Rating: 
Summary: INVIGORATING LOOK AT OBSCURE SUBJECT
Review: "UNCOMMON GROUNDS" IS A FACINATING LOOK AT A WIDELY USED, BUT LITTLE UNDERSTOOD, PART OF DAILY LIFE. THE AUTHOR PRESENTS THE HISTORY, POLITICS, PESONALITIES, AND EVEN CHEMISTRY OF OUR MUCH-LOVED DAILY BEVERAGE, WITH THE DEPTH OF A SCHOLAR AND THE STYLE OF A POLISHED DETECTIVE NOVELIST. EVEN PEOPLE BORED BY FACTS AND FIGURES WILL FIND THAT WHEN PRESENTED BY A CRAFTSMAN LIKE MR PENDERGRAST, THEY CONTRIBUTE TO THE DRAMA OF A STORY FILLED WITH CHARACTERS TOO STRANGE TO BE TRUE, BUT ARE.THE AUTHOR ALSO DISPLAYS A DEPTH OF COMPASSION, AND INSIGHT ON A HUMAN LEVEL, FOR THE COFFEE WORKERS IN THE CURRENT DAY, WHICH REFLECTS TRUE CHARACTER, IN ADDITION TO SKILL.
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Summary: Serves up a rich blend of history.
Review: A discovery made in an Ethiopian rainforest centuries ago no commodity such as coffee has brewed up a rich and troubled history. Over the years, the beverage has fomented revolution, spurred deforestation, enriched a few while impoverishing the many, and addicted millions with its psychoactive caffeine. Little do people know that coffee is now the world's second most valuable legal commodity behind oil. The book details the rise and fall of regional coffee brands in the United States, the role of advertising in the industry, the global economic impact of coffee prices, and the recent emergence of specialty coffee retailers like Starbucks. This book serves up a rich blend of anecdote, character study, market analysis and social history. You will always remember this book every time you take that sip of coffee. FinancialNeeds.com
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Summary: Not keeping me up at night, but a great history
Review: A staple of our breakfast table, our breaks at work, after dinner, and for a pick me up all during the day coffee is something that we think about the cup in front of us, but rarely do we think of how we got here. Pendergast delves into this mix, taking us back to the coffee cradle of Ethopia and on up to the Starbucks wars of the present day. He has crafted a very readable and accessible story of the history of coffee, as an economic and social driving force. The reader is given a real overview of how this dark, sometimes bitter brew has woven itself into the fabric of our lives, from the match heated cups in the trenches of the World Wars to the lines forming outside your neighborhood coffee house today. But Pendergast looks at both sides of the story - the consumers and the coffee companies, but also the suppliers and the lives of those who make their (meager) livelihood off of harvesting the coffee bean. He nicely contrasts the Americans up in arms because of coffee rising past $1 a pound, while that $1 is more than a day's wage for many of the coffee harvesters. Coffee does not just appear on the grocery shelf, or in our cup by magic, it takes many steps on teh way, and these have impact upon costs, and upon the lives of those doing the work. While personally I think that the book slows down heavily in the final chapters, overall I found it kept me engaged, with broad topics broken down in short subjects helping to keep the focus and the players straight. Coffee has been the boon and the bane of society for the past few hundred years. I found that I also came away with a greater understanding of the types of coffee, and what to be looking for when I'm buying it to get a better quality. Arabica, Robusta, and others now mean something more to me, and that's the beauty of a book like this - the information you receive appears on so many levels. I tip my cup to Mr. Pendergast.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit tedious and more
Review: Although critically acclaimed, this book was not exactly what I was seeking. It gives the history of the US mass market coffee companies in excruciating detail, but as a coffee afficianado, I think I know more about coffee itself and how to prepare it well than does the author. If you are interested in the down and dirty history of Folgers, of Chock Full of Nuts, of Hills Brothers, than this is your book. If you are sincerely interested in fine coffee, and have attained a level of appreciation of same, this book will quickly become tedious. What I don't get is how the average Folgers or Hills Brothers or what have you drinker would be sufficiently interested in Coffee Per se (being as they drink plonk) to spend the time and money on this book. The real coffee drinkers out there, the people who go to effort to get or make great coffee, are going to find this tretise dull and unbearable after page 150 or so.
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Summary: now it is 3 degrees of separation not 6
Review: Everything we do, everything we buy has an impact far around the world. This is an excellent study of these links through an in depth review of the coffee industry. Pendergrast has researched the significant political, business, and economic history of the industry and its role in the US relationship with Latin American, African and Asian coffee producing countries. The information is academic quality but throughoughly readible.
Pendergrast certainly would not ask us to give up this amazing drink, but the book does help to lift the veil of ignorance surrounding the impact our decision has and our role and responsibility in the economic process called the "invisible hand" of capitalism.
The book is a bit heavy on the marketing history of the industry, but to business people or economists this is a one of its strongest aspects. It is also important to understand the history of coffee consumption in the US (and has implications for other products we buy.) Quite simply, Americans bought crappy coffee just because of the advertising and brand strategy. It is amazing to me how much longer it took Americans to realize the potential for much better tasting coffee. It does give hope to all entrepreneurs, because this seems so obvious to us post-Starbucks, but it is only very recently that gourmet coffee companies figured out that we might want something with flavor.
If there are broader lessons from this book, it is to re-examine what we buy. What do we buy that is just good marketing and yet is an inferior product in some way. I like to believe that most Americans would not want to buy products that are made with slave or child labor or with environmental practices that are killing people in another country. Obviously the real world is not so black and white, but I think the same principle applies to everything we buy. Ideally, we will continue to evolve as a society and consider these factors when we choose our coffee. It is the beauty and potential of our economic system that we CAN push Starbucks and other companies in that direction just buy what we choose at the coffee cart or in the grocery aisle.
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Summary: Slooooooow but informative
Review: Everything you ever wanted to know about coffee. Most of the book makes for very slow reading, but the information is interesting and well worth the price.
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Summary: Review from The New Yorker, July 26, 1999:
Review: Few coffee drinkers suspect that they are affecting American foreign policy, the domestic policies of Latin-American and African countries, and the habitat of migratory birds. Pendergrast shows how and why they are. He has taken on a huge subject, but he organizes the facts skillfully and puts personalities in the perspective of their times. This encyclopedic volume is the entertaining result.
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Summary: Everything you wanted to know--and More!!
Review: From a confirmed "Coffee Afficionada:"
Thoroughly researched and well organized. There are even illustrations! If you drink coffee (even decaff) you'll want to read this book.
I've enjoyed the taste of coffee since I was a little child, thanks to my Mom.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully written and informative
Review: I bought this book on a caprice at my local borders. I love coffee and thought it might make for interesting brousing. Instead I read the entire book (more than 400 pages of text) in two sittings. This is a fascinating look at coffee's impact on the world with special emphasis on the last 300 years. It has dozens of fascinating photographs that range from exploited workers to "Mrs. Olson" to the original Starbucks logo. I can say honestly that anyone who enjoys a morning cup of joe should read this book.
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Summary: One of those Special books that broadens your perspective!
Review: I first heard about this book in a review on the Arts&Letters Daily website and couldn't agree more that this is a fabulous book. Mark Pendergast presents everything you never knew about coffee but didn't know existed, in an interesting, well woven story, from its history to present day business aspects to a consumers primer about this most stimulating of drinks. Others have reviewed this book as "liberal", but it simply presents the reality of this commodity. This book will educate and broaden you in many ways among which, the desire to find your favorite coffee, I've consequently graduated from staled in the can coffee to 8 o'clock-whole bean. The only drawback is for those who are not as business oriented the numbers by 3/4 of the way into the book can get a little tiring, but not too bad. Thank you Mark for writing this book!
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