Coffee--Philosophy for Everyone

April 18, 2011
From the storied history of the world's obsession with the stimulating brew, to an exploration of Jürgen Habermas' dissection of the public sphere as it relates to coffee drinkers, to the declension of standards of "Fair Trade" labeling, this snappy volume reaches in every direction for the truth when it comes to how thinking people, particularly in the U.S., relate to coffee, both philosophically and practically. In interesting, educational, and often funny selections, we learn facts both surprising (most coffee farmers and people living in coffee-growing regions have no idea why anyone would want to drink the stuff) and rudimentary. On the dark side, contributions that deal with the ethics of coffee consumption lead to a better understanding of what fair trade means for farmers and why it's important. On the light side, future coffee snobs will learn how to tell the difference between their roasts (and will be introduced to a $100/pound bean). This is more sociology than philosophy, but a smattering of deep (enough) thoughts from the likes of Hume, Bourdieu, Kant, and others will keep true addictsâof both coffee and philosophyâstimulated.

March 1, 2011

An unexpectedly fun collection of essays exploring the link between coffee and philosophy. 

Parker and Austin assemble a varied compilation of musings on the beverage that has hooked countless people since its discovery in the 15th century by Ethiopian Sufi monks. The authors featured in this compilation—from ethnobotanists to comedians to philosophy professors—take on the history, taste and ethics of coffee in 18 essays likely to elicit much dialogue and debate. In Jill Hernandez's "The Existential Gound of True Community: Coffee and Otherness," French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre's "cafe soirees" are discussed against the backdrop of the caffeinated revolt staged by Starbucks patrons in 2009 to demand a bolder daily brew. Aid workers Gina Bramucci and Shannon Mulholland discuss the ethics behind the fair-trade practices of large corporations in "More than 27 Cents a Day: The Direct Trade (R)evolution." They suggest that supporting fair-trade might mean higher prices, but it also means "we've earned that smug glance over a socially responsible cappuccino in the long run." There's humor here, too; in the endnotes to "The Unexamined Cup is Not Worth Drinking," Kristopher G. Phillips postulates that "I am well aware that not all, and indeed, not even more people who work or frequent coffee houses are hipsters; aren't I allowed a bit of rhetorical flourish?" The book also includes engaging discussions of caffeine's classification as a drug, the emergence of green coffee and the evolution of the coffehouse into a public forum. 

A blend of humor and thought-provoking content guaranteed to stimulate readers' intellect.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011

In this addition to an accessible and substantive series, 18 new essays, with coffee and coffee culture as their shared theme, relay the relationship between the coffee-related contemporary and everyday and the ideas and ideals on which the history of formal philosophy has been built. The essays by philosophy professors, graduate students, and well-informed coffee and philosophy aficionados discuss the aesthetic, moral, ethical, and phenomenological aspects of drinking, preparing, growing, and sharing coffee, as well as the history and politics that the bean and the beverage have enjoyed and suffered. Coffeehouse culture, the nature of thinking and writing, and the physiological responses of humans to coffee are also explored, always with references to Western thought from the ancients through modern abstainers, such as Kant, and 20th-century indulgers, led by Sartre. VERDICT Recommended for coffee and philosophy aficionados. This entry in the series may well also be of interest for book discussion groups.--Francisca Goldsmith, Infopeople Project, Berkeley, CA

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011

An unexpectedly fun collection of essays exploring the link between coffee and philosophy.

Parker and Austin assemble a varied compilation of musings on the beverage that has hooked countless people since its discovery in the 15th century by Ethiopian Sufi monks. The authors featured in this compilation--from ethnobotanists to comedians to philosophy professors--take on the history, taste and ethics of coffee in 18 essays likely to elicit much dialogue and debate. In Jill Hernandez's "The Existential Gound of True Community: Coffee and Otherness," French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre's "cafe soirees" are discussed against the backdrop of the caffeinated revolt staged by Starbucks patrons in 2009 to demand a bolder daily brew. Aid workers Gina Bramucci and Shannon Mulholland discuss the ethics behind the fair-trade practices of large corporations in "More than 27 Cents a Day: The Direct Trade (R)evolution." They suggest that supporting fair-trade might mean higher prices, but it also means "we've earned that smug glance over a socially responsible cappuccino in the long run." There's humor here, too; in the endnotes to "The Unexamined Cup is Not Worth Drinking," Kristopher G. Phillips postulates that "I am well aware that not all, and indeed, not even more people who work or frequent coffee houses are hipsters; aren't I allowed a bit of rhetorical flourish?" The book also includes engaging discussions of caffeine's classification as a drug, the emergence of green coffee and the evolution of the coffehouse into a public forum.

A blend of humor and thought-provoking content guaranteed to stimulate readers' intellect.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)