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I would like to ask people's advice on books or nice pieces of articles (of quality comparable to a book) to read.

I am aware that the literature is so wide and it may be classified into coffee cultivation, history, brewing, etc. I don't search for a comprehensive list of all books.

I would like people to pinpoint joyful books on coffee. More explicitly, I try to compile Coffee SE user reviewed and recommended list of books with a possibility of forming a community wiki page in the future. So please classify and explain the content of the book and why you recommend that specific book neatly in your answer.

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    Since there are few questions of this type I don't think a short list of interesting books on the subject of coffee is too broad. There are thousands but most are not worth mentioning.
    – daniel
    May 4, 2016 at 16:50
  • I put a question on Coffee Meta re. this post: meta.coffee.stackexchange.com/questions/1192/…
    – Stephie ♦
    May 4, 2016 at 16:59
  • "people who are related to coffee"?
    – Cai
    May 4, 2016 at 23:07
  • @daniel Frankly, I'm not asking for a list of books. I'm asking for the books that people really read and enjoyed. So, the Coffee SE may have its own list of "books that's worth to read". At least for beginners.
    – MTSan
    May 5, 2016 at 5:58
  • What you are asking for and what you will get are two different things. You have asked people to cite "joyful books on coffee." So the answers you get will constitute a list of such books, which is why Stephie challenged the question as overbroad. I defended the question on Meta- and upvoted it here because IMO it won't burden the site. (In your title the verb should be "advise." )
    – daniel
    May 5, 2016 at 6:12

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I also agree that "The World Atlas of Coffee" by James Hoffman is a good book. It covers a lot of things including the history of coffee, growing and production as well as roasting and brewing. A big section of the book is indeed an atlas, showing various countries and where the coffees are grown. Nice maps and plenty of good photo's too.

If you are already very knowledgeable about coffee and have read many other books on the subject , you probably won't get too much extra out of this but it's certainly more than a quick introduction. I think it would be of great interest for somebody who has become interested in coffee and wants to find out more about the whole process from shrub to cup.

Added another one: "Coffee - A Celebration of Diversity" by Fulvio Eccardi and Vincenzo Sandali. This was originally published in Italian in 2000 and the English translation became available in 2002, so it's not the most up to date book and I'm not sure whether it's still available but it is definitely worth grabbing if you can get hold of it. It has beautiful photographs (including some lovely satellite views of coffee growing areas) but is also rich in information. In many ways it overlaps with The World Atlas of Coffee above although it focuses more on the cultivation and production and doesn't have as much on the roasting and brewing. But it's worth getting for the pictures alone.

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For history, a classic is Historia do Cafe no Brasil by Taunay, which spans several volumes and is in Portuguese. The good news is that the link seems to give free access to some of it (and it is otherwise hard to find).

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Coffee: A comprehensive guide to the bean, beverage, and industry. by R.Thurston is a great book regarding the impact of coffe. It explains the history, environmental impacts and current industry. It attempts to answer why coffee has become so popular and important in modern society, what it is and things like under what conditions do coffee plants grow the best. The book is quite thorough, such that it sometimes can appear academic in style, and I would not recommend it for light reading. On the other hand, it is extremely informative and provides several perspectives on the industry and world surrounding coffee.

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I'd suggest you grab a copy of Coffee Atlas by James Hoffman.

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    Could you please add more content and classification? So, we may easily make a list of revised & advised books in the future in a wiki page.
    – MTSan
    May 8, 2016 at 6:35

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