Our coffee glossary explains some key coffee terms for budding baristas.

Affogato
A dreamy scoop of ice cream ‘drowned’ in a shot of espresso. Check this affogato recipe out btw – it’s a good ‘un!

Americano
A shot or two of espresso diluted with hot water, and served with or without milk. Rumour has it Americanos get their name from WW2, when American GIs in Italy would dilute their espressos with hot water.

Barista
All round coffee expert who keeps the machine working, pulls perfect espressos and creates beautiful latte art.  Find out more about our barista training.

Cappuccino
1 part espresso, 1 part steamed milk and 1 part foam (8oz). We wrote more about cappuccinos here!

Crema
The signature 2-5mm thick caramel-coloured emulsion that sits on top of an espresso.

Cupping
One of our favourite parts of the job – a tasting method using coarsely ground coffee, steeped with hot water in shallow bowls, and slurped from a flat spoon to pull in oxygen and draw out the flavour of the coffee.

Espresso
Espresso is made by forcing hot water at the correct pressure through the correct amount of coffee grounds. Been on one of our barista courses? You’ll know the correct numbers by heart!

Extraction
Whenever you’re brewing any type of coffee, once the water hits the coffee, it starts to extract the flavour.  You might have heard people describe coffee as either over- or under-extracted. Under-extracted coffees taste sharp and over-extracted coffees taste bitter.

Flat White
A double shot ristretto with steamed latte milk. Invented in either New Zealand or Australia, depending on your source! (6oz)

Green Coffee
Unroasted coffee beans. They have a deep, grassy smell and are as hard as a nut.

Latte
A single shot espresso with steamed milk. (8oz)

Latte Art
The pattern made by pouring steamed milk onto the surface of an espresso-based drink. Some of the most popular patterns include rosettas, hearts, swans and tulips.

Macchiato
An espresso topped with microfoam. (3-4oz)

Mocha
Espresso combined with cocoa. Chocolate and coffee, what’s not to love?!

Portafilter
The handle and filter basket that contains the coffee on an espresso machine.

Puck
Spent coffee from a portafilter – so called because it looks like a hockey puck!

Red Eye
You’ll never sleep again

Ristretto
A short espresso made with the same amount of coffee, but half the amount of water for when you really need a kick start!

Single Origin
Coffee from a particular area – ours are ethically sourced from countries including Honduras, Brazil, Ethiopia and Colombia.