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: #289558 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

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

The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry from Crop to the Last Drop, Revised and Updated Edition
This is a must read for anyone who works with or loves drinking coffee. If you're looking for a crash course in the history, economics behind or current politics of the coffee industry, look no further!

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.

The best single book I've read on coffee. Outstanding!!
The Coffee Book is an invaluable source of information on coffee commerce and history. Dicum and Luttinger take you through the beginning of coffee cultivation, its growth into the second most valuable commodity traded in the world today (petroleum is number one), and a detailed chronology of the major events shaping the coffee industry. This book provides an invaluable foundation for the reader to understand where we are today in the coffee business and what may be important aspects of coffee commerce for the future. I've read many books on coffee but if I could have only one book as my primary reference, The Coffee Book would be my choice without a doubt.

Michael Maxey