I Know Coffee: Harvesting, Blending, Roasting, Brewing, Grinding & Tasting Coffee

This book is designed to walk you through everything you need to know about coffee from the seed to the cup.

It begins with an overview of cultivars and varieties, and the major differences between the three primary coffee-growing regions (Africa, Asia, and the Americas). This chapter will also give an explanation of harvesting, processing and drying methods, and the ways those can impact the bean’s development and most prominent flavor notes.

For many the coffee-drinking experience is all about the complexity of the flavors, and blending beans can be very helpful in that regard. Beans can be blended either pre- or post-roasting; the second chapter of this book will walk you through the typical best practices for creating your own blends.

Keep in mind that the same bean can taste drastically different, depending on how dark you roast it. The basics of coffee roasting in this book following blending, though you can certainly swap the order in your own process if you’d prefer.

Finally, there’s the part of the process that the majority of people have at least a passing familiarity with: the grinding and brewing. These two aspects of the process are inextricably linked, with certain grind sizes working best for certain brewing methods. Each brewing method brings out its own unique characteristics of the bean; similar to roast levels, a bean that’s brewed as espresso could have a completely different flavor profile than the same bean brewed using a French press.

The book finishes with how professionals taste coffee, and how you can train your own palate to pick out the distinctive flavor notes.