Description:
If asked where you got your coffee beans, you'd probably say the corner Starbucks or your local grocery store. Rich and fragrant, piles of beans wait in bins for you to pack, grind, and take home (or pack, take home, and grind--whatever your preference). Before arriving on your kitchen counter, though, your coffee beans have passed through the hands of many workers. In The Birth of Coffee, Daniel Lorenzetti and Linda Rice Lorenzetti visit countries where the harvesting of coffee is not just a job or a valuable export but a way of life. "There is something endlessly fascinating about coffee. It is almost magical in its lore, dynamic in its history, and rich in its countless traditions," says Rice Lorenzetti. "To tell the story of coffee is to tell much about the nature of humankind.... The story of coffee rests in the faces of these people--in their labor, in their lives, in their hands." In Ethiopia, women ring a huge mound of green coffee beans, picking through them rapidly and tossing inferior beans into shallow metal bowls. While they work, they sing, as they have for many centuries of sorting. In the evenings, they roast beans and brew strong, sweet coffee in long-necked clay vessels called jebenas. In Java, young women pulp coffee cherries using hand-cranked grinders, which, though heavy, separate the bean from the fruit pulp in just one pass. Since the 1700s Brazil has been perfecting the art and science of coffee harvesting and is now the world's largest exporter. The Birth of Coffee tells its story through evocative prose and stunning duo-toned photographs. Seeing the hard-working, often-poor people responsible for your coffee can set you back a step, but they are presented with pride and dignity. And these same people often end their evenings the same way you do--with a steaming cup of coffee. --Dana Van Nest
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