Reddit mentions: The best coffee & tea books

I did a quick scroll through and didn't see it, but someone might have already said it. I highly recommend reading up in the form of The World Atlas of Coffee mostly because it is a very comprehensive look at specialty coffee from bean to cup and instills the humbling reality of what goes into every single cup and how many lives depend on the coffee industry. It goes on to explain brew methods, both espresso beverages and some pour overs/ immersion methods, and it's all around a very fascinating read. As far as knowing your stuff, finish that book and you're ahead of many many enthusiasts.

As for why you want to grind your own beans/ benefits of brews/ gear.... remember it all boils down (ha pun) to one thing- the flavor of your coffee. If you like what you have, that's great. If you taste a cup you like better, try to make it that way. If you grab a brewer of some kind, use things like the Coffee Compass and the Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel to dial your brew to your liking. Everyone else in this thread has probably covered the basics, but I'll run through a couple as well:

• Full bodied/ intense mouth feel. These brewers will have all the oils and particulates and generally result in a 'stronger' cup. These are your french press, your moka pot, etc. You get more of the "stuff" out of the coffee with these. I'll cover that a little later on.
  
  
• Middle of the road/ 'standard' coffee. These brewers are going to be all the standard pour over methods like the V60, Kalita Wave, etc. These are typically single cup methods, and with paper or cloth filters will pull a little more out of the final brew resulting in more clarity, as in less oils, particulates, etc.
  
  
• The last category (in my mind) I pretty much reserve for the Chemex. It is a super dense paper filter that pulls nearly all oils and particles out of the final cup, leaving what's thought of as a very clean cup.
  
  
• Edit: wanted to throw in the Aeropress since many sing it's praises. It doesn't really fit any of these categories because it can be used with a variety of different methods to produce a wide range of cups, though I believe most people that have one end up dialing one recipe in and sticking with it. A metal filter gets a full bodied cup with a heavy mouthfeel, two paper filters gets closer to a chemex, fine grind can give a coffee extract like espresso (but not actually espresso) to cut with water for an americano feel... it's a work horse, affordable, and all around easy to use. I just don't recommend this crazy inverted method all the kids are talking about. Good way to get burnt, and not that much benefit if you ask me.
  
  Now, it is worth noting that with a metal filter in a chemex, you can emulate the mouthfeel and content of a french press brew, and with a finer filter in the press, perhaps you get a cleaner cup. Remember, these are just basic fly-bys for you getting started, and no brew method is set in stone.
  
  Now, last topic is obsessing over water/ coffee ratios, brew times, grind size and consistency, and equipment in general. So unless you are roasting your own beans, your only job as a brewer is to take away as little from the quality of the bean as you can. You are never going to make a roasted coffee bean better than it is by brewing it a certain way. In this way, your entire job is minimizing the negative effects you can have. First is the grind. Once a bean is ground, it begins to lose quality with time as it oxidizes. Hence why we (in this sub) have our own grinders. The closer to the brew time you grind, the better it will be. Second comes grind consistency. Flavors in coffee come from water-soluble molecules that leave the bean and dissolve into the hot water during the brew. In order to get these extracted properly, you need to control all variables as much as you can. The first is the aforementioned grind consistency. If you grind your coffee and some grounds are tiny, some large, you wont get the same flavors from each ground at any given time, and you will over extract the small ground and under extract the large one. Basically, you want all of the coffee grounds to be perfect spheres and the exact same size. Since that is impossible, you spend money on grinders that can get as close to it as we know how. Next is temperature. This is simple to start and gets more complex as you experiment. You want hot water to penetrate and dissolve the coffee, but too hot and you'll have burnt flavors. Starting out, shoot for around 200-205 degrees F. You can look through research and recipes and play around with it later. Since you are just starting and they are cheaper, get a gooseneck kettle for the stove, boil it, let it sit for about 30 seconds to a minute off boil before brewing. Fourth is brew time. This is another critical step that doesn't depend on your equipment- this is all you. Brew time is important because those molecules I was talking about dissolve at different rates. Look at a standard pour over with a common grind size- in the first say 30 seconds of the brew, the lighter flavors (see coffee taster's flavor wheel above) like the floral notes and citruses will be fully extracted. Then the mids of caramel and some chocolaty notes in the next minute or so, then at the end comes the heavy flavors or smoke or tobacco. Why? Well it's because the molecules are different size and therefore take different amounts of time to dissolve. If you brew for too long, the really big molecules come out to play, and you'll be sipping on a delightful cup with a strong scent and notes of rubber and charcoal. No bueno. So brew time is another facet to dial in.
  
  All in all, there are a lot of nitpicky points to focus on, but to take it back to the beginning, it's all about the flavor. These are some basics that other people have pointed out to me and that I have discovered, but all the knowledge in the world won't make the perfect cup of coffee because it doesn't exist, or rather it is different for every palette. Some lucky bastard out there may have taste such that McDonald's coffee really is the best there is. For the rest of us, we spend a stupid amount of time and money chasing something better. Welcome.
  
  Sorry that got a little out of hand. I was going to keep it simple, but coffee isn't really simple for those that are in too deep.

Okay, you've caught me; there's beer and wine books, too. Here's what you're looking at:

I run a cocktail bar, and I've been meaning to share my library for some time, but I have a knack for lending my books out to friends and colleagues so I keep waiting for it to be complete. Then I realized my collection keeps growing and will never be complete, so I may as well just share a snapshot of it.

Top row:

Sippin' Safari: In Search of the Great "Lost" Tropical Drink Recipes... and the People Behind Them by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry

Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails: From the Alamagoozlum to the Zombie 100 Rediscovered Recipes and the Stories Behind Them by Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh

The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft by Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America's Most Imaginative Chefs by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg

The World Encyclopedia of Beer by Brian Glover

How to Brew: Everything You Need to Know to Brew Beer Right the First Time by John J. Palmer

Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking Around the World by Charles H. Baker, Jr. (aka The Gentleman's Companion Volume II)

Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher

Michael Jackson's Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch by Michael Jackson

The Ultimate Guide to Spirits & Cocktails by Andre Domine

New Classic Cocktails by Mardee Haidin Regan and Gary "Gaz" Regan

The Book of Garnishes by June Budgen

World's Best Cocktails: 500 Signature Drinks from the World's Best Bars and Bartenders by Tom Sandham

The Complete Book of Spirits: A Guide to Their History, Production, and Enjoyment by Anthony Dias Blue

Cocktails & Amuse-Bouches for Her & For Him by Daniel Boulud and Xavier Herit

Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar by David Wondrich

Middle Row:

Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers

The New and Improved Illustrated Bartenders' Manual; or: How to Mix Drinks of the Present Style by Harry Johnson (Espresso Book Machine Reprint)

Michael Jackson's Bar & Cocktail Companion: The Connoisseur's Handbook by Michael Jackson

The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance by Greg Koch, Steve Wagner & Randy Clemens

The PDT Cocktail Book: The Complete Bartender's Guide from the Celebrated Speakeasy by Jim Meehan

Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas by Brad Thomas Parsons

A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails by R. Winston Guthrie & James F. Thompson

The Bartender's Guide to IBA Official Cocktails by Jenny Reese (Espresso Book Machine Printing)

Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl by David Wondrich

The Home Distiller's Handbook: Make Your Own Whiskey & Bourbon Blends, Infused Spirits and Cordials by Matt Teacher

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

The Decorative Art of Japanese Food Carving: Elegant Garnishes for All Occasions by Hiroshi Nagashima

What to Drink with What You Eat: The Difinitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea - Even Water - Based on Expert Advice from America's Best Sommeliers by Andrew Dornenburg & Karen Page

The American Cocktail: 50 Recipes that Celebrate the Craft of Mixing Drinks from Coast to Coast by The Editors of Imbibe Magazine

The ABC of Cocktails by Peter Pauper Press

How to Make Your Own Drinks: Create Your Own Alcoholic and Non-Alcoholic Drinks from Fruit Cordials to After-Dinner Liqueurs by Susy Atkins

How to Make a World of Liqueurs by Heather Kibbey & Cheryl Long

TeaForum is a good resource. And I highly recommend the book Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties by Kevin Gascoyne.

90% of tea is bad or mediocre and winds up in teabags. Maybe \<0.1% of the global harvest = the high-end stuff geared towards "enthusiasts." Online specialty vendors, usually based in the East, are your best bet. You won't find the very best teas in most tea houses, although there are certainly exceptions.

Here are a few of my favorites lately, I'd consider these among the best you can get of the varieties I lean to, which is Black, Darjeeling, and Green.

Yunnan Pure Gold, Teaspring (China, Black) - Peppery, leathery, malty, complex, sweet. Extremely high quality Dian Hong (black tea from Yunnan). Some Dianhong's have perfect beautiful gold leaf appearance but mediocre taste- this example has not hugely impressive leaf appearance but a sublime flavor profile.

Keemun Xian Zhen, Teaspring (China, Black) - Keemun is one of China's 'ten famous' tea's. This is one of the finest Keemuns available. Smooth, burgundy-wine-like, elegant flavor profile.

Halmari Gold Assam (India, Black) - Assam is India's largest tea-producing region, but makes mostly cheaper 'ctc' tea found in tea bags. This on the other hand is the cream of the crop, and to common ctc Assam as say a Chateau Lafite is to a Box of Gallo. Malty, smooth, complex, not harsh. This is the estate's direct retail site.

Cha Wang Huang Shan Mao Feng, Teaspring (China, Green) - Many would recommend Dragon Well (Long Jing) as the archetypal China Green for a newb to try, and that's all well and good if you can find it, but the best Dragon Well is extremely pricey and hard to procure. Due to the famous name, one is usually paying just for the name because the best is not commonly available retail. This on the other hand is one of my favorite China Greens I've had in the past few years. Succulent, notes of asparagus or artichoke.

Castleton Second Flush 2017, Vahdam (Darjeeling, Black) - Darjeeling has had some issues lately, but this is an archetypal 'muscatel' Second Flush Darjeeling. Fruity and complex.

Gopaldhara Wonder First Flush 2018, Vahdam (Darjeeling, First Flush 'black) - First Flush Spring Darjeelings are referred to as black, but they are not really fully oxidized, and perhaps closer to White or Oolong. Astringent, notes of melon. This was one of my favorites in 2017 and a daily drinker for me. Haven't tried the 2018 yet but I trust it is a good example, as this estate tends to be consistent.

Jin Guan Yin Golden Tie Guan Yin, Seven Cups (China Anxi Oolong) - I'm not an expert on Oolong, but I've had a fair amount over the years. Tie Guan Yin is a leaf varietal, and a very common item on a typical North American teahouse menu. This is an excellent example. Minerally and vegetal. Seven Cups is run by Austin Hodges, one of the original 'specialty tea' renaissance evangelists in the US and a respected figure in the industry.

And like coffee, preparation is key. It's really impossible to achieve consistent results without a scale and timer, and perhaps thermometer for green/white especially, which aren't to be steeped at boiling and can be fussy.

Ontario-based tea snob chiming in.

Capital Tea has been one of the best tea shops I have ever had the pleasure of doing business with. Owner is a solid human being, and they have extremely accessibly priced, high quality teas. My favourite part of the shop is the absolute full transparency in its selling. Really recommend the shop.

Give Tao Tea Leaf a shot for China teas. They are a little on the pricey side, but honestly, they are the best China teas I've ever had. Tao, the owner, goes to China every year to buy from different estates. He grew up in China, and I believe his parents worked in tea, too, so he has the kind of knowledge and connections to get extremely good quality tea. Seriously. Buy some. Especially the "Award-winning" teas. They were picked out as winners, by professional cuppers, at the North American tea championship. Free shipping over $35. Can't go wrong. Don't bother buying non-China teas there.

For Indian teas, especially Darjeelings, go for House of Tea. They're online ordering isn't the best, but if you can make it into Toronto, they're worth checking out. In the springtime, call ahead and ask when they're getting their first flush Darjeelings in. It's better if you know what you're talking about before you go (I've had pretty unhelpful service there, a staff member didn't even know what I was asking when I inquired about the estate).

For blended teas, check out Herbal Infusions. The owner is, again, a solid guy, and a complete wizard with his tea blending. The mint cacao tea, and the grapefruit oolong have been two of the most memorable blended teas I have had.

Camellia Sinensis is really great, too, as /u/exmechanistic mentioned. All four taster-importers know what they're doing, and all of them are passionate about their work. I've met Kevin, one of the taster-importers and authors of this book, and they all seem crazy knowledgable about their product. There aesthetic is brilliant, their packaging, great. Their shop itself is all done perfectly. The one thing I'll say about them is that for the price point, the quality of some of their teas can be improved. I'm not blaming them at all, but if you have a very sensitive palate, some of the teas can be a little disappointing for the price. I was the tea consultant for a coffee shop that just opened in Toronto, and the first thing I did was taste like thirty samples from the shop. Some samples hit it out of the park. Others left something to be desired.

In terms of general knowledge of tea, I've found these books immensely helpful.

The Story of Tea This is the official textbook of the Tea Association of Canada's Tea Sommelier certificate program (of which I'm taking) and is probably the best tea book out there right now, in terms of amount of content and quality of content. At least of the ones I - and everybody I talk to in the community - have come across. Comes in paper and in e-book form.

Tea I've had the chance to talk to Kevin, one of the authors of this book. He, not to mention his co-authors, are immensely knowledgeable. He and the three others are taster-importers, and have been in the business for twenty years. This book has beautiful pictures, and is a great general resource on tea. I used to manage a tea shop owned by a taster-importer, and once I started, he held up the book and asked "Have you read this book? Yes? Good. Because it'd be the first thing you do on this job if you hadn't." What I'm trying to say is that it's a good book. Not on e-book, to my knowledge, but it's a great thing to have on hand.

The Tea Companion This was the first book I picked up on tea, and after a fair amount of time, it's stayed among the books I'd recommend to people. It's an incredible, gentle introduction to the world of tea.

Finally - and this may be a little audacious of me - but I'm currently writing a tea book. I'm in the rough draft stage currently, but I'm uploading all of my content for free on a blog I run. When the time comes to publish, I think I'll set up a pay-what-you-want for the e-book format. I've gotten the thumbs up from one of the co-founders of the Tea Guild of Canada, and like to think the information is pretty good and relevant. It's not done yet; not even halfway done, but if you want an opportunity for a bunch of free content on tea, which will eventually become a book, here's my blog.

Hope you can find some use! (and by the way, if you guys have a problem of me promoting my to-be book, I will totally take down the last link. I don't monetize it, I don't have a shop, and truly just want to share my knowledge of the lovely camellia sinensis plant, but just let me know and it'll be gone!)

Hey there. I'll give you a little summary of what I think most people on here will tell you in response to your questions.

Books: Blue Bottle ,Coffee Comprehensive and Uncommon Grounds are all good books to cover most of coffee and its processes.

This Capresso Infinity is considered a pretty decent burr grinder for the price. It will not do espresso but will be good enough for most other coffee brewing methods.

Getting a set up that is acceptable for "real" espresso is kind of expensive. A Gaggia classic is considered the bare minimum espresso machine for a "real" espresso. A Baratza Virtuoso is considered bare minimum for a decent espresso grinder. Now, you can (and many people do) find these items used, which obviously reduces the cost greatly. But depending on your area, finding these items up on craigslist or similar sites can be pretty rare.

I'm not from Rhode Island, but googling local roasters will provide some results. As for online ordering, tonx, blue bottle and stumptown are favorites around here for their price and quality. Beans are broken down on what region they came from, how they were processed and how dark they are roasted. Each region has different flavor profiles in their beans. African beans are known for being more fruity than other beans, for example. A little warning, most people on this subreddit believe Starbuck's espresso roast coffee to be too dark. However, many of Starbuck's light/Medium roast coffees have been reviewed as pretty decent. Most websites that sell the beans will list a flavor profile of the beans. The basic saying on this subreddit is that if you have crappy beans, no matter what, your coffee will be crappy. If you are going to overspend anywhere in the process, overspend on quality beans.

The espresso machines that you will be using at starbucks are machines that will basically produce espresso at the push of a button. They will grind, tamp and extract the espresso without any input from you. You should just know right off the bat that there is a whole other world to espresso making that is the exact opposite, with people grinding the beans to the right size, tamping by hand, and extracting shots with a lever that controls pressure. Neither way is right or wrong, you should just know that there are many different types of espresso machines and baristas.

I'll share a little bit of advise, take from it what you will. I was an ambitious college student coffee drinker just like you. I asked for a Breville espresso machine as my first real coffee making device (even before a grinder, how silly of me). I just wanted an espresso machine because that was all I was getting from these coffee shops. Since then I've gotten a nice grinder, a melitta pour over, french press, gooseneck kettle, aeropress, V60, moka pot, and chemex. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't turned on my espresso machine in over a year. There is so much more to coffee than espresso. There are so many methods to brew coffee that are cheaper, more complex and more interesting. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I'd buy the burr grinder I linked, and an Aeropress or any french press (Starbucks sells some pretty nice ones. You could get one with an employee discount) and just learn to love coffee on its own, without frothed milk and flavorings.

There is a ton of info on this subreddit if you stick around for awhile. Questions like yours are posted all the time and answered by very knowledgable people. Your enthusiasm for coffee is extremely exciting to see. Please don't let any of my advise subtract from your enthusiasm. Everyone takes a different path while exploring coffee. That's part of the excitement. You will learn a lot at Starbucks and you will learn a lot if you stay here. Enjoy your stay.

Going to a tea shop with a helpful and patient representative is the best answer - tea is not something to rush into so if you could locate a shop that sells tea nearby, that would be your best bet. Avoid Teavanna, they're dicks. Use Yelp, steepster.com, or teachat.com to find a local tea shop. Make sure you don't end up going into a shop that sells boba drinks - totally different thing.

If you're like me and there are no local shops nearby, then do a lot of research on tea. I bought this book and it helped me appreciate and brew tea. Otherwise you can read the Tea faq included here or any of the previous websites I mentioned. There is also an Alton Brown's Good Eats episode where he discusses tea. I don't agree with some of the things he says(the teapot strainer in the pot being one) but it still has useful information.

There is a correct way to brew tea(temperature, steep time, measuring) so it's a lot like cooking - you don't just crack an egg on the frying pan and expect it to be delicious, there are things you can do to improve the taste and quality of it.

Also, as a totally subjective viewpoint : Blended tea & anything that requires the addition of sugar(like the ones you have) sucks(and are for sissy girls). Most of them. They may taste good but being able to enjoy tea in its pure essence is a more enjoyable experience. Also, they last a lot longer since you can brew the same leaves 2-3 times.

The tea you bought probably NEEDS rock sugar to taste good - I don't think that should be true with good tea. Think of tea as a steak. You want to taste the steak itself and not any sauce that has been slathered over the meat. Blended tea is like a steak with sauce on it. Tea like this is a quality steak without any sauces.

I recommend purchasing non-blended tea in the green, oolong, or black section. http://www.adagio.com is a good start.

You are doing fine. Here are some thoughts...

Keep your current job! Do not quit until you have your next opportunity lined up. Your work experience isn't bad and the employed look more attractive in both the dating and hiring pools.

Love the hobbies. Particularly working out and reading - Keep your commitment to these everyday. (Consider adding a social/networking aspect by joining/starting a business book club and looking into league sports/meetups/fitness classes)

Job Transition Idea 1: Beer/Beverage Industry

Look for analyst or operations positions with goal of getting into account management (sales-ish but sales isn't so bad when you love the product).

Standout from the crowd: Start writing Beverage Industry/Co research on LinkedIn (similar to the project you enjoyed)

Apply to this today: https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=bf45becfe9f077f3&

Job Transition Idea 2: Personal Trainer

You like working out so get certified and help others with their workouts.

Will be tough at first as you build a book of clients so you might need a good part time job - Starbucks would put you in coffee with okay part time pay and benefits.

Check this out for an idea of PT opportunities: https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=part+time+personal+trainer&l=los+angeles%2C+ca

Job Transition Idea 3: Officer in The Chair Force

Commitment and big change.

Physical fitness matters. Readers are leaders. They allow coffee in the morning and beers after work. Other branches if AF isn't for you.

https://www.airforce.com/careers/browse-careers/

..


Bonus! Book recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524


Choose one of these or another path and fucking go for it. All in. All about it. All the time. But keep fit and well read.

Good luck!

Depends a lot on where you are, I think. But no matter where you are, start super local.

Keep giving as much as you can to family, friends, and acquaintances...get a grass roots fever going so you'll have an almost automatic fan-base when you do decide to expand. Encourage them to pass along bottles to their friends; maybe even host a fun cocktail night sometime where folks can come try all your different flavors and make kombucha cocktails.

Start looking into local farmers markets. If there's someone at your market that already sells kombucha or something similar, visit often and pick their brains. Make connections with the other vendors, and talk to them about their experience selling at markets like this, even if they're not peddling the same type of product as you. Knowledge is power!

Inquire about regulations, requirements, and restrictions in your state/county. Look into renting a commercial kitchen space, perhaps. Read everything you can about your favorite kombucha brands and their founders' stories--their various successes and failures will inspire and inform you on your own journey.

There's also a really helpful section on expanding your brewing into the commercial realm in my favorite buch book, [The Big Book of Kombucha](The Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, anhttps://www.amazon.com/dp/161212433X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_4JJiybXCP5CF1). It's written by the woman who started Kombucha Kamp, which is kind of the ultimate resource for all things Buch, be it info or actual products. That website has been invaluable to me over the years.

Most of all, have fun and good luck! Keep us all posted on your endeavors :)

I really like history books that don't at first seem to be history books, but are explorations of societies sometimes seen through the lens of a single important concept or product. For instance, Mark Kurlansky has several books such as Salt; A World History, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, The Basque History of the World, Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea that teach more history, and more important history than is usually taught in US public schools.

History need not be rote memorization of dates and figures. It can, and should be a fun exploration of ideas and how those ideas shaped civilizations. It can also be an exploration of what did not make it into the history books as Bart Ehrman's Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament or his Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why and Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels attest.

I don't wish to come across as too glib about this, but I feel like the average person might well retain more useful knowledge reading a book like A History of the World in 6 Glasses than if they sat through a semester of freshman history as taught by most boring, lame generic high schools. I feel like often the best way to understand history is to come at it tangentially. Want to understand the US Constitution? Study the Iroquois confederacy. Want to understand the French? Study cuisine and wine. Want to understand China? Study international trade. And so it goes. Sometimes the best history lessons come about from just following another interest such as astronomy or math or cooking. Follow the path until curiosity is sated. Knowledge will accumulate that way. ;-)

Coffee appeared in Europe around the late 16th century and early 17th century. Of course, like many liquids, there were all kinds of opinions about its purported health benefits.

However, the main benefit was the fact that it lead to a decline in the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol had previously been the best way to consume uncontaminated water, so it was common for much of the population of Europe to be mildly intoxicated for much of the day. Coffee offered a better way to consume uncontaminated water without getting drunk, and the mild amount of caffeine was purported to encourage clear thinking.

Coffee was hailed as part of the age of rationalism. Coffee shops became centers of intellectual engagement as part of an increase in interest in philosophy and sciences more generally in Western Europe. While coffee was later surpassed by tea in popularity in the UK, it continued to be popular in continental Europe.

One of the better written sources on the subject is http://www.amazon.com/A-History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

This is by no means a complete answer (I honestly think that one could write a book on this topic and still not come to a fully satisfying answer) but I hope that this will shed some insight into the history of the taboo and it's social causes.

The earliest academic reference I could find that tried to explain why speaking of money was a taboo was, unsurprisingly, Freud. And, even less surprisingly, he related it to anal eroticism. (As a quick aside, I'm really beginning to wonder if a cigar was just a cigar) 1. There is good reason to believe that the taboo persisted well before that, but it is the earliest reference I could personally find.

Without a definitive start date, some may be inclined to believe that we've always had this taboo-- or at least some type of it. Personally, that's the attitude I went into this question with. After all, money has been around for over 4,000 years 2 and our tribal psychology invites trepidation into situations where our social standing is on the line. Indeed, some have speculated that discussions of money fall under such situations 2 since we often tie worth to income and to financial price 3. This could reasonably lead people to conclude that it's simply inherent to human thought. Talking about money can dredge up a lot of social comparisons and expectations which could trigger that tribal instinct saying "let's not put ourselves in a lower position on the social strata so that we're not eventually ostracized 5."

There's only one problem with this: If it was universal, we would expect different cultures to have a similar reticence to income. But they don't 6. Even countries as geographically proximal as Japan and China have different attitudes about money as indicated by their folklore 7.

So we are left with the idea that this is a western construction. To be clear, I definitely think that the proclivity to tie social worth with the amount of stuff one has probably dates back quiet a while as it would be a handy hint throughout much of human history. But the actual taboo seems to be western in origin.

I don't think that we'll be able to find a specific date, time, or even location to pin this origination on. However, if allowed to venture an educated guess, I would posit that they came from our coffee shops.

It's well known that coffee and tea shops were instrumental to the formulation and actualization of many western uprisings 8. These institutions looked to turn the current social status quo on its head. Inside the shops, everyone was theoretically equal. A certain code of conversation developed, largely thanks to the propagation of two magazines: The Spectator and the Tatler 9. I cannot find any direct quotes from either publication that specifically dictates that one ought not to make note of the socioeconomic differences that exist outside of the shop-- however, there is decent evidence for tacit recommendations via the emphasis on maintaining a tempered and productive conversation 9. I contend that it's difficult to have a good chat when you're being actively singled out as an impecunious peon. Such an account would work fairly well with our theoretical understanding of taboo construction. As it goes, taboos are extremely strong norms and mores that deliver intense social (and possibly even official) sanctions 10. They can develop from social rules and evolve along with the society; hence why some taboo subjects are less taboo as they used to be and others are even more forbidden. I would venture that the taboo for discussing income developed on this track. It could have started off as an expression of politeness and proper etiquette and developed more bite as western society grew more infatuated with the idea of human equality. There aren't any studies that directly prove or disprove this theory (possibly due to a dearth of literature on the topic of money 2), so take it with a grain of salt.

I would also like to recommend the book that U/David_divaD did as well as The Psychology of Money by Furnham and Argyle.

It really depends on the brand of roaster and how much you want to invest to automate it. Automation will mean a loss of control and due to that loss of adjustable variables, you will be shoehorned into whatever roast it wants to give you (within certain limitations). This could be a good thing for beginners, shops who want repeatability, and operations where you want to be able to do other things (sales, etc) while the machine is roasting, or have an employee with little to no roasting background operate the machine.

If you buy a roaster with all of the automation already implemented, your training could be rather simplistic and you could turn out reasonable coffee quickly. To make extraordinary coffee, you need that minute control over every possible variable. We have found that a difference of one degree at a critical changing point in our profile is tasteable in the cup. I have an engineering background and immediately wanted greater control over the basic homeroaster because I understood things about profile roasting which I could not implement on the basic system.

Your other option is to find a used commercial drum and implement your own control/automation system. If you have any electrical or systems engineering background (or know anyone who does) this is not really complicated, just time consuming. There is a lot of software available for roast monitoring & control. If you don't have some sort of automation (PID gas valve control, computer monitoring and profile control) you won't have the precise repeatability to produce a similar product every time. Sure, you don't have one hand on a damper and the other on a gas valve, but there is still plenty of 'artisan' factor in crafting a great roast on any system which isn't fully automated!

If you want to get started on a smaller homeroasting level, [Kenneth Davids book] (http://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Roasting-Revised-Updated-Edition/dp/0312312199) gives a broad overview of coffee and has homeroasting techniques and insights. [Blue Bottle] (http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Bottle-Craft-Coffee-Roasting/dp/1607741180/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409583577&sr=1-1&keywords=blue+bottle+craft+of+coffee+by+james+freeman) is an entertaining read about James Freeman starting into roasting, his travels, a little bit about roasting, and a lot about prep methods. Definitely use the Sweet Marias web library! Also you might check out: homeroasters.org home-barista.com greencoffee.coop coffeegeek.com and I'm sure there are some I've missed. If you get the chance to attend a CoffeeFest, they are pretty inexpensive and there are roasting courses (basic, but nice intros to professional machines), you can meet plenty of green bean importers, and you can drink all the free coffees you can handle!

Hope my rambling answered your questions and I didn't bore you to death!

> Don't forget to let the beans rest before brewing!

This is a pretty common sentiment, but to quote from the bible of home roasting, p. 149:

> Freshly roasted beans are at their best anywhere from four hours to a day after roasting. Coffee fresh out of the roaster is superb, however, so don't deprive yourself of enjoying it owing to gourmet obsessiveness.

It's a lot of fun to have friends over for dinner and then decide amongst everyone which beans to roast and brew immediately. It's kind of like having a wine cellar where you let the guests pick out the wine. And, for those who have never been exposed to home roasting, it's a real treat.

I feel the best way to go about this is to gain a general sense of the outline of history, which isn't nearly so difficult as it may seem as first once you realize that the "history" that mainly gets talked about is only about 3000 years. Learn some sign posts for that span, and then from there you can fit anything new you learn into the general outline you've gained. A couple good books for gaining those signposts are:

A History of the World in 6 Glasses. A phenomenal starting book. Gives very, very broad strokes on the entirety of human development, from pre-history when we first made beer inside hollowed tree trunks (it predates pottery), all the way to the dawn of the global economy with the perpetual success of Coca-Cola.

Roots of the Western Tradition An incredibly short (265 pages!) overview of Ancient Mesopotamia up to the decline of the Roman Empire written in very accessible language. Phenomenal text.

The Story of Philosophy. A bit more dense than the other's, but a tour de force breakdown of the history of Western thought.

Obviously the above is very Western centric, I wish I could recommend similar books that cover Asian history, but sadly I can't think of any (though hopefully others will point some out in the comments). Still though, once you gain the signposts I talked about, learning Asian history will still be easier as you can slot things into the apporpriate time period. Like "Oh, the first Chinese Empire (Qin Dynasty) rose up in the same era as Rome was rising as a power and fighting it's wars against Carthage". Or, "Oh, the Mongols took power in Asia just about right after the Crusades."

As a little bonus, they may not be accurate but historical movies can still help pin down those first signposts of your history outline. Here's a little list.

A good intro to that question is How to Make Coffee: The Science Behind the Bean. It's a really quick read, and gives a pretty broad overview.

From personal experience, I'd say both matter. Of course, some of that is going to be personal preference. My wife and I both love coffee, but she prefers a darker, more chocolatey profile, while I prefer a lighter, brighter taste.

I have a preferred roaster who I think is great, so when I get beans that seem sub-standard, I generally assume it was the crop, not the roasting. A lot of times, they just have less flavor to them - it's not that they're bad, they're just nothing special.

I recently visited a roaster in my area, though, who I can tell you straight up does not roast their beans properly. They have a very burned taste to them. It's not the worst coffee I've ever had, but it's certainly not good, either. They've destroyed the flavors.

Of course, as you mentioned, increased quality tends to also mean increased price. Finding a balance between those two can be a bit difficult. I'm also in a position where I can't afford my preferred roaster all the time. But then again, I really enjoy trying new and different coffees, so I suppose I'm about the "journey" as much as I am about the end result. (EDIT: Meaning, I'm always willing to try lower priced coffee, in the hopes I might strike gold, so to speak.)

As for fresher roasts, to be totally honest, I've never noticed that much of a difference in those I've had shipped to me, as long as they were roasted, shipped, and arrived within 2-3 days. But it's possible my tastes just aren't that refined, yet. I dunno. It takes me about a week to get through a bag, anyway, so obviously by the end it's not particularly fresh, either.

Ok, this is from the book 6 Glasses that Changed the World. It's been a while since I read it, so take it with a grain of salt.

IIRC, it was more like they added wine to water in order to make it taste better (since, as you mention, they had shitty sources of water). In addition, the wine of the time wasn't as subtle, I guess. Their yeast wasn't as specialized, so it left more sugars, and it was sweeter and more cloying. So wine improved the taste of water and water improved the taste of wine. Finally, part of it was to avoid getting drunk. As Romans, they considered themselves the height of civilization and took pride in being cultured.

Of course they got drunk- they're human! They had parties, like everyone else. I'm sure you've heard of Bacchanals - literally a festival to the god of wine. At their parties, they had a guy who was in charge of maintaining the ratio of wine:water as the night went on, I'm guessing he made it stronger.

BTW, I'd recommend the book. It's a quick read and very entertaining,

Like most subreddits, take r/coffee with a shaker full of salt. There are coffee companies leading the charge in understanding coffee, creating and implementing sustainable strategies, and making the most delicious product possible. All of that is changing fast. So on r/coffee, I frequently see cutting edge information from 2005, or 2000 or 1990. And it's upvoted and encouraged with great enthusiasm.

If you are interested in learning about good coffee, I highly recommend this book. It's probably 100% accurate to what we know about making coffee so far, it's highly accessible to someone new to coffee, and it's beautiful. Linking back in to the thread, I feel absolutely no buyers remorse about buying this book, and totally leave it on my coffee table at all times to cheer me up.

There are ton of factors that need to be considered, but what's happening at your shop is unfortunate. It really sounds like it's one of those situations you should probably remove yourself from because it will take a lot of time and effort on your part to change the system and you'll likely see no reward for it.

Claiming you can pull a delicious shot in 5 seconds is like saying you can cook a full turkey in 30 minutes. Please don't get caught up in "It should be within 25-30 seconds" or whatever you may hear. Just your dose alone will change that a ton. So will roast profiles, ratios (ristretto is a ratio, not a time btw), grind size, roast date, etc.

You asked for resources though and I think to get a relatively unbiased opinion you should get the Scott Rao books The Professional Barista's Handbook and Everything but Espresso. Scott Rao isn't a cafe owner like Schomer or the Blue Bottle crew so the theory and methods aren't based on his own company's coffee. A lot of resources out there that say how a shot should be pulled are more specific to their coffee and the machines they use. I recommend these two books to everyone who wants to really learn coffee theory objectively aside from any one company's methods. Plus, this information will help you when moving from one shop to another since the theory stays the same.

Hope that helps!

Here's a few things I think most Coffee lovers would enjoy.



Gear

• Aeropress
  
  
• Able Aeropress disk filter
  
  
• Able Kone filter
  
  
• a Hand Coffee Grinder
  
  
• Hario Range Server
  
  
• Toddy Cold Brew Coffee Maker
  
  For home espresso enthusiasts
  
  
• a Quality Tamper
  
  
• Grindenstein Knock Box
  
  
  
  Mugs
  
  
• Mazama Hand thrown stoneware
  
  
• Not Nuetral LINO Mugs
  
  
• Stumptown City Mug Set
  
  
  
• Intelligentsia Mug Lover's Gift Box
  
  
• KeepCup Brew
  
  Books
  
  
• The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee
  
  
• The World Atlas of Coffee
  
  
• A film About Coffee Book
  
  
• Anything written by Scott Rao
  
  
• God in a Cup
  
  Misc.
  
  
• A Film About Coffee digital download
  
  
  
• Soma Glass Water Filter
  
  
• The Department of Brewology prints
  
  
• The Compendious Coffee Chart
  
  
• Fresh Kaufee Espresso Yourself shirt
  
  
• Sweet Maria's gift certificate
  
  
• Subscription to a Coffee Service
  
  
• Support A local coffee shop by buying a gift card!
  
  edit: continually adding things as I think of them

By that I mean the non-pulsing method e.g. 12g coffee in, 24g off boil (~205F) water, 30s bloom, then add the rest of the water slowly in one pour, stir the top and let in drain. It is the method in James Hoffman's book but I will admit I haven't actually tried it...

If you struggle to fit all the water in over the course of a single pour you could always use an 02 size v60, and tighten the grind up a tiny bit to allow for the increased flow rate.

If you want to use v60 at work try a method you could replicate at work and compare it with your normal go-to method, you may find that the results are perfectly acceptable. For example, blooming is usually encouraged but you could probably get away with a more basic method (eg: add all coffee, add all water, stir at the top, drain), just might need to play around with grind size to get a ~3min drawdown

The way of Tea -which is more going into Taoist philosophy of tea but it does have some history.

Steeped in history, The art of tea -That book has the history of tea in every area plus great images.

The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook -Quick guide to tea from every region and how to steep. Plus some great pictures on the color of a hand full of teas.

Tea, A global History

The book of tea -A lot of people seem to like this book but I personally find it a bit preachy in the sense of West vs. East and those evil Westerners.

A Cup of Tea -I personally just like this book. It's not tea information but instead tea quotes and some recipes. Each page has a cute little tea cup with a quote.

These are just the ones I have read but there are many more out there. Check your library to see if they have any books on tea.

Not directly relevant, but I'm reading coffee life in Japan
right now, and it's fantastic! Sort of an anthropological study of the role of Cafe's in Japan, with examples from different coffee shops. As a bonus, at the end it's got a list of interesting shops from Kyoto, Tokyo and elsewhere, including both good, old-school cafes and third wave type places.
Highly recommend for any coffee person, but especially so if you're going to Japan!

Does your stove vent actually go outside, or does it recirculate air inside your townhouse? I too live in a townhouse and mine does not vent outside. I ask this because unless it goes outside, the smoke created from a Whirley Pop (or similar device) is akin to pissing on a forest fire when it comes to a non-outdoor vent. It can't keep up and your whole place will get smokey.

Like others have said, I don't think it's a bad smell but it's not for everyone. I have several windows and a sliding glass door in my kitchen--put all of them to good use when I did stovetop.

I also suggest buying (or renting from your local library) this book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312312199/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's how I learned way back when.

Good luck! I did stovetop for well over a year before getting a Behmor. It's a great way to get started.

Tempurature preferences in drinks tend to be based on culture. In the United States, we prefer to drink our beverages cold. This has to do with lot of different things; For example, we have access to municipal water supplies that are almost always perfectly good sources of clean water, access to electricity and refrigeration (things that are still luxuries in many parts of the world), and the fact that cold Coke and beer just plain taste better to us.

Many other parts of the world prefer their drinks hot. This stems from the origninal need to boil water to prevent disease, and has been ingrained in multitudes of cultures through traditional drinks like tea and coffee. Many cultures that prefer hot beverages hold the belief that cold drinks are not good for you.

Something that we all have in common is that we don't tend to like tepid drinks that have been left out. The exceptions to this rule are most alcoholic beverages which, notably, do not need to be heated to kill bacteria, or chilled to prevent spoiling, since the alcohol takes care of preservation.

If you're very interested in seeing the ways different cultures have been influenced by drinks, or how drinks have been influenced by cultures, you might enjoy A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. It's a very good read.

The Story of Tea is, from my readings, one of the most thorough and well-researched books on the subject. While it places a heavy emphasis on history and cultivation, it delves deep into specific growing regions, the teas they produce, and the tea cultures of those regions. My only gripe is that they didn't mention samovars in their brief section on Russian tea culture, but a) it's forgivable, and b) now you know.

For similar breadth but (slightly) less thoroughness, Tea is an excellent choice. In fact, this is the book that I would recommend to anyone starting their tea journey. Of course, you can always read both. ;)

Happy reading!

Try some fresher styles.
For red you might enjoy Brachetto D'Aqui and I concur a white you might enjoy includes Moscato D'Asti.

If you want to try fortified wines, that are excellent for winter, seek out a Rutherglen liqueur Topaque or liqueur Muscat.

Find a local fine wine merchant and talk to them. They should be able to guide you to the transitional wines that you're seeking.

If you want to increase your knowledge of wine, two books I can recommend are Jancis Robinson's "24 Hour Wine Expert" and Tom Standage's excellent book "History of the World in 6 Glasses." both shed light on different aspects of this beguiling drink.

Yeah James Freeman the founder of blue bottle has a unique opinion of how to describe flavors that come from coffee. From my understanding James likes to tell a story about the state the coffee puts him in or how it feels to drink that coffee (Source). If you've never read it it I highly suggest reading The Blue bottle craft of Coffee by James Freeman. It is a great read and really shows his philosophy on coffee and how it should be prepared. Plus its great eye candy for your bookshelf.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses talks about coffee houses being the places for information sharing. Mostly for traders and thinkers and to accommodate people with international interests, they started carrying wide selections of periodicals. I like imagining them like a really proto-reddit. :)


Honestly, I think we call them thinkers mostly because maybe two dozen of them were great thinkers. I imagine it would be safe to assume a lot of dilettantes.

I last licked a lime popsicle, and it was delicious! <3

If I could, I would love a gift card. But if you would rather gift a physical item, this would be fantastic!

I haven't, but it seems like a decent book for beginners.

The book that I recommend, and have read is this one by Blue Bottle. It's a gorgeous book for your coffee table (hehe) in hardcover and is by a highly respected coffee roaster. Do check it out.

I actually came across this same idea in a book called [A History of the World in 6 Glasses] (https://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524). Good book. Had to read it for class but ended up enjoying it.

It mentions how beer/mead became a popular drink in early times because of this. It also goes on to explain why other popular drinks (coffee, spirits, Coca-cola, etc) spread so wildly.

Just thought I'd share!

Yes, this was commonplace for 10,000+ years before coffee in the 17 century. Beer/wine was safer to drink than water due to its fermentation. It's laid out pretty nicely in A History of the World in Six Glasses which I am currently reading. I highly recommend it, it is a very easy read.

Awesome. It's a fantastic book and I highly recommend it. If you want to zoom out and casually take a look at a larger period of time and beverages, Tom Standage's A History of the World in Six Glasses is a really fun read.

What's your machine like? If you've got a small boiler, maybe they just don't want you steaming and pulling shots at the same time, to hold up enough pressure for the espresso? Still, that would speak to a machine that really belongs in a kitchen, not on a shop counter.

I wouldn't go stepping on toes at a new job either, but maybe if you share some resources like coffeegeek and home-barista (.com) with your trainers, they might (hopefully) revise their training regimens. You could also check out Schomer's book or Rao's.

Good luck!

The history of beer and most alcohol is quite amazing and mostly accidental. If anyone is interested there is a great book http://www.amazon.com/History-The-World-Six-Glasses/dp/0802714471 that is really fun to read. And that is coming from someone who doesnt read much

I was a history major in college, but I'm not going to recommend you anything too heavy or even all that long. This a great little book that makes for a fun and interesting read: A History of the World in Six Glasses.

How set are they in their device and method, and are they interested in reading/learning about brewing?

Rather than the beans or any particular device, I've been finding this book to be really valuable as a casual/at-home brewer. It's fairly method-neutral, does a good job of explaining how to tune your cup for strength/extraction using evidence, and has a nice mix of "prose" and "information-focused" sections. Plus, the printing quality and material texture of the physical edition is just really nice.

These books, because Amazon is that one up-and-coming online bookseller, right? ;)

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties

Tea Wisdom: Inspirational Quotes and Quips About the World's Most Celebrated Beverage

This may be more niche than what you're looking for, but I enjoyed Coffee Life in Japan for the perspective on what coffee culture looks like in another area of the world. Seeing how the coffee shops in Japan have evolved over time was fascinating.

fortissimo

This would be lovely, as would be a surprise of anything from my under $10 wish list :)

Thank you for the contest!

A great book is: "The Big Book of Kombucha".
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Kombucha-Flavoring-Fermented/dp/161212433X

It's a great book and a great present.

Definitely hit up liquid jade I read that and tea lovers treasury. They ended up being very similar books however liquid jade had information that was much more transparent and provided every aspect of an idea, not only what the author thought was correct. Liquid jade was also written more elegantly and easier to read.

TLDR: Yes, I can tell a huge difference between Darjeeling and Assam, even between different grades of tea from the same garden- but I've been drinking quality tea for 12+ years now, and I especially like good Indian tea.


What are the specific teas in the sample box, what is the vendor, and how long have you been drinking loose-leaf tea?

Palate is like a muscle. I'd fail at telling a Burgundy from a Bordeaux (without some practice), because I don't have much wine experience. But science shows that, to use a term I really dislike, becoming a connoisseur of something (or say learning an instrument) even physically changes specific regions of one's brain.

I'd wager I could distinguish between any decent orthodox single-estate Assam and an equivalent grade Darjeeling, blindfolded, 999 times out of 1,000. I've had many thousands of cups, of hundreds of different examples of these over the years.

The two regions produce quite different product. Assam uses plants that are primarily C sinensis var assamica genetics, and Darjeeling mainly C sinensis var sinensis genetics, although this is an oversimplification. In any case, genetics, terroir (soil and climate), cultivation, and processing cause different regions to produce very different teas, esp to trained senses. The book Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties, by Kevin Gascoyne is a beautiful introduction to the topic.

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. A surprisingly fun read and interesting read.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. Another fun read. Touches on some great topics, like the "which came first: beer or bread" debate, but doesn't go into topics as deeply as I would have liked.

I haven't read these two yet, but it's on my list:

Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner

An Edible History of Humanity by Tom Standage

You're welcome. One thing on math -- don't let your self think that you'll never use it again after passing tests, because it's not really true. Algebra teaches you how to problem solve and physics teaches you how things move in space. Just the other day I was sitting in traffic when a guy drove by me rather fast while hauling a trailer loaded down with bricks. I slowed down to avoid the inevitable accident when he had to hit the brakes and that mass of bricks kept the car moving forward like it was on rails, then bam! So study it all, I promise you it will come in handy throughout your life.

Not sure how much history is on the GED, but here's a couple of easy, breezy books to help you get through it:

The History of the World in 6 Glasses talks about how beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca Cola helped to shape our world. https://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RLRKWTQUZJPH&keywords=history+of+the+world+in+six+glasses&qid=1570998109&sprefix=history+of+the+w%2Caps%2C513&sr=8-1

Don't Know Much About History: Everything You need to Know about American History, But Never Learned.

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Know-About-History-Anniversary/dp/0061960543/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZSIWW28WSLG8&keywords=don%27t+know+much+about+history+by+kenneth+g.+davis&qid=1570998056&sprefix=don%27t+know+m%2Caps%2C165&sr=8-1

Good luck op. I think you have more on the ball than you think you do. PM me if you need any study guidance.

The history of food and drink really interests me. One of the coolest books I ever read from the library was A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage.

It traces the development of human civilization by what people drank. Starting off with beer and Egypt and Mesopotamia, then moving on to wine and Greco-Roman civilization. Jumping forward to British colonialism, it details the development of spirits and fortified wines, then moves on to tea and coffee, before springing forward again in time and talking about colas and soft drinks. Very, very interesting stuff.

I liked the book so much, I went out and bought my own copy, that sits proudly on a shelf of my bar, next to my scotches and bartenders guides.

YES! It's pretty well documented in A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage.

Also, the "How Beer Saved the World" documentary on Netflix mentions it. I assume you've seen?!

The History of the World in 6 Glasses contains an interesting section on tea, as well as being a great book overall.

Upton Tea Imports has a good general tea information, tea history and general tea book recommendations section of their website, and each of their catalogs has a segment on the history of the tea trade. The newer ones are here, and the older ones here.

Craft Coffee: A Manual Brewing a Better Cup at home by Jessica Eastro is a must have in my opinion. Is very detailed about everything coffee from growing to brewing. Is also very easy to understand for people just getting into the coffee game as well as good information for people who have been into coffee for years.

www.amazon.com/dp/1572842334/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_uTCqDbQA8Y021

A book that I found extremely helpful when starting out in the tea business was The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook. It'll cover all the bases regarding the different classes of teas, manufacture, terroir, how to store and age them, the history of tea, and a bunch of other useful information. Everyone at the tea shop I work at owns a copy, haha. It's like our tea bible.

Tom Standage does a great job writing books which are thematically ordered, meaning he goes through history focusing on certain cultural phenomonam which influenced the time. His History of thr World in 6 Glasses" book is a great one. I'm currently reading his one on the first 2000 years of social media called Writing on the Wall.

Edit:

Links! - 6 Glasses

Social Media

Cane sugar is the go-to for making kombucha but you just have to make sure that if you use plain white sugar the packaging says “cane sugar” as sometimes white sugar is actually genetically modified sugar beets.

Coconut sugar has many variations in grades and production methods but is also an acceptable sugar to use. It is recommended that if you choose a brand to try out that you do so on an experimental batch in case you get mold growth or the relationship with the SCOBY is not working out.

Source:
The Big Book of Kombucha

I really like this book. I read it back when I was first getting into loose leaf tea. Not only does it help you know how to steep the different types of tea it also has recommendations for specific teas as well. It really helped me to experiment with different teas I like and figure out how to make them better than I already was.

I own way, way too many coffee books. Most weren't worth buying. Of the ones I own I'd recommend:

Scott Rao's books (all of them) - http://www.scottrao.com

For history I prefer Anthony Wild's "Black Gold" over Uncommon Grounds (which is just more US centric, rather than giving an accurate global history of coffee). Wild's book is a little dated, especially when it comes to speciality and to C-market pricing (it has been a time of great turmoil since it was written!). However, no one has written a more accurate, myth-dispelling history.

Merry White's "Coffee Life in Japan" was thoroughly enjoyable, as she's more food anthropologist than coffee person, so it was very accessible and entertaining. She once scooped me up from a coffee shop in Cambridge, MA and drove me round a bunch of places before feeding me icecream and dropping me at my hotel. She's amazing.

Also - my business partner Anette Moldvaer has a book out here.

Finally, I also have a book coming out in about a month (6th Oct in the English speaking world, except North America which is 21st Oct) but I might do an AMA or something closer to the time if people are interested...

Honestly, most of what I know about Ethiopia has been picked up from digging into Wikipedia after being confused by some of the sourcing information from roasters and various green coffee importer websites. The trading of goods provides a window into human history and the world we live in now.

Tracing lots of coffee back to their specific origin helps one learn more about each step of production in between the final product and the producer. It is humbling to me to realize the amount of labor and human effort that went into making my cup of coffee possible.

Resources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_Ethiopia
  
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_zones_of_Ethiopia
  
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Districts_of_Ethiopia
  
  
  This podcast episode was super interesting:
  
  
• https://www.podcastchart.com/podcasts/containers/episodes/episode-4-the-hidden-side-of-coffee
  
  Green coffee importers with informative sites:
  
  
• http://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/user/sweetmarias/videos
  
  
• https://www.sweetmarias.com/category/green-coffee/
  
  
• https://www.sweetmarias.com/category/green-coffee/others/out-of-stock-coffee
  
  
• https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/content/origins-gesha-coffee-i-mean-gecha-i-mean-gorei
  
  
• https://legacy.sweetmarias.com/library/content/why-should-you-know-giling-basah
  
  
• http://www.cafeimports.com/education
  
  
• http://www.cafeimports.com/origins
  
  
• https://www.royalcoffee.com/category/crown-analysis/
  
  
• https://www.royalcoffee.com/category/education-resources/
  
  
• https://www.royalcoffee.com/category/coffee-report/
  
  Roaster with an informative site:
  
  
• http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/farming-chapter/the-farm-overview/
  
  
• https://georgehowellcoffee.smugmug.com/
  
  Video about the history of coffee and its varietals by Peter Giuliano, President of the Specialty Coffee Association of America:
  
  
• https://vimeo.com/41428743
  
  As far as books go, I am dying to read James Hoffmann's World Atlas of Coffee.

I like this tea book. It looks super neat!

The Blue Bottle book is good. Not espresso-specific (and half of it is recipes for food), but there's some good info in there. Looks nice on a coffee table too.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Bottle-Craft-Coffee-Roasting/dp/1607741180

My understanding is it partially started when the church of England split from the Catholic church. Coffee was strongly associated with the Catholic church at time, and to distance themselves, people in England began to stop drinking it, and instead started drinking tea. There is actually a theory that tea helped out the industrial revolution, because it has minor antibiotic properties. Right when people started really bunching up in cities, is when tea got popular. It also may have contributed to British naval superiority, due to it's vitamin C. This helped fight off scurvy, and major problem at the time.

I would check out this book http://www.amazon.com/A-History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524 If you are interested in more information. It goes too far to the side of "this caused this" but as long as you keep in mind things are rarely as cut and dry as he implies, it has some great information.

1- Light roast has the most flavour but most acidity as well,
medium roast has a balance and dark roast has lowest acidity but almost same flavour for any origin coffee you try

2- i cant comment exactly on this but what i have seem is anyone who uses whirley pot use it directly on stovetop.. you can add cast iron if you like.. its logically that it can even out the heat..

3- for online knowlegde, reddit is good but ill suggest join roasting forums, they can help you out and can anwser your queries alot better.. as for books you can buy/download pdf files like World Atlas of coffee and bluebottle ebook

4- im not from LA so cant help.. sorry.. but you can go to any local roaster and talk to them and as your questions they are helpfull.. maybe search on yelp for nearby roasts..

This book is beautiful: https://www.amazon.com/Craft-Coffee-Manual-Brewing-Better/dp/1572842334 Pretty sure it will explain everything you need to know about grind size, water to coffee ratio and brew methods.

[This book is pretty comprehensive](http://www.The.com/ Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, and Enjoying the Health Benefits of Fermented Tea https://www.amazon.com/dp/161212433X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_sbI1AbSTPR4NM)

A little whimsical at times about the "miracle benefits" of the stuff, but tons of practical info on every aspect of brewing, taking it to the next level, troubleshooting, and so on

Correct!
If you have not yet read A History of the World in 6 Glasses, I highly recommend it.
It's a fun, informative read about beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola. :)

I was a fan of the Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee.

Fun, anecdotal, and very informative. Plus the hard cover looks great on a coffee table. I often have guests flip through it when they come by.

This book has tons of recipes and talks about other teas you can use. I got it for my Kindle via my library so check yours 😁

The Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, and Enjoying the Health Benefits of Fermented Tea https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z8CZPKU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Rp58Ab23Z665J

The Story of Tea is a great book. Tons of information and really beautiful.

How deep do you want to go? On one end you have text books on tea production:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0412338505/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1397106420&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

On the other you have good survey style, coffee table books like:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1770853197/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1397106527&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40

This is another standard book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/9789578962?pc_redir=1396503919&robot_redir=1

"The Classic of Tea" is an ancient Chinese book often cited. I'm not sure what translations are available:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Classic_of_Tea

Wikipedia also has a good list of classic tea literature:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_classics

This question has come up before so make side to search the sub so you can get all our previous discussions.

Not really unfortunately. But if you're up for reading there are two books I'd recommend. The more readable of the two is God in a Cup. The more technical is The Professional Barista's Handbook.

They are both from 2008, and are somewhat dated as the coffee world has moved pretty quickly in the last decade or so. But they are still good books to understanding coffee. On a professional level (the Rao book) and on a global scale (the Weissman book).

In general Coffee's shelf life at room temp for optimal flavor is around 11-14 days. In the fridge the moisture is too high and will cause the oils to go rancid faster, but if you put the coffee into an airtight container in the fridge for storing it's fine - and only thaw beans when you're just about to brew them. It won't be as good as fresh coffee, but it may be up to 90-95% as good, so the improved shelf life may be worth it.

Source: The Professional Barista's Handbook by Scott Rao.

Home Coffee Roasting, Revised, Updated Edition: Romance and Revival https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312312199/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QYjJDb0SZD2H3

Goes into the chemistry of roasting, history, and generally everything about coffee roasting. I’m using it myself and am learning a lot.

Happy reading!!

That's definitely one of my top-3 tea books. I also really enjoyed Liquid Jade for a book that focused more on the stories of tea.

I get asked this question a lot, and if you're looking for something to go from start to finish, answer a lot of beginner questions and yet also give enough info to leave you wanting more, I always recommend [The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffmann.] (http://www.amazon.com/The-World-Atlas-Coffee-Explained/dp/1770854703)

It also doesn't hurt that it's a beautiful ahem coffee table book - excuse the pun!

The Story of Tea is a really great book that I've been enjoying.

I've read this one and it's really good. Read the whole description to see if its what you are looking for. The author is a barista champ and one of the "thinkers" in the coffee industry and writes really well.

http://www.amazon.com/World-Atlas-Coffee-Explored-Explained/dp/1770854703

One of my favorites:

http://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Roasting-Revised-Updated-Edition/dp/0312312199

I got it to get an overview about roasting, but the book does a great job talking about coffee in general.

Hijacking top comment to recommend a book (kinda) about this. A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, puchasable for $0.99, used, on Amazon.

It's well researched and iirc, it covers history (mostly western) from the Mesopotamian civilizations to the present day. The six drinks it does this through are Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea and Coke. I found it somewhat interesting that the first 3 drinks contained alcohol and the last three contained caffeine (not that this necessarily signifies anything), and I think he mentions that in passing somewhere in his book.

I'm reading a book right now called A History of the World in 6 Glasses, which is history told through the most popular beverages of the time. It is awesome, and they talk about the development of beer. You should check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301516319&sr=8-1

That was a pretty nifty watch. You might also like a book called A History of the World in Six Glasses.

I highly recommend James Hoffmann's The World Atlas Of Coffee. It covers in great detail all of the topics you mentioned plus just about anything else you would want to know about coffee.

I recommend A History of the World in Six Glasses. It's generally interesting and entertaining, and also talks about the history of both beer and bread (which are quite similar).

I didn't get any gear but I got this book.

Haven't gone through it all yet but so far it's awesome.

Invest it in coffee knowledge! Your Aeropress (or any coffee!) will taste better and be more fun after reading James Hoffman's Coffee Atlas.

Hmmm this one is one of the better general topic books. This one looks like it might be ok. Haven't read that one yet though. I tend to look at the more terroir specific books lately if I'm looking for info on tea.

Blue Bottle's coffee table book about coffee is a nice introduction. It's a great prop to give to guests while you labor over serving them coffee. http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Bottle-Craft-Coffee/dp/1607741180

History of the World in Six Glasses https://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses-ebook/dp/B002STNBRK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=history+of+the+world+in+six+glasses&qid=1554425816&s=gateway&sr=8-1

\^\^\^ A few of us use this for summer assignment/reading. I've used this in both AP and on-level classes to supplement textbook reading.

​

Chris Peek wrote two amazing "Mastering AP World History" guides as well. Here's the teacher one (he has a student centered version too). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1722350997/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

My understanding is that the story about the goat herder is, unsurprisingly, hard to prove.

I'd like to see more about how coffee has been served over time. For instance, when it was first popularized in Europe, the brew would be stored for months at a time before being served. I imagine it was not very similar to what we think of today.

Also, coffee was popular in England before tea was imported there. Blows my mind.

My "source"

A book called "A History of the World in Six Glasses" explores the roles that beer, wine, distilled spirits, tea, coffee, and water played throughout history.

In the chapter on coffee, the author describes a period when Muslims were debating whether or not coffee should be outlawed due to the mind-altering effect of caffeine (as with alcohol). They literally had a trial in which they placed a vessel of coffee on the "stand" to be judged. Eventually, it was decided that coffee was innocent as its effect on the body could be comparable to that of spicy food.

Side note: From an interview on NPR with another author, apparently it has been common throughout history for animals and inanimate objects to be tried for crimes. For instance, a man was being tried for bestiality with a pig. They judged whether or not the pig should be punished for immorality but ultimately decided that it was innocent and let it go.

The author's book is "The Trial: A History, from Socrates to O.J. Simpson". I haven't read it, but it sounded interesting from the interview.

Automod: activate!

Some websites/articles I've also found useful are World of Tea, articles by Max Falkowitz (the same guy who wrote The Non-Judgmental Guide to Tea, linked in the sidebar), and a bunch of tea blogs (there are other r/tea threads about those). I've also heard Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties is a good book to read, if you want something in your hands!

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties, I found it to be a great book. A little bit pricey but well worth it.

Scott Rao has two or three introductory books such as: The Professional Barista’s Handbook and Everything But Espresso. I would also look around Barista Hustle. I’m currently taking their Advanced Coffee Making course in order to put together a wholesale training program, and it’s been super solid so far.

http://www.amazon.com/A-History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

This is a great book that explores the questions you're asking and some other cool themes and ideas around the various drinks the world consumes.

Thanks for the informative write up, and as always with history, new discoveries, will change historical fact and discourse.

I was just talking about grape wine, from Tom Standage's book, published in 2006, so I take that for fact from then. Beverage history is not at all my specialty, but it was a fun book to read nonetheless.

Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties is recommended pretty often here, haven't gotten ahold of it yet though. I'm currently reading The Story of Tea which is very comprehensive, but the writing could be better, the author's style can be a little jumpy, sometimes they pick up a thread a couple of pages later or they repetitively restate information from a few pages back.

I quite enjoyed A Brief History of Drugs. It is not the deepest reads but is quite interesting look at drugs throughout history. Another book from a historical perspective but dealing with beverages is A History of the World in 6 Glasses it looks at 6 specific beverages (beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, and Coke) and how they shaped history. This isn't specific to drugs, though all 6 beverages contain drugs so I think it counts.

If you can get your hands on a beer brewing kit (Chapters has small ones) you can brew your own. The Big Book of Kombucha has a guide on how to do it. If you've brewed kombucha before, I would still recommend this book as it an excellent resource.

I read Coffee Life in Japan recently and it's pretty good. it tells a lot about the history of coffee spreading throughout Japan and how it became so popular.

They talk about this in A History of the World in 6 Glasses: https://smile.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524.

A pretty good book all in all, even if some of the connections seem tenuous.

I love this book.

"How to Make Coffee" by Lani Kingston

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419715844/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Very scientific approach to coffee. Explains the botany of coffee. Explains proper extraction and important factors therein. Also explains most of the methods of making coffee.

I purchased the Big Book of Kombucha, it has a ton of info. I actually rented it from my public library first.

The Big Book of Kombucha: Brewing, Flavoring, and Enjoying the Health Benefits of Fermented Tea https://www.amazon.com/dp/161212433X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_TY6PAb6MYSWXQ

I haven't read At Home, so I'm not entirely sure what it's about, but based on the description on amazon it sounds like he uses everyday objects as starting points to discuss historical events. There are a number of similar books such as Salt and A History of the World in 6 Glasses. This genre is frequently referred to as "microhistory".

Also - Blue Bottle wrote a pretty freaking cool book. Lots of good photos and very specific brew methods included.

bracing for the Blue Bottle haters

I'm a bit late, but as a really really quick look at something similar to that is:

History of the World in 6 Glasses

Probably one of my favorites that is similar to what you asked for. I can direct you to more if you want, but that one is mainly the 6 drinks that changed the world

Ale/Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea, Cocacola

I don't have either, thought now I want both. If you're interested in something with significantly less depth and significantly less price, check out How to Make Coffee. It's brief but interesting.

In "A History of the World in 6 Glasses", Tom Standage credits early inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent's survival with drinking beer which by having alcohol in it made it reasonably safe.

My sister bought me this book for Christmas. I've been taking it in slowly, as there is a ton of information in it, but anyways it is very good.

this guide is probably the best investment you could make. I still find myself referencing it.

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Coffee-Roasting-Revised-Updated/dp/0312312199/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372598138&sr=1-1&keywords=home+roasting+coffee

I love this one

Did you, by any chance, learn this from Tom Standage's A History of the World in 6 Glasses? It was a really entertaining read for my flight home.

Check out A History of the World in Six Glasses for a great overview of coffee & its influence on European society. I believe (though am not 100% sure) that this ad is referenced in the book.

Thank you for providing a real response, rather than what you've over heard or speculation.

Most of what you said lines up with what I read from this book: A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage.

First chapter is solely about the history of beer.

>As has been stated several times in this thread, it's the reason why we became an agricultural society instead of just hunter/gatherers. It's the reason we have society.

The only difference, and I am not saying the book is correct, is that beer came about from humans settling down (traveling less). It wasn't the reason they started to travel less, but was the side effect of that. The assumption is that beer was an accident. Likely rain water getting into a clay storage area, and fermenting with the ingredients. The rest of you what you said though lines up.

It covers how it was used a form of payment, and that the workers on the pyramids were likely paid with beer. Good read if anyone is interested.

I really enjoyed "The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes" :: http://www.amazon.com/The-Blue-Bottle-Craft-Coffee/dp/1607741180

It is kinda specific to Blue Bottle's business, but worth a read and was insightful.

This is my favorite book on Kombucha, lots of brewing tips, history, and health notes.

I've been brewing and drinking the stuff for about a year now. I like it because it induces a good solid bowel movement out of me every time. Digestively...definitely some changes down there but I don't want to be too gross. Can't say it has cured cancer or AIDs or even a cold.

I keep up the habit because I do like to dabble in historical eating. People used to consume a lot more active yeast and bacteria via beer and I am open to the notion that this played a key role in digestion. I combine my kombucha habit with fasting to help with digestive issues and I'm mostly cleared up these days.

It comes from the amount of pressure produced by the old Italian spring pressure machines.

Source: This amazing book

The World Atlas of Coffee: From Beans to Brewing -- Coffees Explored, Explained and Enjoyed https://www.amazon.com/dp/1770854703/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Y.ILAbHXGCR0Q

Have you ever heard of this book called A History of the World in Six Glasses?

http://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

If not, then never mind I suppose. If so, would you mind giving me a quick rundown of your impression? Mostly dealing with accuracy and overall legitimacy, if you don't mind.

This for practical, everyday applications. For fun, historical stuff, try the New Tea Lover's Treasury

Haven't heard anything about A People's History of the World, but I highly recommend A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage

The classic work is Home Coffee Roasting, Revised, Updated Edition: Romance and Revival
by Kenneth Davids.

I really enjoyed and learned a lot from the book Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses! I'm reading it for my AP World History2 summer assignment. It's really interesting!

The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking and some Detour Holiday Blend

pic

You may want to check out "A History of the World in Six Glasses," which looks at the history of some of the most ancient and popular drinks and the way they were used within different cultures:
http://www.amazon.com/A-History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

Distilled spirits were not widely known in Europe during the Middle Ages. And, from what I can tell, they were not considered a high class beverage even once they did become widespread. See, for instance, the Gin Craze in 18th century Britain. It's actually difficult to find the early history of some distilled spirits because they were popularized among the sort of people who wouldn't have been writing a lot of things down.

So that leaves beer and wine.

To an extent, the cultural prestige of beer vs. wine is geographic. Some parts of Europe are conducive to growing wine grapes and aging wine. Some are not.

So in places like Britain, where wine is not made locally, wine becomes a high-class beverage because it has to be imported from elsewhere. It's a valuable commodity, not your basic everyday beverage for the average joe. The everyday drink would have been beer, in wine-less places. And thus you get lots of paintings of nobles drinking wine and peasants drinking beer.

In the literature, too, beer is seen as a more local thing in non-winemaking places, whereas wine is an imported luxury. The average wife would have brewed her own beer, for example.

You can sort of think of it like the difference between tap water and Perrier, in the modern US.

But of course if we're talking about, for example, Italy, wine is made all over the country, and the everyday drink of choice is going to also be wine. (But probably rough plonk, not the fine wines reserved for the nobility and export to the ultra-rich in colder countries.) Southern Europe never really developed a strong beer culture, because there was plenty of wine to go around.

I unfortunately have no idea whether beer was imported to Southern Europe or whether it ever had the kind of cultural prestige that wine has had in Northern Europe, though my experience drinking beer in Italy in the present day implies that beer has never been a sought after luxury there. Peroni, ick.

The cocktail is a 19th century invention, by the way.

You might want to read A History Of The World In Six Glasses, if you like this sort of thing. It doesn't really answer your question about class and prestige, though, but it does touch on what drinks were invented when and what people would have been drinking at different points in time.

I enjoyed The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook, which helped me to understand a bit more about the differences between all the different classes of tea.

Hi! new to this sub but I have a suggestion! Have you been vegan for long? I've been slowly making my way to eating less meat and more veggies. I also live in an area where "sushi quality" fish is hard to find and expensive (and yes, I know that "sushi quality" subjective term).

Anyway, it may sound weird but there's a way to prepare a SCOBY (like the mother from kombuhca) for sushi! In this book they give a recipe that involves thinly slicing the SCOBY and marinating it in things like sesame oil, soy sauce, etc. and putting it over rice in a nigiri fashion. The taste comes from the marinade and the texture is akin to squid. I'd write the recipe down but I can't remember it or find my copy of the book at the moment.

Definitely weird and "out there", may gross some people out. But I have tried it myself and served it at a sushi dinner party and it was a hit! The SCOBY doesn't necessarily have any nutritional benefits to eating it, but it doesn't really have anything to harm you either, outside of the risks that raw foods can have.

You might enjoy this book: http://www.amazon.com/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

http://www.amazon.com/A-History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

Very good book.

I really liked "Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West"

LIQUID JADE: THE STORY OF TEA FROM https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312333293/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_mgDSAbDECE30S

History of the world in Six Glasses https://www.amazon.ca/History-World-6-Glasses/dp/0802715524

Its from the perspective of the things people were drinking :)

When you check it are you shaking it or moving it around? The scoby can sink if you do that. I recommend getting this book and actually using it. It will save you a lot of time and help you avoid a lot of mistakes.

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Book-Kombucha-Flavoring-Fermented/dp/161212433X/ref=nodl_

Maybe get her a copy of [this book] (https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Terroirs-Varieties-Kevin-Gascoyne/dp/1770853197) instead. See if she expresses interest in something specific.

An easy read with a unique approach is A History of the World in Six Glasses. http://www.amazon.com/History-The-World-Six-Glasses/dp/0802714471

A more established approached is A History of Civilizations. Naturally, the scope of the subject will cause these books to be general histories using a broad brush.
http://www.amazon.com/History-Civilizations-Fernand-Braudel/dp/0140124896/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346819170&sr=1-1&keywords=civilization+history

I read their book recently, good stuff. https://www.amazon.com/Tea-Terroirs-Varieties-Kevin-Gascoyne/dp/1770853197

heres the book I was referring to, you would probably like it a lot!

I really like Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties. It's an overview focusing on the qualities of different kinds of tea and doesn't really focus too deeply on any one thing.

Relevant interesting book



TL;DR

for general info about coffee:

https://www.amazon.com/World-Atlas-Coffee-Explored-Explained/dp/1770854703

For coffee brewing:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Everything-but-Espresso-Scott-Rao/1450708706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483804715&sr=8-1&keywords=everything+but+espresso

http://scottrao.com/blog/some-observations-on-hand-pours/

If you were to just read one thing, I'd say check out the coffee compass. It enables you to tweak the brewing process to your liking instead of just following a recipe:

https://baristahustle.com/the-coffee-compass/

I've had The Story of Tea for several years and like it a lot.

It's called The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide

After that guy deleted his post, it's like we're having a secret conversation about a secret mug and a secret book. I was almost tempted not to post the reply...

"Tea Terroirs" has been an amazing source of information for me, on nearly every area involving tea (http://www.amazon.com/Tea-Terroirs-Varieties-Kevin-Gascoyne/dp/1770853197/), including some studies the fellow did on caffiene content and anti-oxidant content.

You might also consider online classes with the Tea Association of Canada: http://teasommelier.com/. You don't have to follow through all of them but just a few might give you a variety of sources of information to draw from.

A History of the World in Six Glasses is a nice, very approachable book for someone who's not very into history. It's not a deep book, but it has some interesting ideas and can serve as a jumping-off point for people.

Another very easy-to-get-into source is one that I cannot recommend highly enough: Larry Gonick's series of cartoon histories: The Cartoon History of the Universe, in three volumes, covers world history from the age of the dinosaurs to Columbus' journey, and his later two-volume series Cartoon History of the Modern World picks up where that leaves off, going all the way up to 9/11. They are surprisingly well-researched, with each volume having pages of references at the end. There are unfortunately few pages of this series online to read - here's one I found from the first volume, and here's another in low resolution from his later volumes.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Tea-Companion-Connoisseurs-Guides/dp/0762421509/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406872031&sr=8-1&keywords=the+tea+companion

Upon further research, I see that there is a "New Tea Companion"; is that the one you were referring to? I assume it's better than mine, being New and what not, but I only just learned about it now.

I have and idea for a paper that would connect caffeinated beverages to increased industrialization. Anecdotally, you have tea/coffee (Industrialization)->soda(19th/20th century)->hyper caffeinated beverages (the 21st century and a 24 hour world). But that's another story.

I would suggest looking at A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage for a look at the impact of coffee on the modern world.

Check out this book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Professional-Baristas-Handbook-Preparing/dp/1605300985/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=IVHVR7NS95DYL&colid=CEF3GXQPLK7T

Twas recommended to me as a godbook of sorts for baristas. Donno from personal experience though.

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I found this book to be crazy interesting.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Covers the history of wine, beer, spirits, tea, coffee, and soda.

You might want to just step it up and get the world atlas of coffee, it's the most informative book on coffee I've bought. https://www.amazon.com/World-Atlas-Coffee-Explored-Explained/dp/1770854703

That's a terrible article. Snopes has a much better explanation, which agrees with the section on toasting in A History of the World in 6 Glasses.

The book also mentions that alcoholic drinks used to be considered magical, so toasting to someone's health wasn't just a nice gesture, but a potent magic spell.

There is also a book specifically about this subject:
https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Life-Japan-Merry-White/dp/0520271157

So this book (Amazon-link) then.

If anyone did, it was Tom Standage. http://www.amazon.com/History-World-Six-Glasses/dp/0802714471

Reminds me of this book.

Only loosely related: A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Si "aquâ vitae" loquendâ alcohol destillatum significatur, credo tantam potionem non factam esse priore Aevis Mediis tempore. Quidem liber quem legi, Historia Mundi in Poculis Sex (nexus Anglicus), de tantis dicit, nam tria "pocula" prima de quibus liber dicit sunt cervisia, vinum, alcohol destillatum (ceteris cafeâ, theâ, "colâ"). Num bene scriptum nolo loqui, sed quae didici bona aestimavi.

You mean A History of the World in 6 Glasses https://www.amazon.com/dp/0802715524/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8D8WBb39Y5M4Y

Get an audio book of The History of the World in 6 Glasses and listen to it on your commute.

Or just read it.

This one?

A History of the World in 6 Glasses

I've just started reading The History of the World in 6 Glasses. Chapter 1 is beer, so I suppose you're right.

According to my copy of Tea: History, Terroirs, Varieties, Anxi TGY has 17mg and Mucha TGY 12mg of caffiene in a serving (brewed from 5g of leaves).

6oz filter coffee, according to Schott's Food and Drink Miscellany, has 105mg caffiene, and 12oz cola has ~50mg. (The same source claims that 6oz 'Tea' (unspecified type) contains 35mg caffiene...)

I have about 50 books on tea and this is by far the most complete and factual guide to tea: http://www.amazon.com/Tea-Terroirs-Varieties-Kevin-Gascoyne/dp/1554079373