Acidity
酸质
TastingDefinition
Acidity is the bright, mouth-watering snap produced mainly by organic acids — citric, malic, tartaric and chlorogenic — that occur naturally in the bean. Cuppers score it as a virtue when it reads juicy and fruit-like, and as a defect when it turns sharp, acetic or vinegar-like.
Etymology
From Latin acidus, 'sour', by way of French acidité. Specialty coffee deliberately narrowed the word in the 1990s so that it meant pleasant brightness, distinct from plain sourness.
In use
'Bright acidity' is standard cupping shorthand for the crisp, citrus-and-berry impression typical of washed East African coffees.