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What the heck are all those different coffee words and what do they mean
Coffee is confusing. Let’s face it, for a brown tasty drink that makes you hyper, the level of technical jargon around it is out of control. It’s like if a carton of fruit juice came with a 600 page manual and a lugwrench.
So, let’s break it down. What the heck are all those different coffee words and what do they mean?
- Filter Coffee Probably the most popular type of coffee in the USA, this is coffee brewed by dripping hot water through ground coffee that’s held in a filter cone. It’s very easy to make coffee using a filter machine, but more coffee afficonados would agree that coffee filtered through a manual filter like a Chemex filter or brewed using another method is likely to taste better.
- Espresso Coffee brewed very quickly, at a very high pressure, in a special and often very, very expensive machine. This is the classic “cafe” coffee, and is probably the hardest to replicate at home – you need fresh coffee beans, a good grinder, and ideally a $400 or more machine. Coffee Pods claim to replicate this type of coffee – see the article linked for some idea whether they succeed or not!
- French Press / Cafetiere A very simple device that produces surprisingly good coffee, the cafetiere consists of a jug with a tight-fitting press-down filter. Pour in ground coffee, pour in hot but not boiling water, allow to steep for 4 minutes, press the filter down to trap the coffee grains and serve. Barristas (professional coffee makers) are very enthusiastic about cafetières – read the link to get some tips on making truly fantastic coffee.
- Latte / Cappucino A coffee made with a shot of espresso and a glass filled with steamed milk. Smooth and creamy. The latte contains more steamed milk than a cappucino, but lacks the latter’s signature layer of foam.
There are dozens of other types of coffee out there (Ristoretto, a more intense espresso, Turkish coffee, made using a boiling method, Mocha, made with chocolate), without even bringing the word “Starbucks” into it, but those definitions should get you started!
