Coffee Basics: A Quick and Easy Guide
BK200
216 pages
Paperback
Size: 8.7" x 5.6" x 0.6"
With thousands of coffee bars and restaurants serving an endless variety of blends, roasts, and brews, ordering a specialty coffee drink has become as daunting a task as selecting a fine wine. How can you distinguish between great coffee and great hype? Read Coffee Basics.
Kevin Knox and Julie Sheldon Huffaker have filled this handy reference with hundreds of industry truths and trade secrets. You'll learn the fundamentals of coffee buying, brewing, and tasting; and develop an aficionado's ability to see beyond the expensive trappings of today's coffee explosion. You'll discover: - The basic coffee facts: its origin, history, and many varieties
- Step-by-step methods for selecting, roasting, blending, and flavoring coffee "to taste"
- A coffee taster's glossary
- Simple charts showing grind progression, relative grinding times, and regional characteristics
- The scoop on decaffeinated, organic, and espresso beans
- Specialty coffee recipes
- Lists of the best sources for beans and professional equipment
Whether you make coffee at home or at a fine restaurant, Coffee Basics offers a bottomless cup of brewing knowledge and drinking pleasure.
Notes from Casey "The Coffee Guy":
This book is really well done. It's really aimed at anyone wanting to know more about coffee and doesn't even touch on the topic of home roasting - which allows it to stay focused and not cram too much info into the book and overwhelm the reader. I finished this book in a few hours; although it's packed with info, it's a quick and easy read. I especially liked the descriptions of coffee from different regions and with different processing methods. This book will leave you with a pretty good knowledge of coffee from crop to cup, along with a bit of industry information and a nice glossary of tasting terminology. I've outlined the table of contents below.
Chapter 1: What is Coffee?
- Arabica and Robusta
- Growing and harvesting
- Wet and Dry Processing
- Milling and Sorting
- From There to Here
Chapter 2: A Brief History of the Bean
- Of Goats and Holy Men
- The Baptism of the Bean
- Coffee Crosses the Atlantic
Chapter 3: The Name Game: Reading Coffee Labels
- Blend, Dark Roast, or Single-Origin?
- Grading, Estate Names, and So On
- The Broken Chain of Custody
Chapter 4: A Taster's Guide to Cupping Coffees
- The Cupping Procedure
- Talking about Taste
Chapter 5: Regional Character
- A Taste of Place: Finding the Great Coffees
- The Three Great Growing Regions: The Americas, Africa and Arabia, Indonesia
Chapter 6: Roasting and Blending
- Roasting "to Taste" and Tasting to Roast
- Artisan Blending
Chapter 7: How to Brew Great Coffee at Home
- Freshly Roasted Beans
- Just-In-Time Grinding
- Good Water: 98 Percent of the Cup
- Proper Proportions: The Key to Good Coffee
- Make It Fresh, Drink It Fresh
- Brewing Methods: Finding the Best Fit
- Trade Secrets for Superlative Coffee
Chapter 8: Espresso: A World unto Itself
- When You Brew Espresso at Home...
- Understanding the Four Italian "M"s
- Espresso and Caffeine: Poco Ma Buono
Chapter 9: Putting Restaurants to the Test
- For the Consumer: Insist on Quality
- For the Restaurant: Brewing Standards and Recommendations
Chapter 10: Customizing Your Coffee
- Seasonality: Ours and Coffee's
- Flavoring Coffees
- Coffee and Food
Chapter 11: Issues in the Marketplace
- Decaffeination and Caffeine
- Organic Coffees
- The Price of "C"
Appendix A: A Glossary of Tasting Terms
Appendix B: Equipment Sources, Related Reading, and Industry Information
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