For everyone who wants to understand more about coffee and its wonderful nuances and possibilities, this is the book to have. This expanded and fully updated 3rd edition contains new chapters on decaffeination and steep and release brewers, as well as additional origins of note such as Australia, Japan and Puerto Rico. Coffee has never been better, or more interesting, than it is today. Coffee producers have access to more varieties and techniques than ever before and we, as consumers, can share in that expertise to make sure the coffee we drink is the best we can find. Where coffee comes from, how it was harvested, the roasting process and the water used to make the brew are just a few of the factors that influence the taste of what we drink. Champion barista and coffee expert James Hoffmann examines these key factors, looking at varieties of coffee, the influence of terroir, how it is harvested and processed, the roasting methods used, through to the way in which the beans are brewed.

Country by country - from Bolivia to Zambia - James identifies key characteristics and the methods that determine the quality of that country's output. Along the way we learn about everything from the development of the espresso machine, to why strength guides on supermarket coffee are really not good news. This is the first book to chart the coffee production of over 35 countries, encompassing knowledge never previously published outside the coffee industry.

James Hoffmann is the co-founder of Square Mile Coffee Roasters, a multi-award-winning coffee roasting company based in East London. He is also the World Barista Champion 2007, having won the UK Barista competition in both 2006 and 2007. He has a YouTube channel with more than 2 million subscribers, where he makes videos about anything and everything to do with coffee and an instagram following of more than 700k. He is the author of The World Atlas of Coffee (first edition 2014, second edition 2018, third edition 2025) and the Sunday Times bestseller How to Make the Best Coffee at Home (2022).