The Home Barista: How to Bring Out the Best in Every Coffee Bean

More than 100 million Americans start each day with a cup of coffee (many at no small price)! It’s a fact: We love coffee. Now, in The Home Barista, two professionals reveal the secrets to brewing coffee worthy of the priciest cafés right in your own kitchen.

Connoisseurs Simone Egger and Ruby Ashby Orr enlighten readers with insights and advice from crop to cup and beyond. Savvy, smart, and charmingly designed, The Home Barista guides you through the essentials--from understanding your bean’s origins and establishing your palate to perfecting your technique. It’s the essential coffee-lover’s guide to turning a simple bean into a sensational beverage:

• Roast your own beans. (Is it worth it? How not to burn them!)
• Learn all the lingo you need to talk coffee like a pro.
• Master the elusive espresso (by refining tamp, time, and temperature).
• Create barista-worthy milk texture and foam designs.
• Try seven different ways to brew--from the French press to the Turkish ibrik.

Simone Egger writes for The Age Good Food Guide and Epicure. She has authored books for adults and children and used to write guidebooks for Lonely Planet. She also used to wait tables and, for seven years, worked with a charming 1960s, stainless-steel Faema E61, brewing Italian coffee to deliver little doses of happiness.
Ruby Ashby Orr also made espresso coffee for seven years and was known to drink up to six short blacks in a shift. Since then she’s moderated her caffeine intake (a little) and now edits books in between coffee breaks.