Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 200
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-5381-0808-6 • Hardback • October 2018 • $37.00 • (£30.00)
979-8-8818-0891-4 • Paperback • March 2025 • $22.00 •
978-1-5381-0809-3 • eBook • October 2018 • $35.00 • (£30.00)
Robert W. Thurston is professor emeritus of history at Miami University, and he is the senior editor of Coffee: A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry. He is managing partner at Oxford Coffee Company, a roastery and coffee bar in Oxford, Ohio.
1 INTRODUCTION
2 IN PRODUCING COUNTRIES:
COFFEE FROM FARM TO PORT
Where and How Coffee Grows
Organic vs. Synthetic: Yes, Coffee Is Full of Chemicals
Coffee Cultivation
Women in Coffee
Gathering and Processing the Harvest
The Cost of Coffee through the Supply Chain
Certification Programs: Benefits and Drawbacks
Cupping (Rating and Purchasing Decisions)
Climate Change
3 ROASTING COFFEE, MAKING COFFEE DRINKS
Coffee Consumption around the World
What Is “Sophistication”?
How Coffee Spread around the Globe
Roasting
Making Coffee to Drink
4 COFFEE AND HEALTH,
SOCIAL AND PERSONAL
How Coffee Brought Social and Political Disruption to the World
Coffee and Personal Health
Caffeine
Recent Research on Coffee and Health
5 CONCLUSION
GLOSSARY
NOTES
INDEX
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
[An] engaging guide to the history, cultivation, and culture of coffee.— Daily Coffee News, Roast Magazine
The book is written in a very engaging style, with a feel like the author is talking to the reader, sometimes with details about the author’s experiences, or tips for the reader to help them enjoy their coffee. There’s a helpful glossary at the end too for some of the key terms and acronyms used throughout the book. A welcome addition to my ‘coffee library’.— Cafespaces
[Thurston] pours out a rich history of the coffee industry . . . . [His] sophisticated guide to coffee’s history, cultivation, and enjoyment will more than satisfy coffee aficionados.— Publishers Weekly
Conversational and comprehensive, Robert Thurston’s blend of entertaining anecdotes, home experiments, and reliable statistics answers with precision the questions asked by coffee enthusiasts. Going beyond thoughtful explanations about ‘how’ the global coffee industry works, Thurston provides satisfying answers on ‘why’ it works and what can be done to make it work better.
— Dan Bolton, STiR Tea & Coffee
Coffee is an inspiration that goes beyond our knowledge, our boundaries, and our limits. Robert Thurston has felt this inspiration since his first visits to coffee-producing countries, and he has put that experience into transformative and knowledgeable words. Now we can taste more than just a cup of coffee; we can envision a coffee farm and, more important, a coffee-farming family. This superb book closes our knowledge gap and makes all of us more sensitive, emotional, and informed about coffee.
— Olga Lucía Cuéllar Gómez, S&D Coffee and Tea
6/4/19, Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine article "A Chat with Robert W. Thurston About Coffee: From Bean to Barista: In the feature, Robert Thurston shares his knowledge of climate change, new research on hybridization, coffee and health, and consumption trends around the world. Link: https://dailycoffeenews.com/2019/06/04/a-chat-with-robert-w-thurston-about-coffee-from-bean-to-barista6/4/19, Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine article "A Chat with Robert W. Thurston About Coffee: From Bean to Barista: In the feature, Robert Thurston shares his knowledge of climate change, new research on hybridization, coffee and health, and consumption trends around the world. Link: https://dailycoffeenews.com/2019/06/04/a-chat-with-robert-w-thurston-about-coffee-from-bean-to-barista