Not familiar with a term used in one of our articles or reviews? Click any letter below to view a list of coffee terms and definitions beginning with that letter.
Latte, Caffè Latte. A serving of espresso combined with about three times as much hot milk topped with froth.
La Minita, La Minita Farm. Well-publicized estate in the Tarrazu district of Costa Rica that produces an excellent, meticulously prepared coffee.
Lavado Fino. Best grade of Venezuela coffee.
Light Espresso Roast, Light French Roast, Vienna Roast, City Roast, Full-City Roast, High Roast. Terms for coffee brought to degrees of roast somewhat darker than the traditional American norm, but lighter than the classic dark roast variously called espresso, French, or Italian. In the cup, full-city and associated roast styles are less acidy and smoother than the traditional American “medium” roast, but may display fewer of the distinctive taste characteristics of the original coffee. Among many newer American specialty roasters, roast styles once called full-city, Viennese, etc. may constitute the typical, “regular” roast of coffee.
Light Roast, Cinnamon Roast, New England Roast. Coffee brought to a degree of roast of coffee lighter than the traditional American norm, and grainlike in taste, with a sharp, almost sour acidity. This roast style is not a factor in specialty coffee.
Limu. Market name for a respected fragrant, floral- and fruit-toned wet-processed coffee from south-central Ethiopia.
Lintong, Mandheling Lintong. Market name for the most admired coffee of Sumatra, Indonesia. From the Lake Toba area toward the northern end of the island.
Luwak, Kopi Luwak. Coffee from Sumatra, Indonesia, distinguished not by origin, but by the uniquely intimate way it is processed. A mammal called a luwak, or civet, eats ripe coffee cherries, digests the fruit, and excretes the seeds, after which the seeds or beans are gathered from its dry droppings. Kopi luwak is one of the most expensive coffees in the world owing to obvious limitations on its production. Authorities differ on how much of the kopi luwak that arrives at coffee dealers is authentic and how much is ordinary coffee that has been “treated” in luwak manure, but samples certainly look authentic, smell authentic, and are pleasantly earthy, sweet and full in the cup.
Adapted from Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing & Enjoying; Espresso: Ultimate Coffee; and Home Coffee Roasting: Romance & Revival. St. Martin's Press.
Copyright © 1996, 2001 by Kenneth Davids. All Rights Reserved.
