Point
A coffee
with good positive characteristics of flavour, body and acidity.
Papery
Taste that
coffee packed in paper bags or prepared in bad quality filter paper may
acquire. In instant coffee can be the result of certain processing
operations.
Parchment Coffee, In
Parchment, En Pergamino
Describes wet-processed
coffee shipped with the dried parchment skin still adhering to the bean.
The parchment is removed prior to roasting, a step called milling.
Parchment, Pergamino
A
final thin, crumbly skin covering wet-processed coffee beans after the
coffee berries have been skinned, the pulp removed, and the beans dried.
Pare, Mbeya
Market
names for coffee from the south of Tanzania.
Patio Drying
Drying
coffee directly after picking (in the dry-processed method) or after
fruit removal (in the wet-processed method) by exposing it to the heat
of the sun by spreading and raking it in thin layers on open patios. A
more traditional alternative to machine drying.
Peaberry, Caracol
A
small, round bean formed when only one seed, rather than the usual two,
develops at the heart of the coffee fruit. Peaberry beans are often
separated from normal beans and sold as a distinct grade of a given
coffee. Typically, but not always, they produce a brighter, more acidy,
but lighter-bodied cup than normal beans from the same crop.
Percolation
Technically,
any method of coffee brewing in which hot water percolates, or filters
down through, a bed of ground coffee. The pumping percolator utilizes
the power of boiling water to force water up a tube and over a bed of
ground coffee.
Pergamino, Parchment
A
final thin, crumbly skin covering wet-processed coffee beans after the
coffee berries have been skinned, the pulp removed, and the beans dried.
Peru
The
best Peru coffee is flavorful, aromatic, gentle, and mildly acidy.
Chanchamayo from south-central Peru, and Urubamba, from a growing
district farther south near Machu Picchu, are the best-known market
names.
Piquant
A
secondary coffee taste sensation characterized by a predominantly sweet,
prickling sensation at the tip of the tongue. Caused by a
higher-than-normal percentage of acids actually sweet to the taste
instead of sour. Typified by a Kenya AA coffee.
Piston Machine
An
espresso machine that uses a piston operated by a lever to force
brewing water at high pressure through the compacted bed of ground
coffee.
Plunger Pot, French
Press
Brewing method that separates spent grounds
from brewed coffee by pressing them to the bottom of the brewing
receptacle with a mesh plunger.
Polishing
An
optional procedure at the end of coffee processing and milling in which
the dried, shipment-ready beans are subjected to polishing by friction
to remove the innermost, or silverskin, and improve their appearance.
Polishing does nothing to help flavor and may even hurt it by heating
the beans, hence most specialty coffee buyers do not encourage the
practice.
Poor
Qualifies a
coffee of really common flavour.
Portafilter, Filter
Holder
In espresso brewing , a metal object with
plastic handle that holds the coffee filter, and clamps onto the group.
Primo Lavado, Prime
Washed
A grade of Mexico coffee that includes most
of the fine coffees of that country.
Process Taste
This term
reflects a number of defects. Some technological treatment of coffee can
develop well-identified off-flavours: cooked, caramelized, cereal, and
acrid.
Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico
Yauco
Yauco coffees from Puerto Rico are a revived
specialty origin that, at best, display the qualities that made Jamaica
Blue Mountain famous: A deep, vibrant, yet restrained acidity and
balanced, gently rich flavor. However, this potentially finest of
Caribbean coffees is often marred by inconsistency.
Pulping
Process
of removing the outermost skin of the coffee cherry or fruit. See
Wet-Processed Coffee.
Pump Machine
An
espresso machine that uses a pump to force brewing water at high
pressure through the compacted bed of ground coffee.
Pungent
A strong and piercing sensation in
the mouth, characteristic of full-bodied coffees.
Pyrolysis
The
chemical breakdown, during roasting, of fats and carbohydrates into the
delicate oils that provide the aroma and most of the flavor of coffee.