The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee - by James Freeman & Caitlin Freeman & Tara Duggan (Hardcover)

About the Book

Includes recipes for various types of coffee and for food served at the Blue Bottle.

Book Synopsis

One of the country's most celebrated roasters explains how to choose, brew, and enjoy the new breed of artisan coffees at home, along with 40 inventive recipes that incorporate coffee or taste good with a cup.

Blue Bottle Coffee Company has quickly become one of America's most celebrated roasters. Famous for its complex and flavorful coffees, Blue Bottle delights its devoted patrons with exquisite pour-overs, delicious espressi, and specialized brewing methods.

Yet as coffee production becomes more sophisticated with specialized extraction techniques and Japanese coffee gadgets, the new artisan coffees can seem out of reach. The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee explains this new world from farm to cup, exploring the bounty of beans available and the intricate steps that go into sourcing raw coffee from around the globe. Blue Bottle founder James Freeman coaches you through brewing the perfect cup of coffee, using methods as diverse as French press, nel drip, siphon, and more to produce the best flavor.

For coffee lovers who want to roll up their sleeves and go deeper, Freeman explains step by step how to roast beans at home using standard kitchen tools--just like he did when starting out. The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee also introduces a home technique for cupping, the industry method of tasting coffees for quality control, so you can hone your taste and share your meticulously roasted coffee with friends.

Rounding out the book are more than thirty inventive recipes from Blue Bottle pastry chef and former Miette bakery owner Caitlin Freeman that incorporate coffee or just taste particularly good with coffee, such as Saffron Vanilla Snickerdoodles, Stout Coffee Cake with Pecan-Caraway Streusel, Affogato with Smoky Almond Ice Cream, Coffee Panna Cotta, and more.

With more than one hundred stunning photographs showing coffee's journey from just-harvested cherry to perfect drink, this distinctive and deep guide to the new breed of amazing coffees from one of the top artisan coffee makers will change the way you think about--and drink--coffee.

Review Quotes

"Once you've tried Blue Bottle coffee there is no going back--and thanks to this book, you can now understand exactly why. This be-all book on today's coffee culture is a how-to and why manual that will thrill coffee geeks, amateurs, and professionals alike. And for those whose experience is that food is an afterthought at a coffee bar, you can now have Blue Bottle's sumptuous recipes that are like the crema in the cup."
-Danny Meyer, restaurateur and author of Setting the Table

"Knowing James is like knowing a prophet; my friendship with him opened my eyes to a whole new planet of coffee possibilities. What he's taught me about coffee changed my world, and this beautiful brew of useful tips, surprising information, and tasty inspiration will change yours, too. I'm still buzzing."
-Mourad Lahlou, chef-owner of Aziza, San Francisco, and author of Mourad: New Moroccan

About the Author

JAMES FREEMAN is the founder and owner of Blue Bottle Coffee Company. More than a decade after starting out in a tiny converted potting shed in Oakland, Blue Bottle is now the country's leading artisan roaster, with six cafés in the San Francisco Bay Area, roasteries on both coasts, and a presence on the High Line and in Rockefeller Center and Chelsea in Manhattan. In addition to its cafés, Blue Bottle is served in fine restaurants nationwide, including Chez Panisse, Gramercy Tavern, Coi, and others, and regularly garners national media attention. See www.bluebottlecoffee.com for more.

CAITLIN FREEMAN is the resident pastry chef for Blue Bottle Coffee Company and was a longtime owner of the San Francisco cake and sweets shop, Miette. James and Caitlin Freeman live in San Francisco, CA.

A staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle's food section, TARA DUGGAN earned a James Beard Award for best newspaper column and was nominated for an additional James Beard Award for feature writing. She lives with her family in San Francisco, and this is her third book.

CLAY MCLACHLAN is an award-winning photographer specializing in food, wine, and travel. His work has been featured in numerous cookbooks, including Cooking with Chocolate, which garnered a World Cookbook Award. He divides his time between San Francisco and Italy.