Rating: 
Summary: The History of the Coffee Business
Review: This book outlines the history of coffee with a focus on the industry as a whole. It's main focus is on the late 19th century to the present. I think it provides an excellent overview and history of the business. I found it very readable and quite interesting. It is not dry like you would expect a business history book to be. Pendergrast does a good job of sprinkling in tidbits of facts throughout the book without bogging down. He also illuminates some of the drama behind the early days of small roasters in America growing and consolidating. This book is not for people who want to learn how to make coffee (it does have a few pages in an appendix on this). It is purely about the history of the business with a focus on events during the 20th century. I disagree with some comments made about this book. This book does reveal how coffee has transformed several Latin American and African countries even to this day. It does not spend entire chapters on specific countries but rather surveys several countries and the impact the industry has had. I thought Pendegrast did a fairly good job at balancing the different perspectives of retailers, roasters, importers, and growers. He also sheds some light onto the origins of specialty coffee and the explosion of retailers such as Starbucks. Some have argued this book is leftist, others argue it does not adequately cover the exploitation of Latin America and Africa by the industry. I think the author does a fairly good job of portraying both views, perhaps with a bit of leaning left. Pendergrast reveals fascinating personalities such as C.W. Post the inventor of Postum and many other health cereals still produced today or Howard Schultz - without whom Starbucks would never have been the phenomenon it is, but rather a regional roaster and retailer at best.
I do agree with one reader's review - this is not a coffee table book. It is a history book - a history of the commodity we know as the coffee bean. Since it is such a book - expect it to read like a history book, a good, readable history book. It is not riveting, rather it is interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Slooooooow but informative
Review: This informative book is truly a joy to read, and any coffee drinker (serious coffee drinker, anyways) would benefit from this work. It offers an enlightening insight into the incredible coffee economy and outlines the disproportionate balance of profit that is a result from this inconspicuous plant. Not focused simply on the drink itself, Pendergrast writes of those this commodity impacts. Look for more than amusing tales of the coffee world and trite chapters on how to best brew the beans; this book is for those who are seriously interested in their favorite drink or who are curious about the history of a world commodity that has shaped both our economic and natural environment.
Rating: 
Summary: Coffee may be worse than cattle!
Review: This is a great book that details the origins of coffee from 6th century Ethiopia to today's Starbucks. On many levels this book succeeds. It has a lot of coffee trivia that is both amusing and thoughtprovoking, it shows how coffee gained its relevance in today's society, and lastly it puts the social and political aspects of coffee under a microscope. For 11 years I have been a futures and commodities investor, broker, and author. One of my favorite futures commodities is coffee. This book has added to my knowledge base by 10 times. I feel I have a deeper understanding and appreciation of java and in the long run I suspect that this will improve my investments in coffee futures. My hat is off to the author. Congrats on a fine book.
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