Coffee Glossary · Coffee Basics
Green Coffee
Coffee in its internationally traded form: the dried, milled seed of the coffee cherry before roasting, olive-green to bluish in color. Green coffee is shipped in 60 kg bags (the trade's standard unit), stores for a year or more when kept at 10–12% moisture in stable conditions, and only develops familiar coffee flavor when roasted. Exporters like Volcana Coffee sell green; roasters transform it. Quality is assessed on the green (defects, moisture, screen size) and in the cup after sample roasting.
Related terms
Parchment (Pergamino)
The papery protective husk around each coffee seed, exposed after pulping and retained through drying in…
Moisture Content
The percentage of water in green coffee — the most fundamental export specification. The safe band is 10–12%:…
Defects (Green Coffee)
Physical faults in green coffee counted under grading systems like the SCA's: category 1 (primary) defects —…
Arabica (Coffea arabica)
The species behind roughly 60% of world coffee and nearly all specialty-grade lots. Arabica evolved in…
Coffee Cherry
The fruit of the coffee tree — a small drupe that ripens from green through yellow to deep red (or…
Peaberry
A natural mutation in which a cherry develops one round seed instead of the usual two flat-faced beans —…
Reading up before buying? Volcana Coffee exports SGS-inspected specialty Arabica and Fine Robusta from the Bolaven Plateau, Laos — and we're happy to walk new importers through every term on a real offer sheet.
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