Coffee Obsession | Book Review

Title: Coffee Obsession
Published By: Dorling Kindersley, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4654-1955-2
Author: Anette Moldvaer

Coffee Obsession is one of the books included in DK Canada’s Father’s Day Boutique.

If you are searching for a gift for your Dad – you may find just what you want in DK Canada’s Father’s Day Boutique!

There are many great books available – I truly had a hard time choosing just one to review.

My husband is crazy about Tractors (he even has a huge collection of them still stored away at his Mom’s!) but I wasn’t sure if a review of the book Tractor – The Definitive Visual History would go over so well with my Crochet Readers…so I decided to choose a different book…and my pick from the Father’s Day Boutique is Coffee Obsession, by Anete Moldvaer.

I am quite pleasantly surprised about this book – I am a Coffee Drinker – but not a coffee connoisseur. 

I never realized there were so many ways I could improve my coffee drinking experience – or even that there were so many different ways to brew coffee!

Anete Moldvaer has essentially created a Coffee Textbook – filled with history, geography, science, coffee expertise and more than 100 recipes from around the world to make your coffee taste even better by pairing it with other flavours.

Here is what you will find inside Coffee Obsession:

Introduction

• Cafe Culture
• The Journey of Coffee (Did You Know Coffee was discovered at least 1000 years ago?)
• Species and Varieties | The Coffee Family Tree | Only 2 species are commercially grown (Arabica and Robustas)
• Growing and Harvest (Growing Arabica – Did You Know it takes 3-5 years for the Arabica coffee cherries to be ready for harvest? This is because they are propagated by seed. Robustas is the other coffee variety harvested for commercial use and it is grown from cuttings which are placed in a nursery for a few months before being planted in the field. It cuts down on the time to grow and harvest and also impacts the flavour.)
• Processing (Wet and Dry Processing)
• Cupping (A Coffee Flavour Appreciation Wheel is included – just like with wine tasting, coffee has a specific Taster’s Wheel)

Coffee Know-How

• Indicators of quality (blends vs. singles)
• Choosing and Storing
• Grinding
• Testing The Water
• Brewing Espresso
• Brewing the Shot
• Milk Matters
• Latte Art

 

Each of the locations listed below includes the following key facts: a map showing the different growing areas, the percentage of the world market, main types of coffee, world ranking as a producer, the harvest seasons, and how the beans are processed.

 

Coffees of the World – Africa

• Rwanda – soft, sweet and floral notes
• Tanzania – range from heavy bodied and sweet Robustas to citrus, berry-like Arabicas notes
• Kenya – fruit and berry notes
• Ethiopia – floral, herbal and citrus notes
• Home Roasting – visual tutorial to roast your own beans
• Burundi – range from soft, floral, sweetly citrus to chocolatey and nutty notes
• Uganda – Robusta still grows wild in some places here!
• Malawi – subtle and floral notes

Coffees of the World – Indonesia, Asia, and Oceania

• India – popular for espresso
• Sumatra – range from earthy, cedary, and spicy to fermented fruit, cocoa, herbs, leather and tobacco notes
• Sulawesi – grapefruit, berries, nuts and spices notes
• Java – range from nutty to earthy notes
• Coffee Q&A – Answers to popular questions like: How Addictive is Coffee? Is coffee dehydrating? Can drinking coffee be good for our health? Can coffee improve levels of concentration? How does caffeine keep us awake? What affect does caffeine have on sporting ability? Do dark roasts contain more caffeine? Why don’t I get a caffeine kick?
• Papua New Guinea – range of herbal, wooden, tropical or tobacco like flavours
• Australia – range of nutty, chocolatey to sweetly citrus and fruity notes
• Thailand – floral notes
• Vietnam – soft, sweet and nutty notes
• China – range – soft and sweet, nutty to caramel and chocolate notes
• Yemen – spice, earth, fruit and tobacco notes

Coffees of the World – South and Central America

• Brazil – sweet naturals with mild acidity – Arabicas 
• Colombia – ranges from sweet, nutty and chocolatey to floral fruity and tropical notes
• Bolivia – ranges from sweet and balanced, to floral and herbal to creamy and chocolatey notes
• Peru – earthy herbal notes
• Ecuador – range of flavours
• Decaffeinated Coffee – The Truth about Decaf
• Guatemala – ranging from sweet with cocoa and toffee notes to herbal, floral or citrus notes
• El Salvador – sweet and creamy, dried fruit, citrus, chocolate and caramel notes
• Costa Rica – citrus and floral flavours
• Nicaragua – range of flavours from sweet, fudge, milk chocolate to floral, herbal, savoury and honeyed notes
• Honduras – nutty and toffee-like notes
• Panama – floral or citrus; some unusual varieties like Geisha 

Coffees of the World – Caribbean and North America

• Mexico – sweet, soft, mild and balanced flavours
• Puerto Rico – cedar, herbal, and almond notes
• Hawaii – aromatic and sweet, clean and delicate, subtle fruity acidity and milk chocolate notes
• Flavour Pairings – suggestions for pairing flavourings to create exciting drinks – like Stone Fruits (apricot and nectarine)- try with coffee and make the Apricot Star recipe on page 193
• Jamaica – sweet and mellow, nutty notes
• Dominican Republic – ranges from chocolatey, spicy and heavy to floral, bright and delicate notes
• Cuba – low acidity, balanced sweetness, earthy tobacco notes
• Haiti – nutty and fruity tones

Equipment

This section explains how the different types of equipment work and what they produce.

 

• Espresso Machine
• French Press
• Filter Pour-Over
• Cloth Brewer
• Aeropress
• Syphon
• Stove-Top Pot
• Cold Dripper
• Electric Filter-Brew
• PHIN
• IBRIK
• Serving Vessels

The Recipes

There are more than 100 recipes included. Included are hot and cold varieties, syrups, alcohol and flavourings and even some which could be classified as dessert!

Each recipe begins with the Gear (equipment) you need, the type of Dairy (or no dairy) needed, the temperature (hot or cold) and the serving size the recipe makes. A diagram is included to show you how to assemble your beverage.

 

Here are a few examples:

• Syrups and Flavourings – simple syrup, caramel sauce, strawberry syrup, chocolate sauce, gingerbread butter
• Cappuccino
• Red Eye (aka The Alarm Clock)
• Sassy Molasses
• Scandinavian Coffee
• Turkish Coffee
• Kopi Jahe
• Syphon Spice
• Kaiser Melange
• Eggnog Latte
• Honey Blossom
• Cherry Almond Latte
• Almond Fig Latte
• Strawberry Lace
• Gingerbread Grog
• Chai Coffee
• Snow White
• Frappé Mocha
• Ice Cream Rum Raisin
• Panda Espresso

A complete coffee resource – from start to finish – you get 224 pages of expertise from author Anette Moldvaer.

I am really impressed with the amount of information in this book – the recipes look amazing and I know we will be trying some of them! I already know I want to try the Gingerbread Grog this winter!

If I had to change one thing about the book it would be the placement of the following sections:

• Home Roasting – visual tutorial to roast your own beans
• Coffee Q&A – Answers to popular questions like: How Addictive is Coffee? Is coffee dehydrating? Can drinking coffee be good for our health? Can coffee improve levels of concentration? How does caffeine keep us awake? What affect does caffeine have on sporting ability? Do dark roasts contain more caffeine? Why don’t I get a caffeine kick?
• Decaffeinated Coffee – The Truth about Decaf
• Flavour Pairings – suggestions for pairing flavourings to create exciting drinks – like Stone Fruits (apricot and nectarine)- try with coffee and make the Apricot Star recipe on page 193

These hidden gems are truly hidden.

I listed them in the sections I went through above in bold so you can see where they are in case you are interested.

Each one can be found in the middle of a different Coffee Of The World Section. 

If I hadn’t looked at every, single page in this book I would have missed them.

Coffee Obsession would be a great gift for someone who loves to brew their own coffee at home.

The recipes alone are fantastic to have on hand – and I suspect they will be enjoyed by many visitors in our home for years to come!

You can purchase your own copy of Coffee Obsession on Amazon.

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