so seating will be limited.

Long black

A traditionally Australian and New Zealand style of coffee, the long black consists of a double shot of pure espresso being poured into hot water. By adding the espresso to the hot water maintains part of the crema (see Crema) on top.

Roasted coffee

Roasted coffee is our nectar resulted from green coffee berries being pulped to remove outer skin, often washed, dried and then roasted to a specific temperature for a specific time, expanding through the process to produce dark aromatic coffee beans. This is then ground and served in a variety of ways. Delicious!

Roastery

This is the manufacturing unit designed specifically to bring in green coffee, roast it in a coffee roasting machine and then pack into specific portion sizes and ship out for distribution!

Semi automatic machine

A semi automatic machine is a more traditional espresso machine involving interaction with a Barista (see Barista). The Barista uses their skill to grind and tamp the correct amount of coffee and extract the perfect espresso by allowing the exact amount of hot water through the packed ground coffee into an espresso shot glass or cup.

Tamper

This is a device used to flatten and pack the coffee into the basket filter of the semi-automatic machine (see semi automatic machine). Usually between 49mm-59mm in diameter to match the basket being used and are generally heavy to hold to give a consistent tamping pressure for the Barista (see Barista)

Aroma

One of the most important attributes of coffee evaluation and contributes to the overall flavor perception of the coffee. There are way over 800 aromatic characteristics in coffee and as time goes on and climates and coffee-growing conditions change, this number increases. The aroma is detected using your hooter (see Hooter).

Barista

The skilled person who is responsible for what goes into your cup. These well trained individuals know the exact combination of ground coffee, extracted to perfection through a well maintained machine. If you want your coffee milky then they can do this too, knowing the correct temperature to get the milk steamed and foamed according to your drink of choice.
The best baristas will have in-depth knowledge of their full tool kit including their machines, grinders and coffee origins.

Bean team

The Bean Team are the awesome group of guys and girls working with Coffee Planet delivering our awesome coffees in our retail stores to our Coffee Planet fans everyday!

Blend

This is a coffee that is made of multiple origins to deliver a distinct flavor profile.
It’s also what you do with fruit and ice to make a smoothie!

Body

The body of the coffee relates to its weight in the mouth, mainly judged when the coffee is rested on the tongue and by rubbing the tongue on the roof of the mouth. The fat content in the coffee can determine whether the body is heavy, thin or light. Medium and darker roasted coffees traditionally will have a heavier body than light coffees but will have less acidity.

Cafetiere

Also known as a French Press, this device is usually a glass jug with a piston and filter built into the lid. This allows ground coffee and hot water to brew and then the filter separates the grounds so an aromatic coffee can be poured into a cup to enjoy.

Cappuccino

One of the most popular coffees in the world. Originating from Italy at the beginning of the 20th Century, the Cappuccino is generally accepted as a perfect shot of espresso coffee and a combination of steamed and foamed milk, in that order in the cup!

Coffee Planet

That’s us!!!! The most awesome daring coffee company in the world, spreading the joy of wonderful coffee wherever we go and whatever we do!

Coffee spoon

This is a spoon. Use it to stir your coffee. It should not be used for tea!

Cupping

Hmmmm…this has a few meanings but we will stick to coffee related ones. This is the process which is internationally recognized as a method for evaluating coffee conducted b a cupper.
The coffee beans on trial are ground and placed into a cup. The cupper inhales he aroma and makes an evaluation. Hot water is added to the ground coffee and allowed to brew and form a crust. Once the crust is formed, it is broken and again the aroma is evaluated by the cupper. The crust is scooped off and disposed of and using a spoon, the cupper slurps a spoonful of coffee at a time (causing the coffee to coat all around their mouth). The cupper evaluates the qualities and characteristics of the coffee measuring different qualities according to the taste and mouthfeel.
The scores from the evaluation are totaled and compared and the cupping is complete.

Espresso

The short pure shot of coffee produced by hot water being extracted under pressure through compacted fine grounds of coffee. 

Filter coffee

This is coffee which is created by allowing hot water to brew and filter through coarsely ground coffee into a cup or tank. Also known as drip coffee or bulk brew coffee.

Grounds bin

This is the bin to collect the spent grounds once the coffee has been extracted through them.

Iced Coffee

Coffee. With ice. Add some flavored syrup to mix things up a bit!

Latte

Sumptuous steamed milk beautifully blended with bold espresso and topped with a light crown of foam.

Life

If only we knew!!

Light/medium/dark roast

Coffee can be produced with various roast profiles according to how high the temperature the beans are roasted to and for how long. It’s quite a science to perfect consistent roast profiles in coffee beans which is why we have our own expert in Rosco the Roastmaster.
Generally speaking, lighter roasted coffees allow a greater amount of flavor profiles and characteristics and the darker the roast goes on, the more of these characteristics are lost but the boldness of the coffee develops so capturing a good balance is tricky!

Macchiato

By strict definition, macchiato is an Italian word for ‘marked’ or ‘stained’ but in the coffee world, a macchiato is an espresso marked with a dollup of foamed milk

Mouthfeel

The term mouthfeel is often used when describing a coffee during a cupping or tasting of coffee which describes the coffees physical and chemical interaction in the mouth – the feel in your mouth!

Robusta

Bad bad bad coffee! This is a species of coffee originating from central and western Africa but many fo the worlds coffee producing regions now grow robusta. Requiring less maintenance and yielding a greater crop than the Arabica species, Robusta coffee grows at lower altitudes and is cheaper to produce so is often used as a ‘filler’ in coffee blends. It has a much more bitter taste than the smooth Arabica and has about twice the caffeine.
We don’t do Robusta! We don’t like Robusta!!

Slurping

Often the sound old people make when having soup! But in terms of coffee, when Cupping (see Cupping) the cupper slurps the coffee they are trying, from a spoon, purposely, so that the coffee sprays into their mouth. This effect allows the cupper to evaluate the coffee which will produce different characteristics and mouthfeel (see mouthfeel) as it hits different parts of their mouth.

Taste

One of the 5 senses!

Trash bin

A bin. For trash!

Usual suspects

This is our line up of our favourite coffees on our menu. Also the name of a great film from the mid 90’s! Let us know if you ever discover who is Keyser Soze really is!!

Want. Love. Share the Buzz

Our strap line which describes our coffee and our company. First comes the Want of it, followed by the Love followed by the uncontrollable need to Share it!

Please visit our Feedback Page and let us know of any words that you need an explanation of and we will do our best to answer it and post it up on our website!

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