The Coffee Book: Anatomy of an Industry from Crop to the Last Drop

(Paperback)

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Description

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 cafe 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 examines the industry's major players, revealing how they have systematically reduced the quality of the bean, ruining the lives of millions of farmers around the world in the process. Considering the exploitation of labour and damage to the environment that mass cultivation causes, it explores and assesses the growing "conscious coffee" market and Fair Trade movement.

Reviews

"Informed and argumentative... drawing on sources ranging from moliere and beatnik cartoonists to the food and agriculture organization, the authors describe the beverage's long and colourful rise to ubiquity." - THE ECONOMIST"

Author Bio

The author of Window Seat, Gregory Dicum has written for the New York Times Magazine, Harper's Magazine, 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 for TransFair USA.