TIME Coffee: The Culture. The Business. Your Health

by Time Inc.

Farm to Roaster to Cup

Explore the history, the power and the pleasures of America's favorite bean

Genres: Nonfiction

96 pages, Unknown Binding

Published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Jim & Matte Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging and Interesting!

Well-researched. Broad in scope. Discusses, History, Agriculture, Independent versus Corporate Retail, Science, Myths, current Trends, stats, and Demographics. Articles by multiple contributors.

[Ryan Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was exactly what I wanted and expected it to be. It was basically a well rounded intro to coffee—in regard to history, different types, regions, coffee retailers (especially Starbucks), roasting, cupping, culture, and health. It was the first time I’ve ever read a Time Magazine Special Edition book (or magazine?). But I was very impressed with this. I liked how it was a compilation of a handful of different writers, and especially how the info was very relevant and recent.

The work consists of over a dozen different articles or short pieces. All of them were succinct and accomplished what they set out to do.

Here were some articles/pieces of note:

The first, “The Drink of Reason,” was about the history of coffee, especially in how it brought about the age of reason as a drink which sparked instead of hurt the mind (like alcohol).

The second, “A Growing Economy, Built on the Brew,” was helpful about the business side of coffee, especially how it has morphed and changed over the years.

The third piece was a longer piece on Howard Shultz, the man who made Starbucks what it is today. At first, it seems this piece maybe didn’t belong in the magazine (as it was less about coffee and more about Starbucks), it plays an important role because it shows how this new wave of coffee came to be what it is today. Starbucks was the leader in it.

In “New Waves of Progress,” they explain how the most helpful way to describe the history of coffee is describing it in waves (and this happens throughout the magazine). The first wave was when it finally became a household drink. This happened through commercial coffee sellers, like Folgers and then Maxwell House, and it especially happened when the drip coffee maker was invented (which wasn’t until the 70s!). The second wave then was when Starbucks really started showing what quality coffee was, and especially how it can be sold to the masses. With this came the revolution of espresso drinks too. Then the third wave has been happening in the last ten years or so with the emergence of more local shops selling better coffee. Coffee shops are showing up all over with this third waves, and Starbucks has had to adapt. Then some say that the fourth wave is happening now where these coffee shops are focusing on single-origin beans and better methods of brewing, and especially as coffee subscriptions now are allowing people at home to brew good, single-origin coffee. This all was very interesting to me.

There was a great short piece on roasting.

There was a great short piece on cupping, which is basically the universally recognized way to taste a coffee a buyer is thinking about purchasing.

Then later on there was a great article, “Oh, the Places They’ll Grow!” on the different regions coffee is grown. This was extremely insightful and helpful, as it was so clear and debunked a lot of mistaken ideas. Moreover, the writer did a great job at the explaining why blends can truly be a great thing. If I had to choose one article to keep as a reference out of the whole book, this would definitely be the one (although so much of it all was fascinating).

There was a article on the health benefits of coffee, which wasn’t great because it was too succinct, but it was still somewhat interesting.

There was two final short pieces on caffeine and decaf coffee. Again, these were insightful as they corrected many misconceptions.

Overall, worth the read, and a well put together magazine/book. Glad I read it, and I would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone interested in coffee!

[Casandra Cano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a barista for 4 years and I still learned so much from this magazine. Coffee is such a big part of our culture today AND yesterday. Great read!