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Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World's Most Popular Brew
This entertaining yet comprehensive book describes how, in recent times, coffee has become the magnet that draws people together for spirited interchanges of information and ideas. In the intellectual capitals of the world, coffeehouses have been and continue to be the venues where the great minds flock to discuss the latest developments in the arts, sciences, and social philosophies. The author also traces the rich and intriguing history of coffee and even goes on to reveal the best techniques for home brewing. Moreover, he enlivens his narrative with stories of the fine art of the barista, which includes the World Barista Championship where rival barmen from around the globe display the highest artistry of coffee brewing. Lavishly illustrated, this delightful and informative book is the perfect complement for your next coffee break.
- GenresNonfiction
368 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 17, 2012
Like McDonald's coffee. Okay. Not great, but not terrible, either. Acceptable research, warm if not incredible prose.
March 1, 2019
Breezy overview of coffee histories with some passing references to making good coffee.
Not comprehensive, but it is often entertaining in a travelogue sort of way, as the author has had a lot of personal overseas experiences.
This book is an easy source of interesting coffee trivia, but not a must-read for anyone.
Not comprehensive, but it is often entertaining in a travelogue sort of way, as the author has had a lot of personal overseas experiences.
This book is an easy source of interesting coffee trivia, but not a must-read for anyone.
July 21, 2011
I had intended to write this piece last week while sitting in my favorite Austin coffee shop, Epoch, but they were having network issues and so it just didn't happen as planned. But it would have been awesome to have a piping hot raspberry mocha to sip while writing a review all about coffee.
This book falls into the non-fiction that I love to read. I love reading the history of things, how they came to be a part of life today, where the small things related to them originally sprung up, some things I've read about have been banned and so I learned why and any myriad of other tidbits about an item.
Coffee, holds a very dear place in my heart. But it has to be really good coffee. The best I'd ever had was in college a neighbor in the next room over would invite me over for his specialty while we played chess or cards. (I think I miss his coffee as much as I miss playing chess and cards on a regular basis.) He would slowly warm the milk up to just below boiling, hand grind the coffee beans (I wish I could remember what they were specifically) then measure out the grounds into his french press, add the milk, set his timer and then press it when finished. Amazing! I've tried to replicate it, but haven't been successful. Apparently his attention to detail and the painstaking time he spent perfecting his technique was well worth it, almost a trade secret.
Learning about the rise of coffee, how it made its way into the heart of the American culture, and its spread around the world was quite enjoyable. I learned about the rise of coffee shops and how several rulers tried to control their public by banning coffee, thankfully without much success. Satin even tells how coffee is raised, harvested, and readied for roasting. I learned some things I didn't know, but having been a coffee fan for a number of years now, there was a lot of the information such as the difference between a bean that is sun-dried with its skin versus those that are dried with the skin on during the process, and of course thanks to modern movies, I even knew about the super-expensive, super-elite coffee that comes from the droppings of a wild cat. If you haven't seen The Bucket List I suggest you at least watch the bit about the coffee. It's very entertaining.
All in all I found this book to be a good read. I did find it to lose some of its cohesion towards the last half as Satin seemed to jump around a bit from quotes about coffee to how to make coffee, and then going back to some of the history of it. However, it did not distract enough from the whole to make me not suggest this book.
There is another book on my wishlist that also covers the history of coffee, and it will be interesting to compare the two when I finally get around to getting a copy of the other. Perhaps my next non-fiction should be about sugar, or something that is somehow linked to coffee. We shall see.
This book falls into the non-fiction that I love to read. I love reading the history of things, how they came to be a part of life today, where the small things related to them originally sprung up, some things I've read about have been banned and so I learned why and any myriad of other tidbits about an item.
Coffee, holds a very dear place in my heart. But it has to be really good coffee. The best I'd ever had was in college a neighbor in the next room over would invite me over for his specialty while we played chess or cards. (I think I miss his coffee as much as I miss playing chess and cards on a regular basis.) He would slowly warm the milk up to just below boiling, hand grind the coffee beans (I wish I could remember what they were specifically) then measure out the grounds into his french press, add the milk, set his timer and then press it when finished. Amazing! I've tried to replicate it, but haven't been successful. Apparently his attention to detail and the painstaking time he spent perfecting his technique was well worth it, almost a trade secret.
Learning about the rise of coffee, how it made its way into the heart of the American culture, and its spread around the world was quite enjoyable. I learned about the rise of coffee shops and how several rulers tried to control their public by banning coffee, thankfully without much success. Satin even tells how coffee is raised, harvested, and readied for roasting. I learned some things I didn't know, but having been a coffee fan for a number of years now, there was a lot of the information such as the difference between a bean that is sun-dried with its skin versus those that are dried with the skin on during the process, and of course thanks to modern movies, I even knew about the super-expensive, super-elite coffee that comes from the droppings of a wild cat. If you haven't seen The Bucket List I suggest you at least watch the bit about the coffee. It's very entertaining.
All in all I found this book to be a good read. I did find it to lose some of its cohesion towards the last half as Satin seemed to jump around a bit from quotes about coffee to how to make coffee, and then going back to some of the history of it. However, it did not distract enough from the whole to make me not suggest this book.
There is another book on my wishlist that also covers the history of coffee, and it will be interesting to compare the two when I finally get around to getting a copy of the other. Perhaps my next non-fiction should be about sugar, or something that is somehow linked to coffee. We shall see.
March 6, 2011
If you wanted to know EVERYTHING about coffee (and I mean EVERYTHING), this book is for you. It covered coffee and its nutritional properties, benefits, caffeine. It covered the history of coffee. It covered how to prepare coffee. It had anecdotes and asides. It taught you the detail of how coffee changes from the bush to your kitchen. It even covered barista competitions, the (very detailed) history of Starbucks, and Satin's favorite barista.
The book also went into what was (for me) excruciating detail about the history of how coffee was discovered, a country-by-country arrival story, a continent-by-continent arrival story, quotations, and reproductions of historical documents. There is even a detailed time line in the back of the book, ranging from the extraction of coffee by Ethiopian monks circa 700 to Starbucks's domination in 2008.
Don't expect a how-to guide on brewing coffee. That's mentioned, yes, but barista training requires a different sort of book. Anyone who expects a manual on how to make the best cuppa will be disappointed. The afterword says, "It is not the purpose of this book to turn the reader into a botanist, a coffee historian, or a professional taster or a barista..." but anyone who wishes to become a coffee historian would do well to get a copy of this book and become the local expert.
The book also went into what was (for me) excruciating detail about the history of how coffee was discovered, a country-by-country arrival story, a continent-by-continent arrival story, quotations, and reproductions of historical documents. There is even a detailed time line in the back of the book, ranging from the extraction of coffee by Ethiopian monks circa 700 to Starbucks's domination in 2008.
Don't expect a how-to guide on brewing coffee. That's mentioned, yes, but barista training requires a different sort of book. Anyone who expects a manual on how to make the best cuppa will be disappointed. The afterword says, "It is not the purpose of this book to turn the reader into a botanist, a coffee historian, or a professional taster or a barista..." but anyone who wishes to become a coffee historian would do well to get a copy of this book and become the local expert.
July 13, 2012
Like a bad cup of coffee from the local 'QuickieMart' Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World's Most Popular Brew by Morton Satin is neither warm, filling nor, as the title misleadingly suggests, “stimulating.” In fact, the book is both repetitive and rather dull. While Satin clearly loves his ‘cup of joe’ there is little in his book that is new and he tries in vain to cover this up by repeating several of the few amusing bits in the book several times in successive chapters. Satin seems to not have a clear sense of where he wants to go with this work. After some effort to provide a scholarly overview of the role of coffee and coffeehouses (also better covered in other sources) in the political development of Western Europe and the United States the author follows up with a full chapter devoted to coffee trivia and coffee related quotes that is just plain silly!
Though there are notes at the end of the work the text overall is not well footnoted and more attention should have been paid to identifying sources and books in the body of the text. IMO a better written and more informative work is Coffee: a dark history by Anthony Wild.
July 20, 2016
I enjoyed the chapters about the history of coffee, and the one about the work of baristas in Italian coffee shops. But some parts are repetitive. How many times do you really need to be told that coffee is a great beverage to make you alert?
Also I think the author gave misinformation about the origins of the word "tip" (as leaving a tip or a gratuity), but I'm not 100% sure... I did a Goggle search and some sources stated that "Tip” (and “tips") is often said (incorrectly) to be an acronym of "To Insure Promptness", but that this etymology contradicts the Oxford English Dictionary.
So who's right? Those internet sources, or the author? Hmm...
Overall a good morning read while going to work, but nothing to get really excited about.
Also I think the author gave misinformation about the origins of the word "tip" (as leaving a tip or a gratuity), but I'm not 100% sure... I did a Goggle search and some sources stated that "Tip” (and “tips") is often said (incorrectly) to be an acronym of "To Insure Promptness", but that this etymology contradicts the Oxford English Dictionary.
So who's right? Those internet sources, or the author? Hmm...
Overall a good morning read while going to work, but nothing to get really excited about.
March 26, 2011
Good in depth look at the story of coffee. I've read more than a few coffee books and I didn't think there was anything that I didn't think that there was anything left to learn. This book proved me wrong. The order of the chapters and some of the personal stories seemed a little odd to me, but overall well worth reading if you like that morning cup of coffee.
October 23, 2013
Read this as a source for my speech topic ("The Art of Being a Coffee Snob," haha), and I'm not sure why all the bad reviews. But then, this was the first book on coffee I've ever read so I really have nothing to compare it to. I found it very interesting since I really didn't know hardly anything about the history of coffee.
June 15, 2011
Very interesting. I learned a lot about my every-day morning drink. Will enjoy coffee even more.
August 15, 2011
Boring. Didn't finish. :(
November 25, 2013
Covers the origins and history of coffee. There was definitely some interesting stuff here.
December 23, 2013
I'm still searching for that 5 star book on coffee.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews