2021 Coffee Book Recommendations: Essential Reads for Coffee Making Beginners and Novices

Introduction

Do you enjoy reading books in your daily life?

At the start of July 2021, more than half the year had slipped by in the blink of an eye.

July marks the beginning of the second half of the year, and with it, the first half has already ended.

"What You Don't Know About Coffee"

Accessibility rating: 3/3

This is a highly engaging and genuinely fascinating book.

Whether you are a complete novice or already know something about coffee, it will keep you hooked from start to finish.

Compared with other reference books in the same category, its explanations of coffee brewing are more accessible, concise and clear.

Most importantly, the illustrations are perfectly placed, making for an excellent combination of pictures and text that suits beginners especially well.

"Coffee Tasting Notes"

Accessibility rating: 2/3

This book helps you build correct coffee concepts, understand coffee beans, learn how grinding methods affect flavor, master coffee tasting and become familiar with a range of coffee equipment.

Since it was published in 2003 it has consistently topped the coffee book sales charts. It is a rare introductory coffee book with accurate concepts and comprehensive content.

Six years later, in 2009, the author revised the contents and added richer text and images.

Whether you already own the old version or are new to coffee, this newly edited "Coffee Tasting Notes - Mellow Revised Edition" will become your best guide to exploring the aromatic world of coffee.

"So This Is What Coffee Is Really Like"

Accessibility rating: 3/3

This book can be seen as an introductory guide for coffee enthusiasts.

The author uses lively language to share experiences with coffee cultures in Italy, France, Turkey, the United States, Vietnam and other countries, and gives in-depth analysis of Ethiopian coffee, Java coffee, Blue Mountain coffee, Colombian coffee and more.

It also details the secrets of home coffee roasting, covering everything from selecting beans and machines, using equipment and mastering roasting times to coffee etiquette and coffee trivia.

"World Coffee Atlas"

Accessibility rating: 2/3

This is a classic reference book, more suited to intermediate coffee enthusiasts.

The author gives in-depth analysis of flavor characteristics from major coffee-producing regions, information about growers and the industry, geographical and cultural context, coffee grading and tasting, and other key factors that shape flavor. It brings together firsthand information, expert analysis, origin data, precious photographs from producing regions and compelling narrative.

"Specialty Coffee Studies" (Upper and Lower Volumes)

Accessibility rating: 2/3

Highly recommended reading, whether you are a beginner or an experienced coffee professional.

The book comes in upper and lower volumes and is substantial in thickness, with strong professional depth. It sets out in detail the three waves of coffee history, origins and varieties.

"The Starbucks Experience"

Accessibility rating: 3/3

This book powerfully demonstrates Starbucks' wise, human-centered business philosophy.

Through close contact with Starbucks' leadership and employees, the author directly reveals the secrets behind how the company became the world's most popular chain.

"Old Mai's Coffee House"

Accessibility rating: 3/3

A book by the author Old Mai, sharing distinctive operational details drawn from his experience running a coffee shop.

His shop is located in Shanghai.

"Roll! Coffee: Brew Coffee Like a Champion Barista"

Accessibility rating: 3/3

The author invited 10 champion baristas from China and Japan to share their professional experience and brewing techniques, and you can scan a QR code to watch brewing tutorial videos from each expert.

It also analyzes 10 common classic brewing tools on the market, helping enthusiasts build their own knowledge system for brewing coffee. (The aesthetically pleasing lifestyle photography inside is a particular pleasure.)

"The Bean Hunter"

Accessibility rating: 2/3

This book gathers Xu Baolin's firsthand experience from 12 years of hunting beans in Central and South America, visiting estates and sharing treasured images and text from championship coffee estates.

It offers a close look at the admirable success stories of the owners of the world's top estates.

In 2014 the first book in the "Bean Hunter" series was published, focusing on coffee estates in Central and South America. More recently, CITIC Press published "The Bean Hunter: African Coffee Guide,"

this time focusing on Africa.

From the Yirgacheffe and Sidamo regions of Ethiopia and varieties such as Kenya's SL28 and SL34,

to the rise of the specialty coffee industry in Rwanda and Burundi, Xu Baolin has turned his bean-hunting notes into a coffee travelogue.

If you too are fascinated by coffee beans, these two books will become treasures you flip through again and again.

You will certainly find historical facts and background in these pages that solve many questions that were previously hard to answer even online.

Conclusion

As the saying goes, "a book holds a house of gold."

Living in an age of information overload, with devices never out of our hands, we all need to make good use of time for fragmented reading.

Whether it is physical books, e-books, apps or various platforms, as long as we do not stop learning, we keep moving forward.

*Image source: Internet*

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Reading builds the framework, and tasting fills it in. FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe is the classic first cup for anyone exploring the Ethiopian origin: bright lemon acidity, delicate white florals and a clean green tea finish, at a price that makes it the natural entry point to specialty coffee.

To understand Asian coffee, the standard reference is medium-dark roasted FrontStreet Indonesia Mandheling. The volcanic soil and damp, rainy climate of Sumatra gave rise to the distinctive wet-hulled process, which exposes semi-dry beans to the air and produces herbal and spice notes. Medium-dark roasting caramelizes the coffee further, so it drinks without astringency or acidity, with a prominent sweet fragrance and a long finish - an excellent choice for anyone who dislikes sour coffee.

For a pour-over that is both rewarding and affordable, FrontStreet Sun-Dried Huakui is hard to beat. Grown in Guji Hambella at close to 2,300 meters, it is carefully natural-processed, and after roasting it turns into tropical fruit notes such as guava, strawberry and dried mango, with a black tea finish. And if you have a moka pot or home espresso machine, FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend pairs Yunnan small-bean coffee with Brazil Red Bourbon, giving ripe plum acidity and aromas of cream chocolate and cocoa cookies, balanced in both americano and latte with a golden crema.