100 Books Like A Rich Brew

Mintz’s book is about sugar, but it is still a key work in the history of coffee. It served as one of the major inspirations for my own study of the reception of coffee in early modern Britain. Sugar was a key ingredient in coffee by the later seventeenth century and would become a staple in the hot drinks consumed by the English working class. Mintz shows us how this symbiotic relationship between sugar and coffee developed, and he places the construction of an Atlantic slave system and the industrial revolution at the heart of his story. This is a classic work of both anthropology and history; it inspired a whole new way of thinking about the Atlantic world and the history of consumption at a time when both of those fields were still newborn. 

Jonathan, with whom I worked on an earlier book on coffee with authors from around the world, presents the history of coffee in a wonderfully readable way. His book is filled with charming and informative photos and graphics. A professor at the University of Hertfordshire and a truly nice guy, Jonathan is an expert above all on Italian coffee. He is in demand, particularly for talks on coffee’s past and present in Europe.

This deeper exploration of coffee culture in Japan, a place we all associate with tea, is an interesting and surprising read. The author’s time in Japan serves as the backbone for exploring aspects of gender, perfectionism, and how the cafe in Japan helps people stay punctual.

Haine provides his readers with a solid social history of the French café in the long nineteenth century. While coffee was introduced to France earlier in the seventeenth century and cafés became a notable aspect of the social scene in Enlightenment Paris, it is only after the French Revolution that the café became a crucial place for working-class people to gather, socialize, and to drink (alcohol more often than coffee, as it happened) together. This is the book to turn to when you want to know how many cafés could be found in Balzac’s Paris, who got arrested for what in those cafés, and who could be found drinking and hanging out there.

This book is by the founder of a company that has successfully navigated the stages of growth from a start-up to a sustainably successful organization and become a global champion or recognized leader in its space. Accordingly, the book is from the “horse’s mouth.” Schultz and his coauthor take the reader on the journey of the development of one of the classic entrepreneurial successes of our time. He details the challenges, his thinking, and the responses that were made to create the Starbucks of today. The book provided s the reader with a rare opportunity to participate in the Starbucks journey from a vision to the reality of building a great company. 

Here is one of the latest in the popular books featuring Greenwich Village coffee house manager, Clare Cosi.

It is enormous fun to tag along on Clare’s most recent wild adventure as she investigates both murder and attempted murder while trying to plan her honeymoon with an overworked police detective, getting a quick education in beekeeping, and still overseeing the Village Blend and its loveable staff.

Despite numerous intriguing complications, I loved how Clare handles everything with great aplomb and integrity. The action, the wit, the appealing characters, and the evolving plot that kept me guessing until the end made this story a winner.

This was one of the first fiction books I read that set before me a world that is ordinary interrupted, and affected by another world that is supernatural.

In this book, when the main character goes to sleep, he wakes up in another world populated by mysterious beings and people.

Perhaps most interesting about this set up, is that events in this “dream world” affect events in the waking one.

While the main character only retains a passive ability (entering this other world and healing) the whole traveling between both spaces, his interactions with both divine and malevolent beings, and his race to stop his world from destruction all pulled me into the story in such a way that I could not put down.

This short story is one of those that has always stuck with me. There is so much story within these few pages that center around a meeting in a simple café. It explores how meetings can cause submerged feelings to arise within us and provoke us to react out of character. I was struck by the sense of loneliness and how the protagonist places certain constraints on themselves, fearful of exposing who they really are and how they feel in case of mockery. 

This story is filled with observations, judgments, and highlights the awkwardness of being a foreigner, something I know well. But it also entices the classic conundrum of what if we did say the thing we wanted, what if we had stayed instead of running away.

I read this with a book club, and it did generate a lot of discussion. But I did appreciate the author’s tenacity to write about living and working in Afghanistan and base it in a coffee shop that was filled with an incredible array of figures. I loved how the characters interacted with each other, and even though the story was told through a Western perspective it highlighted important issues that affected women in Afghanistan.

I enjoyed the idea of the coffee shop being used as a refuge for those who were in danger and exploring the idea that despite our location, we can come together to help each other and make the best out of life. 

I picked up the book because I found the title intriguing—and yes, I’m a coffee drinker. The book was every bit as fun as the title. Following her divorce, Roxy gives up her legal career and moves back to her hometown to begin life anew and follow her dream of owning a coffee shop.                 

Things take a dramatic turn when her aunt is accused of murder. Between pouring coffee, Roxy is now on a quest to prove her aunt innocent, and she needs all the help she can get. I loved the small-town charm and quirky characters. I have to admit, I found myself laughing out loud at times. The book has everything, including a cute dog, a hunky sheriff, and yummy-sounding recipes. Oh, yes, and don’t forget the coffee.