Herbert Gold has provided us with a history of Bohemia. He deals with Greenwich Village, San Francisco, Berkeley and any other place where the Bohemia mentality reigns supreme. This is a grand exploration of great artists, poets, thinkers, anarchists and dreamers. He presents the argument that Bohemia is ultimately a state of mind. You may be in Paris or Chapel Hill or Prague but you can descend into your own private Bohemia. There is discussion of the Beats and hippies, of course, but also of Paris in the twenties. He discusses Israeli bohemain Haim Hefer and French chanteur Serge Gainsbourg. ( I obtained a longtime fondness for Gainsbourg music from curiosity after reading this book. There are many unheralded madmen and women that get their fifteen minutes of fame in this book. It is a thrilling ride through a state of mind that ought to be more prevalent than it is. I felt excited to be alive after reading this book. The exaltation with life intensifies everytime I browse through this book. It goes well with ginseng tea, espresso, whiskey or beer. It is a great companion on bus rides and train ventures and it reads well on the beach. Herbert Gold finally gives due credit to the fine art of lazing around and dreaming away.

Not only is this a lovely book to look at, it is a pleasure to read. Author Sara Perry combines her penchant for research, testing and detail with her calm, gracious writing style. A read through of her herbal tea book is a soothing adventure. Brew a fragrant cuppa and enjoy. Next year, enjoy tea made from the herbs and recipes Sara inspires us to create!

I first read this book while working at a coffee shop during those drifting years between high-school and college. The shop had just decided to jump on the bandwagon and start selling tea products. I took it upon myself to become the resident "tea man", since everyone else behind the counter knew "just a little too much" about coffee. Along with setting up the display I took a week to read this book which had come with it (presumedly for sales purposes) and familiarized myself with a new world.

This book above all is simple and easy to read. Most books on "luxury items" are impossibly burdened with talk about "this is from here" and "this region has this history", which is good for more advanced reading but will lose most entry-level people. This book is, on the other hand, strait to the point and clear.

One other nice thing about this book is what it isn't: blatent advertising. The cover, introduction, and conclusion feature the only mentions of the "Republic of Tea" or their sales promos. When I started reading I figured it would be a horrible smattering of slogans. It wasn't, and this was a relief.

I would recomend this above most other books on tea for its simple to understand presentation and overall readability. For those who know the basics, moving on to something more complete might be in order.

Awesome! This book will get you hooked on coffee if you aren't already. There is background information on growing, harvesting, and roasting along with wonderful recipes. Very helpful even if you don't have an expresso machine. You will find directions on how to make coffee drinks without the machine. Well worth the price.

This is a great cookbook for those who love tea and love new and inventive ideas to make ordinary food extraordinary! I love this book because it takes traditional recipes and adds new zest to their flavors, enhancing their flavores with more taste and zip. The recipes are easy to read and follow, most have only a few ingredients. The recipes in each category from hors d'oeuvres to salads, soups, to side dishes, to main courses and of course desserts to drinks(hot and cold) are creative and flavorful. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for new ideas to make the "same old recipes" new and exciting and full of flavor. This cookbook is also good reading. It gives you backround information on the making of Clesetial Seasoning beginnings from small town entrepreneurs to a to successful major company. It is also full of personal stories and anecdotes from the people who started this company, and their family members. It is both quaint and sophisticated and thoroughly enjoyable.

This book is written in details and the pictures are very good. all the information and varieties of chocolate and coffee are there. A 'must have' collection if you are chocolate and coffee lovers! Good value too.

This isn't only a book on coffee, it's a fine essay on the coffee ceremony of the Middle East. Fragrant with memory and wonderful descriptions of exotic places, it's a fun read as well as informative--just a lovely, little book.

But the real worth of this book is the listing of coffee varietals, from Abyssinian (I mean Ethiopian, but that doesn't begin with "a") to Zaire. Roden's description of the flavor of these different coffees is surprisingly accurate; we had a Costa Rican brew and checked it against her listing and found it was right on the money. If you are tempted to try a new variety at your local roaster and don't know what "saucy, yet mild" means in terms of flavor, you should refer to Roden's book instead.

There are also recipes for coffee-flavored desserts and little "to be served with the demitasse" sweets like apricot balls stuffed with pistachios. Hard to resist. So, don't.

This study compares the political economoy of elites and coffee production in central america and goes a long way to explain the political history of the region.

This is extremely well thought out, very nicely written and the underlying intellectual rigor of the book makes it one of the "best reads" for both scholars and just, well, travelers. A really good book