Gregory Dicum

This book is a very good overview of coffee in terms of the product, its history, and where it stands now. It does read a bit like a textbook, which may make it a bit dry at times in terms of the reading experience (this is really the reason I give it three stars instead of four). Also some of the book layout could have been a bit better. The various notes on companies, so on in the margins were interesting, but distracting from the main text, and since they often went for multiple pages, it meant either retracing your steps after reading a passage, or dropping the passage you were reading to read the note, then retrace where you dropped off in the main narrative. These notes could have been placed at the end of chapters, for instance, to make the reading experience flow better.

But those details aside, this is a very well researched book. It covers a lot of ground. It is not really a "microhistory," but you get to learn a lot about coffee. You get a little bit of history. You learn about the business. And you see how the business is evolving to consider sustainability. Overall, if you want to learn more about coffee, this is a very accessible, fairly easy, yet substantial way to do so.… (meer)