The Coffee Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best Brews [Hardcover]

Jon Thorn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Remember the days when "heavenly coffee" came straight out of a vacuum-sealed can? No longer--this is the age of specialty coffees, and selecting a great bean is almost as complicated as choosing a fine wine. What's the difference between medium roast, high roast, and French roast? Should you use a French press or a percolator to brew your dream cup? And what's the difference between cappuccino, latte, and café au lait, anyway? All these questions and more are answered in The Coffee Companion, a trim little volume to guide you through the coffee conundrum, from buying the beans to brewing them.

In addition to describing and rating more than 150 coffees from around the world, The Coffee Companion includes tips on roasting, grinding, and blending your own beans to create the perfect brew. There are also plenty of delectable recipes for making classic coffee beverages. So if you're particular about the coffee you drink, don't leave home without The Coffee Companion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Running Pr (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561385220
• ISBN-13: 978-1561385225
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #630,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Companion Indeed, November 19, 2006

By 

M. Buisman "Martijn Buisman" (Amsterdam, NL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Coffee Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best Brews (Hardcover)

This is a very nice book about coffee. It explains the history of the drink, the different ways of making it, including glossary's, and also what kind of coffees from around the world there are. Nice buy if you can find it. My edition is from the mid-90's, so I hope there is some kind of update.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You are incomplete without this book, June 13, 2010

By 

Eric Stadig (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Coffee Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide to the World's Best Brews (Hardcover)

The book is well written, compact, concise and wealth of knowledge. Thorn explores all the richness that embodies coffee from its planting and cultivation to the methods used to select and grade coffee finally reaching the apex of the journey; getting it into your belly. Covering areas that are not explored in the modern American style of "get it faster and consume quicker", Thorn enlightens me to the simple pleasures that go into the preparing a proper pot of coffee; be that pot by drip, press or vacuum. the book is short enough to be read in an afternoon, but detailed enough to draw you into the kitchen after you had done so. I have purchased several of these books to give as gifts and one to have around for myself.