Dear all,
Recently, I bought some coffee literature and would like to share my impressions one by one.
Sensory Foundation, CoffeeMind, 36p, 29.90€.
Content: The book gives a brief overview about basics of sensory evaluation and a very brief overview about coffee cupping. It is compact, can be read while commuting to work/ back home and is easy to digest.
Pro: nice design, for people that like haptics (touching paper), compact basic knowledge, useful for users that have never received any kind of knowledge about sensory evaluation.
Con: the price is far too high, the content can be easily collected in the internet within 5mins, no deeper knowledge, the book is not of good quality from manufacturing perspective.
Suggestion: a Flavor Wheel poster in A1 would have definitely added value.
Summary: not worth it.
4 Likes
Dear all,
Herewith another literature review:
Münchow, M., Roasting Foundation, CoffeeMind, 2018, 70p, 29,90€
Content: The book gives a good overview about basics of roasting and also touches some ideas about how to build up your own roasting business. It is compact, can be read while commuting to work/ back home and is easy to digest.
Pro: nice design, for people that like haptics (touching paper), compact basic knowledge, useful for people that have never received any kind of knowledge about coffee roasting.
Con: the price is too high, the book is not of good quality from manufacturing perspective.
Suggestion: add a more detailed chapter about green beans, as that is where taste, quality and roasting starts.
Summary: I think, it is a good starting point for one who is unexperienced and does not have any theoretical background.
1 Like
Standards Committee SCA, The Washed Arabica Green Coffee Defect Guide, Specialty Coffee Association, N. N., 34p, 15.73€.
Content: The book gives a good overview about the main defects, SCA classification, impact, reasons and countermeasures.
Pro: Good quality paper, getting to the point, helpful full colour photos, reasonable price.
Con: I did not find any cons.
Suggestion: None.
Summary: a must-have for someone who wants to dig deeper into the materia.
2 Likes
Dear all,
Herewith another book review:
Smrke, S., Sage, E., Wellinger, M., Yeretzian, C. , The Coffee Freshness Handbook, Specialty Coffee Association, 2018, 81p, 30.25€.
Content: The book gives a good overview about the main aspects of coffee freshness and staling including the impact of storage conditions and packaging on freshness. It has a scientific approach and gives a lot of background information, based on scientific primary literature.
Pro: Good quality paper, going deep into scientific backgrounds and methods (if you like that – I do), reasonable price.
Con: Going deep into scientific backgrounds and methods (if you do not like that), main content summarized on two pages - wasting money, in case you are not attached to the scientific content.
Suggestion: None.
Summary: A must-have if you like to know more about scientific backgrounds of coffee freshness, otherwise this book will not make you enjoy reading it.
4 Likes
Dear all,
Herewith another book review:
Brault, L., Coffee Roaster’s Handbook, Rockridge Press, 2020, 156p, 22.30€.
Content: The book gives a good overview about coffee from plant to green bean processing, defects, roasting, roasting equipement, tasting and extraction methods. Short: the whole value chain is included.
Pro: The book is giving a good overview, not going too deep into details. It is a great starting point, giving the reader, new to coffee roasting, a good basic understanding of the whole value chain and it’s variables, impacts and parameters. The price is reasonable.
Con: Cheap manufactured, but this is still in an acceptable range for modern books (that nearly all lack in bookbinding quality).
Suggestion: None.
Summary: a must-have for someone who starts roasting or who wants to understand more about coffee as an amazing product. Worth reading more than once.
5 Likes
Dear all,
Herewith another book review:
Feil, R., Coffee Roasting Made Simple, Coffeeroastingbook, 2018, 160p, 44,90€.
Content: The author goes into the craftsmanship of coffee roasting, covering the basics, but also discussing how to do good sample roasts, upscaling and quality control. He shares a lot of his experiences and is also open to share things that went not perfect in his roasts.
Pro: He is really giving some good hints and sharing some tricks.
Con: some of the chapters are very much specifically to the roaster he is mainly using and not useful if you roast with a different machine.
The quality of the book is not matching with its price. It is giving the impression of a hardcover book, but it is a fake-hardcover, indeed.
Suggestion: leave out the machine specific parts or transfer them to a level on which the content is useful for other roasters as well.
Summary: an interesting book that triggered me to mark some good sections.
2 Likes