Home Coffee Roasting: Romance and Revival [Paperback]

Kenneth Davids (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1996

Describes the equipment, ingredients and techniques used for roasting a variety of styles of coffee at home.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This nation's obsession with coffee continues to evolve. Coffee addicts who have already traded up to the latest bean grinders and brewing machines now have a new frontier to conquer: roasting their own beans. Davids' updated edition of his earlier work addresses the technological advances that have made home roasting even more accessible. After surveying the history of coffee roasting and the machinery invented for that purpose, Davids scrutinizes the world's coffees, comparing their varietal characteristics so that home roasters can anticipate which beans will produce coffees that best suit their tastes. His quick guide to home roasting methods clearly delineates the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, from the most expensive home roasting machines to simple stove-top and microwave oven techniques. Beginning home roasters may be surprised to find that one of the simplest coffee-roasting machines is a hot-air popcorn popper. Davids' clearly written instructions make home coffee roasting sound easy and should extend the process to a broad audience. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Kenneth Davids is the author of three books on coffee, one of the main figures in the home coffee-roasting revival, and writes for a number of coffee-industry publications and web-sites. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (April 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312141114
• ISBN-13: 978-0312141110
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,863 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable for the Amateur Roaster -- And No Longer Dated, June 11, 2001

By 

Stephen C. Johnson "Steve" (Redwood City, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home Coffee Roasting: Romance and Revival (Paperback)

Update: March 1, 2006

In June, 2001, I wrote about "Home Coffee Roasting":

<quot>"This book is worth several times its purchase price for the two-page roasting chart alone. As a technically-oriented (read: geek) amateur roaster with three (3) roasters (a Hearthware Precision, an Alpenrost, and the fabulous Sonofresco fluid bed) I am constantly referring to this book to improve my art and understanding.

But, amazingly, the book -- only a few years in print -- is now dated, because the equipment options for the home coffee roaster have increased so much. My three roasters (or the types they represent) are not covered. That's the only reason that I gave this 4 stars instead of 5. But if you roast coffee at home -- regardless of your equipment -- you need this book.

What else is missing? I'd love to see a table in the appendix covering the top 50 (or so) growing regions and rating the AVERAGE bean on acidity, sweetness, body, finish, etc, so that one has a clue where to begin when making a blend. The professional coffee roaster is cupping samples all day long, and quickly learns the characteristics of the world's coffees. But we amateurs, buying 1, 2, or 5 lbs at a time could use a secret decoder ring that would tell us in advance what variety we should order that has a good chance of rounding out that blend that is "not quite there yet." Short of that, David's excellent narrative coverage in the book of different coffee characteristics will have to do."</quot>

With the release of the "Revised, Updated Edition", the book no longer merits the caveats I described. In particular, Davids has meticulously covered the wide range of available home -- as well as cafe or semi-professional -- roasting equipment, and has excellent coverage of the growing availability of equipment and green coffee sources via the Internet. After 5 years of blending and roasting many pounds per week, and as a writer, I probably could by now have almost written this, and yet I found it endlessly entertaining and informative. Someone new to the hobby will, as I said in 2001, find it indispensable.

Nice job, Ken. Here is your fifth star: "*"

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, informative and enlightening!, December 30, 2004

By 

Tim (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Home Coffee Roasting, Revised, Updated Edition: Romance and Revival (Paperback)

Let me start off by saying that I do not like to read at all. I rarely start books and even more rarely finish them. With this book however I read it from cover to cover in three days! A very fun book for the coffee hobbyist or anyone who would like to learn more about coffee and home coffee roasting. Not only is this book packed with history (in a fun way) it is also a wealth of reference information regarding home roasting and the overall coffee process, from plant to cup!

This book is laid out in a very easy to read format. The chapters can be long but everything is broken down into small 1-4 page sections. Kenneth Davids has a real grasp on the fundamentals of coffee production and lays out a lot of information in an easy to follow entertaining way. The book reads very well from cover to cover.

The content is not too scientific and also not too general. Whether you have no idea about anything coffee or you are a coffee hobbyist (like me) you will learn a lot and come to appreciate all that goes into a truly good cup of coffee. Davids also includes a lot of reference information laid out in a fashion that is easy to search and locate specific information such as coffee origin notes, roasting and flavor terms, roasting equipment and methods to name a few. Davids does review and discuss many of todays home roasting equipment quite well however this information is already dated. Not to worry though the total of this information represents a small portion of the total book.

Included are also a lot of drawings and diagrams. This book really captures the romance of coffee and coffee roasting and delivers it in a wonderful easy to read and use fashion. I cannot put this book down and have read and reread many parts of it. I refer to the roasting notes and procedures to assist in my home roasting. This book is as much an indispensable tool as it is an entertaining easy chair read. If you even have a slight interest in coffee then this book has a lot to offer!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine work badly in need of an update, May 13, 2002

By 

Bruce Harlick (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Home Coffee Roasting: Romance and Revival (Paperback)

I found this book to be very informative and useful for a novice about to start home roasting his own coffee. However, the equipment and resource sections are woefully out of date. This book was published back in 1996 and it shows; there have been many products and resources for the home roaster released into the market since then.

If you are interested in roasting your own coffee, read this book. Even though it is slightly out of date, it is full of useful information, well-written and well-presented.