Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Coffee. Well Almost
Written: Jul 02 '01 (Updated Jul 02 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Attractive book, nice photos, elegant desserts
Cons: on the small side. Not a lot of gourmet coffee recipes.
The Bottom Line: This is a very attractive book, with elegant recipes and very nice photos.
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| daddym's Full Review: Dave Olsen, Lora Brody, John Phillip Carroll - Sta... |
Starbucks Passion For Coffee
When I picked up this pretty little book I thought that it was going to be full of recipes for gourmet coffees. Well I was completely off base. The book for being just around 90 pages contains quite a bit of information about coffee. If you are a trivia buff, you may enjoy this book because in I you will find a great deal of information about coffee such as the introduction of coffee houses, the origins of the coffee beans and the process by which coffee beans are harvested and become the coffee that most of the world has come to know.
It even has the personal story of how and why Senior Vice President, of Starbucks, Dave Olsen got started in the coffee house business.
If you have high aspirations and would like to become a coffee expert you will also find tasting terminology. So if someone were to ask you how your cup of coffee is you could tell them what the acidity of the coffee is and weather or not it has a rich body.
You will also find a definition of several types of beans, and information about blends.
You will also find tips on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee at home. The book explains about coffee makers, and blends and even Espresso machines, and of course how to make perfect cup of Espresso.
THERE ARE RECIPES
Well if you are looking for gourmet coffee recipes you won’t find them here. But what you will find is a lovely selection of desserts that go great with coffee. The recipes range from your run of the mill average every day desserts to more fancy ones. The recipes are broken down into three categories: Morning, Afternoon, and Evening.
Morning: The morning recipes are of course baked good items that you would usually associate with breakfast such as muffins, scones and quick breads, coffee cakes as well as others.
Afternoon: The afternoon baked goods consist of items that you may associate with your afternoon tea such as Biscotti and Macaroons.
Dinner: The dinner recipes are quite elegant and I would be proud to serve any one of them as a desert after a dinner party. Who wouldn’t be honored to receive a Rum Torte or Caramel Honey Nut Tartlet.
You will also find just a couple of recipes for coffee. This is not a dietary cook book and there is not any nutritional information provided. This is a hard cover book with a stiff binding so the book must be worked in to use opened while cooking the recipes. The recipes that I have tried have been very good, my favorite being the Streusal Crumb Coffee Cake and the Nut Lace Cookies wich are elegant enough to be served at a dinner party and yet are very simple to prepare.
The recipes range from easy to difficult there is not really any pattern, other than they are all desserts
SUCH A BARGAIN
This book originally retailed for $14.95 but you can purchase it at Half.Com for under $4.00
IT”S NICE LOOKING
This is a lightweight book, that is hard covered and not to big and not to small. The dust cover has a photo of an attractive dessert and a cup of espresso. It is a pretty attractive cover as far as cookbooks are concerned. Each recipe has a picture that shows what the completed dessert should look like. I hate cookbooks without pictures. Don’t you?
I must say that the photography in this book is very well done. And the lay out is very elegant.
Final
If you like desserts and you like drinking coffee with desserts you will like this book. It is not a huge book, and there are not a ton of recipes, but I think they were trying to focus more on quality than quantity in this book. The over all presentation of the book is very attractive. And the facts and tips offered in the beginning are wonderful and interesting. Being a coffee lover would certainly help you to appreciate this book but you don’t have to be a coffee lover to enjoy it. You do however have to have a sweet tooth.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
daddym
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Member: Robert M
Location: IL
Reviews written: 123
Trusted by: 31 members
About Me:
Husband, Father, Pet Owner, Computer Geek and Motorcycle Enthusiast, poker player.
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