It might sound like a bit of an oversell to call coffee and café culture a ubiquitous part of modern life, but if you do some digging we think you’ll find that it’s an accurate representation. More than just a beverage-business, from the Enlightenment period through to the age of Modernism, coffee houses and cafés throughout Europe and the Americas have served an important social role as a gathering place for people from all strata of society to meet on even ground to discuss the issues of the day. 

The late-20th and 21st century wave of café culture was characterised by the rise of chain coffee shops, which cemented the idea of a café never being more than a 15 minute walk away into the broader cultural zeitgeist. These days, coffee culture is more prominent than ever, and the internet age has made it increasingly easy for coffee enthusiasts to learn more about and discuss their favourite beverage. 

However, the exponential growth of coffee’s popularity has also seen the injection of some fairly specialised jargon into a community whose majority, while keenly enthusiastic, is not necessarily professionally equipped to understand it. Terms like “espresso” and “French press” are easy enough to pick up through experience and context, but your average budding coffee lover would likely be hard-pressed to decipher the subtle nuances of “burr aperture” or “anaerobic natural processing” without some reliable reference material. Enter The Coffee Dictionary.

About The Coffee Dictionary: An A-Z of coffee, from growing and roasting to brewing and tasting

Within the hardcover of The Coffee Dictionary is a vast collection of entries relating to any and all things coffee. From countries of origin to coffee varieties, equipment descriptions to brewing techniques, and tasting notes to processing methods, The Coffee Dictionary is an illustrated encyclopaedia covering absolutely everything you could want to know about one of the most popular beverages in the world, and all the best ways to brew it. 

About the author, Maxwell Dashwood

Maxwell Dashwood is an author, three-time UK barista champion and coffee business founder based in the United Kingdom, where he owns and runs Colonna Coffee in the cities of Bath and London. An experienced and respected figure in the industry, Dashwood has written numerous academic articles and books on coffee brewing, extraction science, and the business of coffee.

The Coffee Dictionary book format

• Hardcover
• Pages: 256
• Dimensions (L x W x H): 218 x 154 x 27mm
• Weight: ~635g