Coffee : a comprehensive guide to the bean, the beverage, and the industry /

In light of today's caffeine-obsessed culture, this new work focusing on coffee production and consumption is highly interesting and informative. The book is composed of 63 relatively short chapters gathered into five overall sections, beginning with "The Coffee Business" and "The State of Trade." The trade section includes chapters on each of the world's seven major coffee-growing areas and nine of the biggest coffee-consuming countries. The third section focuses on coffee's history and coffee (and coffeehouse) culture, followed by a section on coffee qualities, including health aspects. The book concludes with an exploration of coffee's future. This is not a compendium of academic papers, as are so many edited collections these days. Chapters, contributed by experts in their respective fields, are written in an engaging, accessible style. They are well researched and often include an extensive notes section at the end. Black-and-white photos, maps, graphs, and other illustrations are interspersed, depending on the topic. A glossary and detailed index round out the text. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All public and academic library collections. S. Hurst Miami University

This massive volume is truly comprehensive, examining coffee from soil to cup. Thurston (Phillip R. Shriver Professor, history, Miami Univ., OH), Jonathan Morris (modern history, Univ. of Hertfordshire, England), and Shawn Steiman (head, Coffea Consulting, Honolulu) have pulled together 63 essays that address agriculture, economics, gender, culture and history, assessment of quality, effects on health, and future research and development of the coffee bean and coffee production. The authors include coffee farmers, scientists, industry leaders, journalists, historians, and even a mechanical engineer. In addition, there are country profiles providing detailed information about both coffee-producing and coffee-consuming countries (e.g., Vietnam, Brazil, Italy, Germany, Colombia, the United States) that cover subjects such as the history of coffee in the region, climate, business costs, companies in the marketplace, and trends in consumption. The pieces vary in length, depth, and quality: some are familiar and casual, while others have a more scholarly bent. Verdict It's hard to imagine that the audience for this title is very large; it's neither strictly a scholarly examination nor a work of creative nonfiction. But for those who have a serious coffee addiction, the book offers a wealth of content.-Laura Krier, Sonoma State Univ., Rohnert Park, CA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.