Just out of curiosity, what books or videos have people seen that really helped them get a handle on different techniques? I haven't seen this posted anywhere and there are a lot of books on the subject, so I thought I would ask everyone.

Thanks

espresso parts sells a few videos and books, but i would recommend using youtube, you could find a lot of good (and bad lol) videos on there...

I've owned machines before so I'm not really new to this, I've watched almost every video on youtube and read most articles here. I could learn Biology from Wikipedia but i would rather learn it from a book. I was mainly curious If anyone had read or seen any of the wealth of purchasable information. I am always trying to learn more because by no means am I a barista.

Its just that sometimes information that is organized and for sale is really the best.

In the Resources section of HB there is a subsection titled "Recommended reading (jimseven)" which links to James Hoffmann's coffee blog and his suggested readings. I'm actually considering purchasing Espresso Coffee - Professional Techniques by David Schomer which Jame's recommends.

http://www.jimseven.com/2006/08/18/reco...e-reading/

You could also check out Scott Rao's Professional Barista Handbook. I haven't read this, but have heard about it before, and there's sample pages on the website.

-Chris

I really need to update that post! Thanks for the reminder!

movnmik wrote:In the Resources section of HB there is a subsection titled "Recommended reading (jimseven)" which links to James Hoffmann's coffee blog and his suggested readings. I'm actually considering purchasing Espresso Coffee - Professional Techniques by David Schomer which Jame's recommends.

http://www.jimseven.com/2006/08/18/reco...e-reading/

I never noticed that section on the Resources page before, not paying enough attention I guess. Also, the David Schomer books/dvds have had me very interested with the praise he gets on coffeegeek.

I just received Scott Rao's book for my birthday and am about a third of the way through it. It is light on chit-chat and heavy on what to do and why. I particularly enjoyed the discussion of brew ratios, which isn't new to frequent readers of this site, but Scott's explanation is clear. The section on adjusting brew temperature for the quantity of grounds was new to me and logical. He gives lists of all the steps to go through in preparing an espresso drink, pulling together all the individual guidance into a ordered procedure.

Scott gives credit to folks who have developed new ideas, which is nice to see. For example Andy Schecter's brewing ratio work.

At $40 the book isn't the cheapest coffee guide you can find, but so far I think it is fair for the quality of the knowledge and the clear presentation.

I also own Scott's book, and really enjoyed reading through it. . .The day I bought it. I'm actually in the midst of reading through it a second time. I found it an easy read, even through some of more complicated stuff. There is illustrations to supplement the descriptions, which helps a lot. The paragraphs can get pretty wordy at times.

The next book Im probably going to buy is David Schomers book. I forget the name... The Green one on the Vivace site.

Eric wrote:At $40 the book isn't the cheapest coffee guide you can find, but so far I think it is fair for the quality of the knowledge and the clear presentation.

Compared to the money I've paid for standard electrical/automotive/computer engineering reference and text-books, that's quite cheap. I have one that's smaller than a pocket bible that's basically nothing more than a promotion for Bosch that cost more than 40 bucks.