Types of Coffee Beans

American (regular) roast:
beans are medium-roasted, resulting in a moderate brew, not too light or too heavy in flavor.

French roast and dark French roast:
heavily-roasted beans, a deep chocolate brown which produce a stronger coffee.

Italian roast:
glossy, brown-black, strongly flavored, used for espresso.

European roast:
two-thirds heavy-roast beans blended with one-third regular-roast.

Viennese roast:
one-third heavy-roast beans blended with two-thirds regular-roast.

Instant coffee:
a powder made of heat-dried freshly brewed coffee.

Freeze-dried coffee:
brewed coffee that has been frozen into a slush before the water is evaporated, normally more expensive than instants but with a superior flavor.

Decaffeinated coffee:
caffeine is removed from the beans before roasting via the use of a chemical solvent (which disappears completely when the beans are roasted) or the Swiss water process which steams the beans and then scrapes off the caffeine-laden outer layers.