Everything but Espresso

by Scott Rao

Unanimous 5 Star ratings! Scott Rao takes on all other forms of coffee brewing and gives them their day in the sun. Broken up into three main parts, and supported by a thorough reference bibliography for folks that want to read more, Everything but Espresso covers the Part Coffee extraction, measurement and methods on improving flavor by changing the brewing parameters Part How to achieve optimal flavor via different brew methods (such as drip, pour over, press pot, steeping and vacuum pot) Part Proper water chemistry and bean storage If you’re either an espresso aficionado who wants to spread their wings or someone who cherishes their old press pot, this book is the definitive guide to making the best possible brew at home.

Genres: Cooking, Food, Collections, Nonfiction, Reference

70 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Scott Rao started his first cafe & roastery in Amherst, MA when he was 22. That first cafe quickly became an institution, serving well over 1000 customers per day and tripling the sales volume of the Starbucks down the street. After selling his first cafe, Scott went on to work in the New Zealand coffee industry. He then returned to the US to open a restaurant and coffee roastery inspired by his travels down under. Scott later founded a pioneering cafe in Montreal that influenced coffee making worldwide.

Upon selling his second business, Scott began writing books about coffee making in the hopes of helping roasters and baristas become more educated and systematic in their approach to coffee. Scott parlayed those books into a consulting career and now spends his time consulting for coffee roasters around the world, teaching the world's most advanced roasting masterclasses, and designing next-generation coffee equipment.

Scott is the author of The Professional Barista's Handbook, Everything but Espresso, and The Coffee Roaster's Companion. He secretly likes Sencha tea more than coffee, is baffled about why anyone drinks naturals, and would probably do a free consulting job for you if your business happens to be located on a warm surf beach.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a nutshell, only buy this if you're a head barista at a 3rd wave coffee shop. It's overly technical for home baristas.

My Full Review:
This is my 4th dedicated coffee book. I'm not a barista, but I spend a lot of time researching coffee theory, refining my palate, and trying new brew techniques. I learned a bit from this book, especially about agitating coffee during brewing and storing coffee.

However, unless you own a 3rd wave coffee shop, you should probably pass on this. You can tell Rao's audience is head baristas, because he routinely points out things coffee shops typically do incorrectly. Additionally, he assumes you pretty much already know how to make good coffee. His tips are more about troubleshooting than starting from the beginning. For example, he references blooming coffee without really getting into the why/how much.

One way this book really stood out was it's reference to TDS and conductivity meters. That certainly made this book unique, but it really lost my interest because I know I'll never buy one of those for my home. That said, if you're a shop-owner they seem like a must-have based on this book.

I'm not sure this is worth the money. It's $35 for 60 pages of content. I read it in about an hour. It has amazing graphs and consistently cites research, which was helpful. But, I'd say, Craft Coffee by Jessica Easto does an overall better job of accomplishing what this book set out to do. You should read that instead.

[Cloay · Rating 3 out of 5]

- available in SG NLB 641.877

[John J. Camilleri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good solid information, but it is a little too thin and the photography in some parts is embarrassingly bad. For the price I paid I expected slightly more content and polish.

[Jono Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, but too short. This is a great pickup if you do not already have The Professional Barista's Handbook. Honestly, there is probably only 10-20 pages of extra content in this book, which I feel should just exist in the Barista's Handbook. I also think the explanation and comparison of washing and diffusion is better in The Professional Barista's Handbook, with diffusion going into more depth in Everything But Espresso. Realistically, anyone who wants to coffee nerd out on either of these extraction methods will want to know about both of them.

I wish that Scott Rao had gone a little more in depth in certain parts of this book - such as water chemistry, there were certainly ample pages left to fill if he had wanted to. I'd love to see a new edition of this book published with more manual brew methods, and a chapter on cold brew.

Overall, it's a good book, with excellent information that is well presented and approachable. I am very grateful to Scott Rao for creating his books. However, given the price tag and size, I am inclined to recommend only getting this if you have 0 interest in espresso, and do not already have The Professional Barista's Handbook.

[Phaedon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice little primer on coffee extraction, batch brewing, and some manual brew methods for any curious coffee drinker. The subtitle suggests that it is aimed at professionals, and I certainly think it would be of benefit to many pros, but I think it has just as much value for the passionate home barista.

Rao's language is simple, straightforward and fairly easy to follow. The style is definitely brief, but I think that makes this book easier to engage with. You can read the whole thing in a couple of hours, and then revisit it as required.

Despite being written in 2010, it does feel a tad dated in some ways. A good example of this is the fact that the Eva Solo is covered but the Aeropress isn't. Still there's plenty of good advice of some of the most popular brew methods, and the principles can be easily applied to pretty much any brew method.

The one shortcoming of this book is probably some of the reason about the dynamics of fluid motion in the bed of coffee. While the general message about even extraction seems sound, some of the assertions about water flowing in a direction other than straight down due to the force of gravity seem a bit dubious.

Some small shortcomings aside, I would definitely recommend this book.

[Sashi345 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to coffee that isn't espresso.

The book has introduced how to make drip, french press, brewing and vaccum pot coffee step by step, with illustration, which comes in handy if you wish to make your first hand-made coffee.

However, it seems that the book isn't best suited for people who wish to make their own coffee at home, as some of the content is for the people who wish to open up coffee business (Such as calculating the extraction using the ExtractMojo; good to know knowledge, but kinda hard to follow them at home)

[Kyle Bjorkman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very in-depth yet not written very well. Very technical and introduces some new insights to the science of coffee extraction.

[Andrii Lazarchuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Wish Aeropress be there.

[Gastón San · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si bien tiene información valiosa, siento que se pasó de técnico y que por ejemplo faltaba contextualizar mejor históricamente cada método.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not aiming for perfection, but a good background read.

[Orlando · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book is pretty short at ~50 pages. The first half of the book that gets into the technical details of coffee brewing, like what contributes to body vs flavor clarity, is the best part. The brew guides that you find online these days are as good, if not better, than the ones in the 2nd half of the book.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good and to the point informational book that gets you started on some basic principals of coffee. Explaining on TDS, agitation, water chemistry, (sludge) temperature plus zooming in on the most used slow coffee techniques. I liked it.

[Hans Oeij · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world where coffee science are mostly bro science governed by subjective taste, Scott Rao's calculative analysis provides logical opinion for optimum brewing methods. Baristi who seek consistency and are open for ways to up their coffee game should definitely read this book.

[Lindsey Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scientific and in depth, very informative though ever so slightly dry.

[J Beedon · Rating 3 out of 5]

let's just say that my copy is full of coffee stains. that should sum it up...

[Andrew Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet. The presentation is dry and technical, but the information is great and not easily found elsewhere. If you are going down the rabbit hole of coffee snobbery, this book is a must-own.

[Witek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very concise book that contains almost everything you need to brew an excellent cup of pourover coffee.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buy James Hoffman world atlas of coffee instead. This book under delivers

[Nguyen Tung · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book says it all. 'Everything but Espresso' gives you coffee-lovers a brief introduction to the various methods of brewing coffee aside from espresso (manual pourover, steep-and-brew, syphon, immersion...). I know many of you would consider coffee brewing to be an art, however mastering it would require some level of logical and mathematical thinking. In the book, Scott Rao discusses about key variables that would affect your 'God in a Cup', helping readers to optimise those variables to make the best possible and consistent coffee.

A good read if you are a coffee-lover, beginning to going down the rabbit hole of making coffee and want to get some not-too-complicated insights.