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Rating: 
Summary: A fine work badly in need of an update
Review: I found this book to be very informative and useful for a novice about to start home roasting his own coffee. However, the equipment and resource sections are woefully out of date. This book was published back in 1996 and it shows; there have been many products and resources for the home roaster released into the market since then.If you are interested in roasting your own coffee, read this book. Even though it is slightly out of date, it is full of useful information, well-written and well-presented.
Rating: 
Summary: Dated, only for the true beginner
Review: If you have other books by the same author,
pass this one. Roasting techniques and styles
are to be found on various web sites with much
greater detail.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, informative and enlightening!
Review: Let me start off by saying that I do not like to read at all. I rarely start books and even more rarely finish them. With this book however I read it from cover to cover in three days! A very fun book for the coffee hobbyist or anyone who would like to learn more about coffee and home coffee roasting. Not only is this book packed with history (in a fun way) it is also a wealth of reference information regarding home roasting and the overall coffee process, from plant to cup!
This book is laid out in a very easy to read format. The chapters can be long but everything is broken down into small 1-4 page sections. Kenneth Davids has a real grasp on the fundamentals of coffee production and lays out a lot of information in an easy to follow entertaining way. The book reads very well from cover to cover.
The content is not too scientific and also not too general. Whether you have no idea about anything coffee or you are a coffee hobbyist (like me) you will learn a lot and come to appreciate all that goes into a truly good cup of coffee. Davids also includes a lot of reference information laid out in a fashion that is easy to search and locate specific information such as coffee origin notes, roasting and flavor terms, roasting equipment and methods to name a few. Davids does review and discuss many of todays home roasting equipment quite well however this information is already dated. Not to worry though the total of this information represents a small portion of the total book.
Included are also a lot of drawings and diagrams. This book really captures the romance of coffee and coffee roasting and delivers it in a wonderful easy to read and use fashion. I cannot put this book down and have read and reread many parts of it. I refer to the roasting notes and procedures to assist in my home roasting. This book is as much an indispensable tool as it is an entertaining easy chair read. If you even have a slight interest in coffee then this book has a lot to offer!
Rating:
Summary: A Literary Love Affair with Coffee
Review: This a great how to book for those who have a passion for coffee. If you want to learn how to roast coffee at home and a bit more, this is a great one for you. This book is part of a collection of books written by Kenneth Davids in the subject of coffee preparation and appreciation. Keep it in your personal library for future reference It even has color tiles in the last page to help you identify types of roast. I like it so much that I have recommend it on my own web site.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible for the Amateur Roaster -- But Dated
Review: This book is worth several times its purchase price for the two-page roasting chart alone. As a technically-oriented (read: nerd) amateur roaster with three (3) roasters (a Hearthware Precision, an Alpenrost, and the fabulous Coffee Kinetics - Syd & Jerry fluid bed) I am constantly referring to this book to improve my art and understanding. But, amazingly, the book -- only a few years in print -- is now dated, because the equipment options for the home coffee roaster have increased so much. My three roasters (or the types they represent) are not covered. That's the only reason that I gave this 4 stars instead of 5. But if you roast coffee at home -- regardless of your equipment -- you need this book. What else is missing? I'd love to see a table in the appendix covering the top 50 (or so) growing regions and rating the AVERAGE bean on acidity, sweetness, body, finish, etc, so that one has a clue where to begin when making a blend. The professional coffee roaster is cupping samples all day long, and quickly learns the characteristics of the world's coffees. But we amateurs, buying 1, 2, or 5 lbs at a time could use a secret decoder ring that would tell us in advance what variety we should order that has a good chance of rounding out that blend that is "not quite there yet." Short of that, David's excellent narrative coverage in the book of different coffee characteristics will have to do.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensible for the Amateur Roaster -- But Dated
Review: This book is worth several times its purchase price for the two-page roasting chart alone. As a technically-oriented (read: nerd) amateur roaster with three (3) roasters (a Hearthware Precision, an Alpenrost, and the fabulous Coffee Kinetics - Syd & Jerry fluid bed) I am constantly referring to this book to improve my art and understanding. But, amazingly, the book -- only a few years in print -- is now dated, because the equipment options for the home coffee roaster have increased so much. My three roasters (or the types they represent) are not covered. That's the only reason that I gave this 4 stars instead of 5. But if you roast coffee at home -- regardless of your equipment -- you need this book. What else is missing? I'd love to see a table in the appendix covering the top 50 (or so) growing regions and rating the AVERAGE bean on acidity, sweetness, body, finish, etc, so that one has a clue where to begin when making a blend. The professional coffee roaster is cupping samples all day long, and quickly learns the characteristics of the world's coffees. But we amateurs, buying 1, 2, or 5 lbs at a time could use a secret decoder ring that would tell us in advance what variety we should order that has a good chance of rounding out that blend that is "not quite there yet." Short of that, David's excellent narrative coverage in the book of different coffee characteristics will have to do.
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