The coffee plant and the bean
This coffee glossary starts where coffee starts: on a shrub, as the seed of a fruit. Montana grows none of it, so every bean a Montana roaster buys arrives green from somewhere in the tropics.
Coffea
Coffea is the genus of flowering plants that coffee comes from. Two species supply nearly all the coffee people drink: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora, sold as robusta. The plants are shrubs or small trees, and the part we roast is the seed inside their fruit.
Arabica coffee
Arabica is the coffee species behind almost all specialty coffee. It is native to the highlands of southwestern Ethiopia and carries 44 chromosomes where most coffee species have 22. It grows best at altitude, in light shade, and brews a brighter, less bitter cup than robusta, with less caffeine. Full page: arabica coffee.
Robusta
Robusta is the trade name for Coffea canephora, the second big coffee species. It comes from central and western Africa, resists disease better than arabica and holds almost double the caffeine. Its cup is more bitter and woody, and most of it goes into instant coffee, though some Italian espresso blends use it for body and crema.
Coffee cherry
The coffee cherry is the fruit of the coffee plant, red or yellow when ripe. Under its skin sit sweet pulp, a sticky layer called mucilage, a papery parchment shell and a thin silverskin, and inside those, two seeds: the coffee beans. Full page: coffee cherry.
Green coffee beans
Green coffee is the raw, unroasted seed after the fruit has been removed and the bean dried. It is pale green, hard and dense, and it is what roasters buy. Ghost Town in Bozeman sells it to home roasters. Full page: green coffee beans.
Peaberry
A peaberry is a coffee cherry that grows one round seed instead of two flat-sided ones. Wikipedia puts peaberries at around 10 to 15 percent of all coffee beans. Roasters sort them out and sell them as their own lot. Full page: peaberry coffee.
Heirloom coffee
Heirloom is the label on Ethiopian coffees made from the country's many local arabica plants, which grow in forests, gardens and farms and are not sorted into single named varieties. It is a trade label, not a variety name. Full page: heirloom coffee.
Variety
A variety, or cultivar, is a distinct type of coffee plant within a species, chosen for traits such as flavor, yield or resistance to disease. Typica, Bourbon, Caturra and Gesha are arabica varieties. Roasters print the variety on the bag when they know it.
Landrace
A landrace is a local plant population that farmers have grown and selected over generations, adapted to its own place rather than bred to a formal standard. Ethiopia's native arabica plants are landraces, and they are the source of the heirloom label.
Typica
Typica is one of the two oldest arabica varieties grown outside Ethiopia. By World Coffee Research's account it went from Ethiopia to Yemen, then to India, then to Java in the 1690s, and from there on Dutch trade routes to the Americas.
Bourbon
Bourbon is the other founding arabica variety, named for the Indian Ocean island of Bourbon, now Réunion, where the French planted coffee around 1708. World Coffee Research notes that most coffees historically descend from Typica or Bourbon.
Caturra
Caturra is a compact arabica variety that came from a natural mutation of red Bourbon found in Brazil's Serra do Caparaó. Ghost Town in Bozeman has sold a Colombia Mikilillo Caturra Chiroso, and Revel in Billings a Purple Caturra from Colombia.
Gesha (Geisha)
Gesha is an arabica variety named for the village of Gesha in Ethiopia. It was planted in the 1950s as a rust resistant crop and rediscovered in the early 2000s. Ghost Town in Bozeman listed a Colombia Mist Gesha when we checked.
SL28
SL28 is a Kenyan arabica variety that Scott Laboratories selected in 1935 from a drought resistant plant from northern Tanzania. The SL on a Kenyan bag stands for Scott Laboratories.
Pacamara
Pacamara is an arabica variety bred in El Salvador in 1958 by crossing Pacas, a Bourbon mutation, with Maragogype, a variety with giant beans. It inherited large beans from the Maragogype side.
Coffee leaf rust
Coffee leaf rust is a fungal disease caused by Hemileia vastatrix. It coats the leaves in orange spots, cuts a tree's ability to feed itself and reduces the harvest. Breeders began introducing rust resistant varieties in the mid twentieth century, by World Coffee Research's account.
Shade grown coffee
Shade grown coffee is grown under a canopy of taller trees, much like a forest, instead of in open sun. The canopy supports birds and other wildlife. Florence Coffee Company in Butte says it focuses on shade grown, sustainable farms.
Altitude
Altitude, or elevation, is the height above sea level where coffee grows. Arabica is cultivated mostly between 1,200 and 1,500 meters, per Wikipedia, and some farms sit as high as 2,800 meters. Roasters print it on the bag in meters above sea level, written as masl.
Silverskin and chaff
Silverskin is the thin membrane that clings to a green coffee bean. During roasting it dries and flakes off as chaff, which roasters collect and clear from the machine after every batch.
Cascara
Cascara is the dried skin and pulp of the coffee cherry, brewed as a tea. The name is Spanish for husk. It tastes of dried fruit rather than coffee and uses part of the cherry that is otherwise thrown away.
Roast levels
Roast level describes how far a roaster takes the bean. The club's plan builder offers light, medium, dark and mix it up.
Light roast
Light roast is coffee pulled from the roaster soon after first crack, before oils reach the surface. It keeps the most acidity and the most of the flavors from where the coffee grew, with a lighter body. Full page: light roast.
Medium roast
Medium roast sits between first crack and second crack. The bean is brown and dry, the acidity is softer than a light roast and the body is fuller, with more caramel sweetness. Full page: medium roast.
Dark roast
Dark roast is taken to or past second crack. The bean turns deep brown and oily, and full bodied, bittersweet roast flavors lead the cup, with little of the origin's character left. Full page: dark roast.
Espresso roast
Espresso roast is a roaster's name for a coffee roasted with espresso in mind. It is a label, not a fixed roast degree: any bean or roast level makes espresso, and Montana roasters sell espresso blends from medium to dark. Full page: espresso roast.
First crack
First crack is the popping sound beans make as water inside turns to steam and splits them open. Wikipedia places it at about 196°C (385°F). It marks the start of a very light roast.
Second crack
Second crack is a quieter, faster crackle that starts at about 224°C (435°F), per Wikipedia, as the bean's structure turns brittle. Roasts taken into it are dark roasts, and oils start to show on the surface.
Cinnamon roast
Cinnamon roast is an old name for the lightest roast, stopped right at first crack, at about 196°C (385°F) on Wikipedia's chart. The beans come out the color of cinnamon, dry on the surface, and few roasters sell coffee this light.
City roast
City roast is a traditional name for a medium roast, taken through first crack and stopped well before second. Wikipedia's chart puts it at about 219°C (426°F). City plus goes a little further.
Full city roast
Full city is the darkest of the medium roasts, taken up to the edge of second crack. Full city plus lets second crack start and counts as dark. The names come from an older American roasting vocabulary that some roasters still print.
Vienna roast
Vienna roast is a dark roast taken a short way into second crack, at about 230°C (446°F) on Wikipedia's chart. The bean shows a little oil, and the cup turns bittersweet, with roast flavors ahead of the origin's.
French roast
French roast is a very dark roast, well into second crack, with oily black-brown beans and a smoky, bitter cup. Rock Creek in Billings sells Mike's French Roast, and Firetower in Helena a Mexican French Dark Roast.
Italian roast
Italian roast is darker still, at about 245°C (473°F) on Wikipedia's chart, among the darkest roasts sold. The beans are nearly black and shiny with oil, and the cup tastes of the roast far more than of the place the coffee grew.
Roast date
The roast date is the day a coffee was roasted, printed on many specialty bags. It tells you how fresh the bag is, and freshness is why the club's first promise is "Roasted and shipped within 3 days."
Maillard reaction
The Maillard reaction is the browning reaction between amino acids and sugars that also browns toast and seared meat. In the roaster it builds many of coffee's savory, nutty and chocolate flavors, alongside caramelization of the bean's sugars.
Styles, plans and what is in the bag
Single origin
Single origin coffee comes from one known place: one country, one region, one farm or one cooperative. It shows what that place tastes like. The club's style setting includes single origin, and our single origin subscription page covers it.
Blend
A blend mixes coffees from two or more origins to build a flavor no single coffee gives, and to keep that flavor steady through the year. Montana roasters name theirs after the state: Big Sky Blend, Grizzly Blend, Miner's Blend.
Decaf
Decaf is coffee with most of its caffeine removed while the beans are still green. United States rules require at least 97 percent of the caffeine to be removed. See our decaf subscription.
Swiss Water Process
Swiss Water Process decaffeinates green coffee with water alone, using a caffeine-free green coffee extract and carbon filters to draw caffeine out. It was developed in Switzerland in 1933 and commercialized in 1980. Mazevo in Billings sells a decaf named Mellow Creek Swiss Decaf; its page does not name the method (checked 2026-09-27).
Mountain Water Process
Mountain Water Process is a water based decaf method, a trade name you will see on some decaf bags alongside Swiss Water. Rockford in Bozeman lists a Brazil decaf made this way. Ask the roaster if you want the details of the process.
Sugarcane decaf
Sugarcane decaf removes caffeine with ethyl acetate made from fermented sugarcane. The green beans are steamed and rinsed in it. RamsHead in the Shields Valley sells a Colombian sugarcane decaf.
CO2 decaf
CO2 decaf uses carbon dioxide under very high pressure, mixed with water, to pull caffeine from steamed green beans. Wikipedia describes the mixture circulating through a pressure vessel at 300 atmospheres and 65°C (149°F), repeated until the caffeine target is met.
Half caff
Half caff is a blend of regular and decaf coffee, for about half the caffeine in the cup. Treeline in Bozeman sells one named Dawn to Dusk, and Hunter Bay a Half-Calf blend.
Microlot
A microlot is a small batch of coffee kept separate from one farm, one part of a farm or one picking day, so its flavor is not mixed away. Red Bird in Bozeman sells Brazilian peaberry microlots.
Roaster's choice
Roaster's choice is a subscription where the roaster picks the coffee each time. Treeline, Big Creek and Drum all run one. Our club works the other way round: a different Montana roaster each box.
Whole bean
Whole bean coffee is sold roasted but not ground, so you grind it at home just before brewing. Ground coffee loses aroma faster once the bean is opened up. The club ships whole bean or ground, your choice, on every bag.
Ground coffee
Ground coffee is roasted coffee already milled to a grind size. Fine grinds suit espresso, medium suits drip and pour over, coarse suits French press and cold brew. The club grinds for the brewer you choose.
Instant coffee
Instant coffee is brewed coffee dried into powder or crystals, by freeze drying or spray drying, and made again by adding water. Treeline and Black Coffee in Missoula both sell instant versions of their coffee.
Organic coffee
Organic coffee is grown and handled to a certified organic standard, without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. Black Coffee in Missoula sources only certified organic coffee, and Hunter Bay is a certified organic roaster.
Processing: from cherry to green bean
Washed process
Washed coffee has its skin and pulp removed right after picking, then sits in water to ferment off the sticky mucilage before drying. Fermenting under water is said to bring out acidity and aroma. Wikipedia calls it the most common of the three main methods.
Natural process
Natural, or dry, process dries the whole cherry with the seed still inside, then hulls it off. It is the oldest method and needs dry weather at harvest. Ghost Town, Rockford and RamsHead all listed natural Ethiopian coffees when we checked.
Honey process
Honey process strips the skin but leaves some or all of the sticky mucilage on the bean while it dries. The cup lands between washed and natural: sweet, with mild acidity. Drum in Missoula has sold a Costa Rica Santa Elena in both honey and washed form.
Wet hulling
Wet hulling, or giling basah, is the Indonesian method of removing the parchment while the bean is still wet, then finishing the drying. It suits a rainy climate and gives Sumatra coffee its low acidity, heavy body and earthy flavors.
Anaerobic fermentation
Anaerobic fermentation ferments coffee cherries or pulped beans in sealed tanks or bags with little oxygen. Wikipedia describes the cup as wild red fruit with sharp acidity. RamsHead has sold anaerobic coffees from Ethiopia, Colombia and Rwanda.
Parchment
Parchment is the papery shell around each coffee seed inside the cherry, just under the sticky mucilage. Washed coffee dries in its parchment, which protects the bean, and a dry mill hulls it off before the green coffee is exported.
Mucilage
Mucilage is the sticky, sugary layer between the cherry's pulp and the parchment. How much of it stays on during drying is the difference between washed, honey and natural coffee.
Kopi luwak
Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is made from coffee cherries eaten and passed by the Asian palm civet, then collected and cleaned. It sells at very high prices, and the conditions civets are kept in draw criticism.
Origins on Montana roasters' bags
Ethiopia
Ethiopia is the birthplace of arabica, where it still grows wild in the southwestern forests. Its coffees come from three systems: wild forest trees, garden trees planted around homes, and plantations.
Yirgacheffe
Yirgacheffe is a coffee district in Ethiopia's Gedeo Zone and one of the country's best known coffee names. Ghost Town in Bozeman listed a Yirgacheffe Edido, and RamsHead a Yirgacheffe Biloya, when we checked.
Guji
Guji is a southern Ethiopian coffee zone that has become a name of its own on specialty bags. Its natural coffees show up across Montana: Ghost Town, Rockford, Drum, Revel and RamsHead all listed a Guji when we checked.
Sidamo
Sidamo, or Sidama, is a southern Ethiopian coffee region and one of the three Ethiopian coffee names whose trademark rights Ethiopia owns, with Harar and Yirgacheffe. Hunter Bay in Lolo sells an Ethiopia Sidamo on its coffee list.
Harar
Harar is an eastern Ethiopian region whose coffee Wikipedia describes as complex and fruity, like a dry red wine. It is one of Ethiopia's trademarked coffee names, with Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, so the name on a bag should mean coffee from there.
Kenya
Kenya grows arabica, much of it from varieties selected by Scott Laboratories, such as SL28. Kenyan lots are graded by bean size, with AA the largest, as in the Kenya Murang'a AA that RamsHead has sold.
Colombia
Colombia grows arabica across its Andean regions, and Colombian is one of the origin names, like Java and Kona, that coffee has long been sold under. Colombian coffees turn up across Montana, from Ghost Town's Caramanta to Rock Creek's Santa Maria and Philipsburg's JackLeg.
Brazil
Brazil grew more coffee than any other country in 2023, by Wikipedia's figures, and it was already the largest producer in the world by 1852. Red Bird in Bozeman sells Brazilian peaberry from Bahia, Rock Creek a Brazil Porta Rossa, and Rockford a Brazil decaf.
Costa Rica and Tarrazu
Costa Rica grows arabica, and Tarrazu is one of its coffee regions. Ghost Town and Florence both sell a Costa Rica Tarrazu, and Drum and Rock Creek a Santa Elena.
Guatemala and Huehuetenango
Guatemala grows arabica in its highlands, and Huehuetenango is a coffee region in the northwest of the country, near the Mexican border. Big Creek in Victor sells an organic Guatemala Huehuetenango, and Hunter Bay in Lolo sells one too.
Sumatra
Sumatra is the Indonesian island behind earthy, full bodied, low acid coffees, most of them wet hulled. Rock Creek in Billings sells a Sumatra Mandheling Grade 1. Full page: Sumatra coffee.
Mandheling
Mandheling is a trade name for Sumatran arabica, taken from the Mandailing people of North Sumatra. Lintong, named for a district southwest of Lake Toba, and Gayo, from the hills of Aceh, are other Sumatran coffee names you will see on bags.
Kona
Kona coffee grows on the slopes of Hualalai and Mauna Loa on Hawaii's Big Island. Only coffee from the Kona districts may use the name, and it is among the most expensive coffees sold.
Rwanda
Rwanda grows arabica, much of it sold through cooperatives, and it shows up on Montana roasters' lists. Drum in Missoula and Ghost Town in Bozeman have both sold coffee from the Sholi cooperative, which Drum notes has women producers.
Brewing
French press
A French press steeps coarse ground coffee in hot water for a few minutes, then presses a mesh filter down to hold back the grounds. The cup is full bodied, with some fine sediment, and the press travels well enough to be a camping favorite.
Pour over
Pour over is drip coffee made by hand: you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter cone and let it drain into a cup or carafe. You control the pour, so you control the brew.
Drip coffee
Drip coffee is made by letting hot water seep through ground coffee and a filter. Home coffee machines brew this way, and it is the most common setting for ground coffee.
AeroPress
The AeroPress is a hand coffee maker invented by Alan Adler. Coffee steeps in a cylinder with hot water, then you press a plunger with an airtight seal to push it through a paper or mesh filter in the cap. It makes one cup at a time.
Moka pot
A moka pot is a stovetop brewer that pushes water up through ground coffee with steam pressure, into a top chamber. It makes a strong, concentrated cup. Bialetti popularized it in Italy from 1933.
Chemex
The Chemex is an hourglass shaped glass pour over brewer invented by Peter Schlumbohm in 1941. It uses its own folded paper filters, sits in the neck of the glass, and brews enough for several cups at once. It is a pour over, so medium ground coffee suits it.
Siphon
A siphon, or vacuum brewer, uses two glass chambers. Vapor pressure pushes water up into the coffee, and when the heat comes off, the brewed coffee draws back down through a filter.
Turkish coffee
Turkish coffee is made by simmering very finely ground coffee with water, and sugar if wanted, in a small pot called a cezve. It is served unfiltered, grounds settling in the cup.
Cold brew
Cold brew steeps coarse ground coffee in cool water for 12 to 24 hours, then strains it, instead of brewing hot and chilling. It is different from iced coffee, which is hot brewed coffee poured over ice. Florence supplies cold brew coffee to its wholesale accounts.
Espresso
Espresso is a small, strong coffee made by forcing hot water under high pressure through a tamped bed of fine ground coffee. The Italian standard calls for about 9 bar of pressure. It is a brewing method, and any bean or roast will make one. See our espresso subscription.
Grind size
Grind size is how fine or coarse the coffee is milled. Finer grinds extract faster, so each brewer has its own match, from powdery for Turkish coffee to coarse for cold brew.
Burr grinder
A burr grinder crushes beans between two abrasive surfaces set a chosen distance apart, so the grounds come out an even size. Set the burrs far apart for coarse coffee, close together for fine. Blade grinders chop unevenly by comparison, which makes extraction uneven.
Bloom
The bloom is the bubbling rise of fresh grounds when hot water first hits them, as trapped carbon dioxide escapes. Pour over brewers wet the coffee and wait for it before pouring the rest.
Brew ratio
Brew ratio is the weight of coffee against the weight of water, written as 1 part coffee to so many parts water. Weighing both on a kitchen scale, instead of scooping, is the simplest way to make the same good cup twice.
Extraction
Extraction is how much of the coffee's soluble material the water dissolves. Too little tastes sour and thin; too much tastes bitter and dry. Grind, time and temperature control it.
Tamping
Tamping presses ground coffee flat and firm in the espresso basket, using a tool called a tamper, so hot water flows through it evenly. An uneven bed lets water find a channel, and the shot comes out thin on one side and bitter on the other.
Cafe drinks
Crema
Crema is the layer of fine golden foam on top of an espresso. It forms because water under high pressure dissolves carbon dioxide from the coffee, which comes out as tiny bubbles in the cup.
Ristretto
A ristretto is a short espresso: the same dose of ground coffee pulled with about half the water. Wikipedia puts it at about 20 ml from a double basket. The shot is thicker and more concentrated, and its opposite is the lungo.
Lungo
A lungo is a long espresso pulled with about twice the usual water. It is larger than a standard shot, and different from an americano, where water is added after.
Doppio
A doppio is a double espresso, made with about 14 grams of ground coffee, roughly twice the dose of a single shot, and pulled into a small cup. Many cafes pull doubles as their standard shot and build their milk drinks on them.
Americano
An americano is espresso topped with hot water, at about one part espresso to three or four parts water by Wikipedia's account. It gives a drink the size of a brewed coffee with espresso's flavor, and its strength depends on how many shots go in.
Latte
A latte, or caffe latte, is an Italian drink of espresso with a large amount of steamed milk and a thin layer of foam, served in a tall cup or glass. It is the mildest and milkiest of the classic espresso drinks.
Cappuccino
A cappuccino is espresso with steamed milk and a thicker layer of milk foam than a latte, served in a smaller cup. The foam gives it a lighter, airier texture, and the coffee comes through more than in a latte.
Flat white
A flat white is espresso with steamed milk and only a thin, velvety layer of microfoam. It has more coffee to milk than a latte. Cafes in Australia and New Zealand both claim it.
Cortado
A cortado is a Spanish drink of espresso cut with about the same amount of warm steamed milk. The milk is steamed but not frothed into foam. The name comes from cortar, to cut, because the milk cuts the espresso's acidity.
Macchiato
A macchiato is espresso marked with a small amount of milk, usually foamed, served in a small cup. Macchiato means stained or spotted in Italian. The milk softens the shot without turning it into a milk drink.
Mocha
A mocha, or caffe mocha, is a latte with chocolate, served hot. The name comes from the port of Mokha in Yemen, a center of the early coffee trade, and the same port gave its name to the moka pot.
Affogato
An affogato is a scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream with a shot of hot espresso poured over it. Mazevo's cafes in Billings list one on their espresso menus.
Cafe au lait
Cafe au lait is brewed coffee with hot milk added, not espresso with steamed milk. It is the French everyday version of coffee with milk, and any drip or French press coffee makes a good one.
White coffee
White coffee has two meanings. It is coffee with cold milk added, and it is also a name for beans roasted very lightly and briefly, which brew a pale, nutty drink. Florence Coffee Company sells White Coffee at its shops.
Trade terms
Specialty coffee
Specialty coffee is coffee that scores 80 points or more out of 100 on the Specialty Coffee Association's cupping scale, with few defects in the green beans. Erna Knutsen first used the term in 1974.
Q grader
A Q grader is a coffee taster licensed through the Coffee Quality Institute to score coffee to the specialty standard. Q graders cup coffee to a set protocol, and their scores decide whether a lot counts as specialty grade.
Cupping
Cupping is the standard way professionals taste coffee: coarse grounds steeped in a bowl, the crust broken and smelled, the coffee slurped from a spoon to judge body, sweetness, acidity, flavor and aftertaste.
Direct trade
Direct trade means a roaster buys straight from farms or cooperatives it knows. There is no single standard or certification. Hunter Bay in Lolo says it buys direct trade and certified organic coffees.
Fair trade
Fair trade coffee is certified by a fair trade organization as produced to its standards, including minimum prices for farmers and a ban on child and forced labor. Red Bird in Bozeman says it pays at least fair trade prices.
Third wave
Third wave is a United States term for coffee treated as a craft product: single origin farms, lighter roasts and brewing that shows distinct flavors. The term dates from 1999, though the approach began in the 1970s.
Importer
A green coffee importer buys coffee at origin, ships it and holds it in warehouses, then sells it to roasters. Importers let a small roaster buy a few bags of a farm's coffee instead of a whole shipping container.
Wholesale
Wholesale coffee is sold by a roaster to cafes, restaurants, offices and grocers to serve or resell. Ghost Town, Morning Light and Montana Coffee Traders all run wholesale programs. Ghost Town says wholesale has always been the core of its business.
Private label
Private label coffee is roasted by one company and sold under another business's name, on that business's bag. Cafes, shops and fundraisers use it to sell coffee with their own brand. Revel in Billings makes private label and custom house blends.
Roast to order
Roast to order means the roaster roasts your coffee after you order it, not ahead for a shelf. Club bags are roasted to order by the Montana roaster that ships them.
Tasting words
Acidity
Acidity is the bright, lively, mouth watering quality in coffee, like the snap of an apple or citrus. It is a good thing in coffee, strongest in light roasts and high grown beans.
Body
Body is how heavy the coffee feels in the mouth, from light and tea-like to thick and syrupy. Darker roasts, French press brewing and wet hulled Sumatra coffees all add body, while light roasts give a lighter cup.
Sweetness
Sweetness in coffee comes from sugars in the ripe bean and from the caramelization of those sugars during roasting. Ripe cherries, careful processing and a roast that does not burn the sugars off give more of it in the cup.
Bitterness
Bitterness is the sharp, dry taste that grows with darker roasts, robusta and over extraction. A little of it gives coffee structure; too much hides everything else. A coarser grind or a shorter brew cuts bitterness that comes from over extraction.
Aroma
Aroma is what you smell from the grounds and the cup. Much of what people call flavor is aroma, which is why cuppers sniff the dry grounds, then the wet crust, before they sip. Fresh roasted, fresh ground coffee has the most of it.
Finish
Finish, or aftertaste, is the flavor that stays after you swallow. Cuppers score it alongside body, sweetness, acidity and flavor. A long, sweet finish is a good sign; a short, dry or ashy one points to a stale or burnt roast.
Tasting notes
Tasting notes are the flavors a roaster describes on the bag, such as chocolate, cherry or caramel. They are comparisons, not added flavorings. The club's packing slip carries each roaster's notes.
Flavor wheel
The Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel is a chart of coffee flavors from general to specific, published by the Specialty Coffee Association with World Coffee Research. It is built on World Coffee Research's Sensory Lexicon.
Flavored coffee
Flavored coffee has added flavorings, such as vanilla or hazelnut, applied to the beans after roasting. Montana Coffee Traders sells flavored coffees. Philipsburg Coffee Roasters takes the other side and says it adds no flavorings to its seven roasts.
Sources and how this glossary is written
Every definition is written in our own words from the sources below, read on September 27, 2026. Montana roaster examples come from each roaster's own site, read the same day; coffee lists change, so a coffee named here may no longer be for sale. Find each roaster on our Montana roasters list, and read why buying from them matters.
- Wikipedia: Coffee, Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora
- Wikipedia: Coffee bean and Green coffee
- Wikipedia: Coffee roasting and Maillard reaction
- Wikipedia: Coffee processing and Decaffeination
- Wikipedia: List of coffee varieties, Coffee production in Ethiopia and Coffee production in Indonesia
- Wikipedia: Espresso and List of coffee drinks
- Wikipedia: Specialty coffee, Coffee cupping, Direct trade, Fair-trade coffee and Third-wave coffee
- World Coffee Research: Typica and Sensory Lexicon
- Specialty Coffee Association and Coffee Quality Institute