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God in a Cup: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee |  | Author: Michaele Weissman
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $10.99
as of 7/31/2010 15:27 MDT details
You Save: $13.96 (56%)
New (38) Used (17) from $10.99
Seller: Book Gallery Outlet
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 191806
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 268
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1
ISBN: 0470173580
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.3373
EAN: 9780470173589
ASIN: 0470173580
Publication Date: May 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Can a cup of coffee reveal the face of God? Can it become the holy grail of modern-day knights errant who brave hardship and peril in a relentless quest for perfection? Can it change the world? These questions are not rhetorical. When highly prized coffee beans sell at auction for $50, $100, or $150 a pound wholesale (and potentially twice that at retail), anything can happen. In God in a Cup, journalist and late-blooming adventurer Michaele Weissman treks into an exotic and paradoxical realm of specialty coffee where the successful traveler must be part passionate coffee connoisseur, part ambitious entrepreneur, part activist, and part Indiana Jones. Her guides on the journey are the nation's most heralded coffee business hotshotsâCounter Culture's Peter Giuliano, Intelligentsia's Geoff Watts, and Stump-town's Duane Sorenson. With their obsessive standards and fiercely competitive baristas, these roasters are creating a new culture of coffee connoisseurship in Americaâa culture in which $10 lattes are both a purist's pleasure and a way to improve the lives of third-world farmers. If you love a good cup of coffeeâor a great adventure storyâyou'll love this unprecedented look up close at the people and passions behind today's best beans.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
 Two reasons to read "God in a Cup" June 11, 2008
Irma Rombauer (Chicago, IL USA)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
There are two reasons to read God in a Cup, food journalist Michaele Weissman's true life account of the colorful young guys who are making gourmet coffee one of the sexiest culinary products you can buy. First Weissman is a terrific writer. Her book is funny and fast paced. She rolls out the story of her travels in coffee producing nations and here in the United States as if she were writing a novel. Read her description (with full sound effects) of a coffee cupping at the Cup of Excellence competition in Nicaragua, see how she brings to life a confrontation between eager coffee buyers and impoverished coffee farmers in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia, and experience her rendition of dueling baristas as a barista competition, you'll begin to understand what all the fuss about specialty coffee is about.
And that brings me to the second reason to read this book. God in a Cup provides a great journalistic thumbnail of the global marketplace. Weissman dramatizes issues like sustainability, profitability (as in who earns the profits from agricultural products) and Fair Trade, without ever getting bogged down in the tiresome politics. Beginning at the farm and ending in a swish café where coffee is brewed in an $11,000 gizmo called a Clover, Weissman sheds light on some of the most complicated economic issues of our day, while never ceasing to be amusing. She does this by writing a story about the global marketplace that is first and foremost a story about real people whose eccentricities, foibles, weaknesses and strengths she brings alive.
Finally, a readable book about coffee June 18, 2008
Gabriel Skinner (USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Honestly- I just read a 250 page book about a beverage that I don't drink in, oh, about 72 hours. I literally couldn't put it down. Congratulations, Ms. Weissman, you have truly created a captivating narrative about a subculture I could never be a part of and made it this breathtaking world of whirlwind travel, chutzpah, occasional danger, nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic and caring, while preserving the genuine realities of the farmers, a tightrope I would have agonized over had I been you. "Business to me is about bringing people out of poverty", a quote from the book and summary of what this book is about to me: More than just coffee. The care and lengths that people like Duane and Geoff go to to insure fair prices, good quality, and abstracts such as health care, non-lecherous pre-financing, and willingness to either challenge the co-ops or empower the farmers to make up their own minds, while not entirely altruistic, is incredible. There were many laughs in there ("I hate those guys, coffee Nazis!"), and I'd like to retire to Panama...tomorrow. It is a stunning book that I have already recommended to many, with many more to come.
The Perfect Cup...review January 7, 2009
Daniel A. Blank (Neenah, Wisconsin USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Michaele Weissman's God in a Cup is perhaps the best book on the market that explains what is happening in the specialty coffee industry to date and how it has revolutionized the entire coffee business. A relatively small group of "coffee guys" direct source beans from all over the world in an attempt to find and buy only the best of the best coffee and bring it to the consumer. In doing so, they help coffee farmers improve their methods of coffee farming and pay them better prices too. All in all it's a win-win situation. Best read for learning about all aspects of coffee.
Coffee Lover!!! August 25, 2008
Luis (Philadelphia, PA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Being very interested in the world of coffee especially high-quality coffee this book expanded my understanding of whats involved in the inner workings of specialty coffee. I became aware of what is hailed as the greatest coffee in the world!, "Esmarelda Special!"($45-$85 a half pound). I was very excited to learn about this sought after coffee so I found some on-line and tried it. All I could say is WOW!!!. I now have a new coffee to add to my faverote coffee list!. This coffee is in a class by itself!. Anyway the book is a great read!.
Interesting and Easy to Read October 2, 2009
CoffeeG33k (Los Angeles, CA USA)
I am just starting to get into specialty coffee, so this was the perfect book to me. Learning about the trips to origin and getting a somewhat behind-the-scenes and in-depth look into the specialty coffee world was awesome. The author interviewed everyone that I was interested in, and more. Like I said, the book is very easy to read, and I was engaged in the book the whole time.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 11
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