Coffee A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean the Beverage and

by Robert W. Thurston

A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry offers a definitive guide to the many rich dimensions of the bean and the beverage around the world. Leading experts from business and academia consider coffee’s history, global spread, cultivation, preparation, marketing, and the environmental and social issues surrounding it today. They discuss, for example, the impact of globalization; the many definitions of organic, direct trade, and fair trade; the health of female farmers; the relationships among shade, birds, and coffee; roasting as an art and a science; and where profits are made in the commodity chain. Drawing on interviews and the lives of people working in the business—from pickers and roasters to coffee bar owners and consumers—this book brings a compelling human side to the story.

The authors avoid romanticizing or demonizing any group in the business. They consider basic but widely misunderstood issues such as who adds value to the bean, the constraints of peasant life, and the impact of climate change. Moving beyond simple answers, they represent various participants in the supply chain and a range of opinions about problems and suggested solutions in the industry. Coffee offers a multidimensional examination of a deceptively everyday but extremely complex commodity that remains at the center of many millions of lives. Tracing coffee’s journey from field to cup, this handbook to one of the world’s favorite beverages is an essential guide for professionals, coffee lovers, and students alike.

Contributions Sarah Allen, Jonathan D. Baker, Peter S. Baker, Jonathan Wesley Bell, Clare Benfield, H. C. "Skip" Bittenbender, Connie Blumhardt, Willem Boot, Carlos H. J. Brando, August Burns, Luis Alberto Cuéllar, Olga Cuellar, Kenneth Davids, Jim Fadden, Elijah K. Gichuru, Jeremy Haggar, Andrew Hetzel, George Howell, Juliana Jaramillo, Phyllis Johnson, Lawrence W. Jones, Alf Kramer, Ted Lingle, Stuart McCook, Michelle Craig McDonald, Sunalini Menon, Jonathan Morris, Joan Obra, Price Peterson, Rick Peyser, Sergii Reminny, Paul Rice, Robert Rice, Carlos Saenz, Vincenzo Sandalj, Jinap Selamat, Colin Smith, Shawn Steiman, Robert W. Thurston, Steven Topik, Tatsushi Ueshima, Camilla C. Valeur, Geoff Watts, and Britta Zeitemann

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook

Unknown Binding

First published March 16, 2013

Reviews

[Sicofonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title suggests, this is truly a comprehensive guide on the coffee industry. I have to say that I was left very impressed by this work. It's mostly a collection of essays and articles that have been published over the years by people who belong to the Specialty Coffee Association of America. Some chapters have even been written ex profeso for the book, in an attempt to fill the gaps. However, the disparity of authors affects the cohesiveness of the content.
One example that comes to mind is the chapter dedicated to producing countries. Each country is depicted by a different author, and these chapters are just a compilation of previous essays published in different magazines. Some people focused on the current state of affairs, whereas other highlighted the quality and variety of beans of the country they had to talk about.
This fact does not take away from the end result. This is a solid book, with good references, written by people who are knowledgeable about coffee and there's ton of things to learn about it.
Not so much for coffee connosseurs as for the regular Joe willing to learn more about the inner workings of everything related to coffee.

[Ziyad Khesbak · Rating 3 out of 5]

With some brief allowances for technical aspects of coffee, focuses primarily on the history, culture, and social issues surrounding coffee.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surely a must have book for every coffeeperson, lover, enthusiast!

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like coffee a lot. Unlike most of my other passions, my interest in coffee has only grown over time. While the internet is a great resource, it's also a bit schizophrenic. Naturally, I turn to books.

In delving into coffee literature, I wanted a single book that would maximally cover all of the topics and subtopics of coffee, e.g., cultivation, processing, history, taste science, etc. This book was my best hope. It has thus far delivered. The essays are varied, well-researched (works cited in the back), written by experts, and acknowledging of shortcomings (for example, in essay 48, "Why Does Coffee Taste That Way" by Shawn Steiman, he readily acknowledges that no one yet knows, explains the challenges in this task, and establishes the current framework of knowledge).

On the whole, this is an excellent reference for anyone looking for a deeper knowledge of all aspects of the industry. It does not investigate any topic exhaustively, but rather provides an efficient overview -- a jumping off point.

Note that I've not technically read this cover-to-cover, as I have with all other books in my library. It's a reference book and I will treat it as such.

[John Stinebaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok book that serves as nice guide to complex industry information. Not a must read but a good investment for aficionados.

[Erick · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some good information in this book, but boy howdy...you best be ready for the dry sections, because there are a few Sahara sized patches.

[Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent, but in my opinion much too brief, coverage of coffee's ecological impacts, re: forest conversion, surrounding forests, animal and plant communities within coffee plantations, and so on. Must instead glean info from, e.g., producer chapters, such as Indian coffee plantations having a wide mix of other crops within them. Also rather out of date, still strongly impacted by the 2008 recession and missing the continued explosive growth in coffee culture and the many studies on ecological impacts that have appeared in the last decade.

Still, worthwhile overall, and much better than the abridged version by the same author, which is missing many of the most important parts of this.

[Allisonperkel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts of this book were awesome: Section 3 on history and parts of section 4 and 5. Much of section 1 and 2 read life adverts for various groups. The writing is also hit or miss in some of the essays which may be why some essays felt more like adverts.

This book is comprehensive and if you really want to know more about coffee this should be higher on your list - especially if you are willing to slog through some of the writing styles on display.

[Rachel Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read somewhere that this was the 'Moby Dick' of coffee, and it certainly was lengthy. It is a collection of journal articles and essay that cover the entire spectrum of coffee -- its history, impact on culture, changes over time, relationships, coffee houses, role in different cultures, methods on brewing, all the way to how to brew a good cup of coffee.

Because it is a collection fo essays, the chapters felt complete and interesting on their own.

I do recommend it! I learned a ton!

[Matt Veilleux · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this, but it was a huge letdown. The first 3/4 of the book was essays about perceived social issues in the coffee industry i.e. global warming, women's pay. It was very dull. The final 1/4 actually had some interesting stories about coffee history and brewing methods. But that was the only redeeming factor.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great repository of information around coffee production and industry, but way too detailed to be treated as a a straight read even for non-casual readers. An excellent academic reference text, or a scary warning tale for those tempted to get into the coffee business.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very like a text book. A must read for one looking to further their coffee education.

[Grant McMeekin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very comprehensive.

[Carmelle Racine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful 👏 Definitely a book I would refer back to in my little coffee journey.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book could have been great. However, a number of things kept me from being able to recommend it at all. First, the print was entirely too small. It's aesthetic detail but it's pretty important. Second, any logical organization was completely missing from what I've discovered later was a series of essays on the coffee topic. The title states that it's a guide and know where mentions that it's forms of over 50 different essays. That was a big turn off. Back to the organization, the author/editor chose to start the book with a series of essays all about the injustice/ill-treatment up for workers. He then ends the book with a section on history and how coffee is roasted. Not only is that a logical but by the time the raise their reaches that point they are probably turned off of the topic in general. I know I was. Want those history essays were better it was not enough to make up for everything that's already been mentioned. I don't recommend this book and hope that there are better books about coffee in the world.

[Mills College Library]

338.47663 C674 2013