Product Description

Revised and updated, a compact guide to the beverage that keeps us running.

A freshly updated edition of the best introduction to one of the world's most popular products, The Coffee Book is jammed full of facts, figures, cartoons, and commentary covering coffee from its first use in Ethiopia in the sixth century to the rise of Starbucks and the emergence of Fair Trade coffee in the twenty-first. The book explores the process of cultivation, harvesting, and roasting from bean to cup; surveys the social history of café society from the first coffeehouses in Constantinople to beatnik havens in Berkeley and Greenwich Village; and tells the dramatic tale of high-stakes international trade and speculation for a product that can make or break entire national economies. It also examines the industry's major players, revealing how they have systematically reduced the quality of the bean and turned a much-loved product into a commodity and lifestyle accoutrement, ruining the lives of millions of farmers around the world in the process.

Finally, The Coffee Book, hailed as a Best Business Book by Library Journal when it was first published, considers the exploitation of labor and damage to the environment that mass cultivation causes, and explores the growing "conscious coffee" market and Fair Trade movement.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39737 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781595580603
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
A succinct historical overview, bedecked with useful charts and graphs. -- San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

Good to the last sentence. -- Las Cruces, NM Sun-News

Informed and argumentative. -- The Economist

Most stimulating. -- The Baltimore Sun

Packed with an interesting punch ….a fun little item. -- Associated Press

This well-written book is an enticing brew….An outstanding example of a thorough industry treatment. -- Library Journal

From the Author
An enthusiastic summary of the delicious treats you'll find: If you're thirsting to learn the untold story behind everyone's favorite beverage and one of the nation's hottest commodities, this is the book for you. How did an unremarkable plant that grows in the shaded understory of Ethiopia's highland forests go on to become a multi-billion dollar international commodity that can make or break entire national economies? How do coffee beans make it from the farm to our cups? What are the labor issues and environmental impacts of this crop? How did coffee transform from a breakfast beverage to a lifestyle?

You'll find that our book is chock full of information about coffee's history, international trade, consumption trends, growth of the specialty coffee industry, and the blossoming of the organic and fair trade coffee movements--and it's filled with fun illustrations, photos, maps, graphs, and a few cartoons to boot. We think you'll find it really gratifying to learn about the products you use, and to learn about them in such an accessible and fun book. We also think that this book, together with a nice pound of delicious coffee beans, would make a darling gift for all those coffee fans out there (doesn't everyone in the world know a coffee fanatic?)

Since we're madly in love with coffee, we had a great time doing the research and know that you'll have a great time drinking it up!

Our favorite coffee? We like maximum flavor and minimum impact--so we dig fairly traded organic coffees.

Cheers,
Nina Luttinger and Gregory Dicum

About the Author
Author of Window Seat, Gregory Dicum has written for the New York Times Magazine, Harper's, Salon, Travel + Leisure, New York, and Mother Jones. He is a contributing editor at Other magazine and writes a biweekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle. Nina Luttinger has worked as a private coffee and tea industry consultant and freelance writer and at TransFair USA. They live in San Francisco.

Customer Reviews

Good to the last drop!
This was a fascinating book. A very good overview of coffee from it's beginnings to the present, and a real eye-opener on it's effect on world economy and politics over the centuries. I was especially interested in the sections on ecology and marketing, and found it to be very well researched and complete, yet written in a very catchy way. The illustrations and sidebar notes included fit in nicely.

Perfect to accompany "un tinto", as they say in Colombia.

Surprisingly interesting, entertaining and compelling
I picked this book up at the library, thinking it was about kinds of coffee and how to brew it. I was mildly disappointed to find out that it was about the coffee industry, but I read every word. If you want to know how to minimize ecological damage in choosing your coffee, here's where to find out. The history was also fascinating. A great read!

Coffee could be worse than cattle!
Mr.Dicum and Ms.Luttinger have writtne a phenomenal book. From their obsure historical facts to their pinpointing the origin of coffee, 6th century Ethiopia, you will be riveted to your seat as if you were reading a fictional novel.

They put coffee, the coffee industry, and global coffee politics under a microscope and often times it fails to hold up to the scrutiny. No matter what your political affiliation is you can't help but be immediately shocked and awed and the incredible amount of sociopolitical machinations that go on for you to have that morning sip of java.

For 11 years I have been a futures investor, broker, and author. One of the preferred futures contracts that I trade is coffee. This book has provided me with an indepth background and perspective on coffee that I never had before. This is now one of my reference books. For those that are interested in investing in coffee either actual grounds or in futures this book is for you and for those that can go a day without the original "liquid gold" you have got to read it. At the end of the day you will appreciate that Starbuck's "venti mocha grande" just a little bit more.