Coffee Drinks [Hardcover]

Michael Turback (Author), Leo Gong (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

From the fifteenth-century coffee houses of Constantinople to the twenty-first-century coffee bars across the United States and Europe, coffee's golden age stretches for more than six hundred years. Americans brew 235 million cups of java every day, making it the most popular social drink in the country. What drives our obsession for this beloved brew--the rich aroma of the roast, the peppy caffeinated zing, or coffee's astonishing versatility? Few other beverages can be served piping hot, icy cold, light and frothy, dense and sweet, or wickedly spiked. And nowhere is coffee more imaginatively explored or more elegantly presented than in this custom-crafted compilation. Recipe contributors include notable coffee purveyors and a highly competitive cadre of award-winning baristas. Each one of the fifty recipes is sure to keep your senses alert and percolating.   

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…a straight shot of caffeine to the brain, showcasing coffee creations developed by baristas around the world. Think outside the coffeepot with Curry Cocolatté from Des Moines, Iowa, or satisfy your sweet tooth with a honey-laced La Perlita from Oslo, Norway. From the green peppercorns in the Enhanced Sensory Balance from Copenhagen, Denmark, to the Spiced Peanut Butter Cup from New York, these drinks are pure sensory stimulation."
—Delta Airlines Sky Magazine

From the Publisher

A creative collection of more than 50 drink recipes featuring everyone's favorite morning beverage. * Recipe contributors include cutting-edge coffee purveyors and a highly competitive cadre of coffeehouse baristas.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580089267
• ISBN-13: 978-1580089265
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 0.6 x 7.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Trained as a restaurateur at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, Michael Turback (www.michaelturback.com) operated an important restaurant in Ithaca, NY, whose mission was to combine passionate cooking with local ingredients and regional wines. Known for his versatility and invention as a writer, he has taken on, with distinction, such topics as the ice cream sundae, the banana split, hot chocolate, the partnership of chocolate and coffee, creative barista drinks, artisan cocktails, Finger Lakes Wine Country, the Ithaca Farmers Market, as well as two legendary figures, John Wayne and Toots Shor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not equal to Turback's previous books, October 21, 2008

By 

H. Grove "Errant Dreams Reviews" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coffee Drinks (Hardcover)

I was looking forward to Michael Turback's Coffee Drinks cookbook with great anticipation. I absolutely adored his Mocha and Hot Chocolate. They're adventurous books, and require a willingness to hunt down unusual ingredients or get creative if you're missing a piece of equipment, but despite that they're eminently usable by a creative and open-minded cook. Unfortunately, I can't entirely say the same about Coffee Drinks.

When you can get to the finished products in this book, they are quite delicious. So if you have an espresso machine, a frother, and a whipped cream canister that takes nitrous oxide chargers, then you won't have any trouble making some amazing drinks out of here. That said, there are still other concerns. One is that, while the book does include sources for all of the unusual ingredients and equipment, there's still the possibility that some things won't be available for very long or are very expensive. For example, there's a recipe that uses fennel pollen as an ingredient. In addition, many of these recipes are quite complex---a much larger proportion of them, it seems to me, than in those previous books.

I don't mind a coffee drinks book that's designed to cater to people with expensive or gourmet tastes. However, the previous Turback books always reined that in with an edge of practicality. That isn't the case this time, in my opinion.

This is also the first of his books where I've found anything in a recipe that appeared to be a mistake. For example, the reason why some of the recipes in this book require a whipped cream canister with nitrous oxide chargers is because they make whipped cream out of a mixture that's mostly half-and-half. One of those recipes says that you can use a mixer instead. However, having tried to do so (and yes, we have a good, high-powered mixer), I can assure you that no matter how long you sit there going at it on the highest speed, it isn't going to whip up---it simply doesn't have enough fat content to do so without help.

I'm rating Coffee Drinks as highly as I am because of those delicious results, and because it does have one ideal audience---professional and hobby baristas. People who have all the expensive gadgetry that goes with making fine coffee and don't mind hunting down expensive or rare ingredients. People who don't mind spending an hour or so on one set of drinks, making a variety of syrups or other components. I'm disappointed, however, that the book doesn't make it clear on the outside that its value is so limited outside of this audience---and I'm even more disappointed that Turback didn't write this book to appeal to the wider audience of his other books.

4.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive & simply perfect for the serious coffee drinker, May 21, 2010

By 

R. A. Frauenglas "Brooklyn Bum" (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coffee Drinks (Hardcover)

Coffee Drinks, by Michael Turback, photos by Leo Gong (112 pgs., 2008). Here is a pleasingly short gift-sized book with many photos for the real coffee lover. The author gives a brief summary of coffee & how to brew the perfect cup & how to keep it fresh (not so easy).

The main part of the book is filled with recipes on how to brew various hot coffees, iced coffees & corretto (espresso) coffees. The photos by Gong are mouth watering. The index & resource lists are excellent, comprehensive & simply perfect for the serious coffee drinker. There is even a recipe included from Kaldi's, one of the premier coffee shops in St. Louis, & my favorite cafe.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great gift!, January 27, 2009

By 

D. G. Myers (FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Coffee Drinks (Hardcover)

I bought this as a gift for my son, who loves coffee. He loved it, we got to be the guinea pigs for a few of the recipes and they were great. Some of the ingredients are somewhat exotic, but a lot of fun.