REVIEW: "Coffee" by Peter Hernow - the barista code

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

The book "Coffee" (English name "Latte art") by Peter Hurnow is a barista's code. Gift-format book with gorgeous photos of coffee and excerpts from this code. This is the first time in my practice that a book review has met such a short description. In it you will not find step-by-step instructions on how to make this or that type of coffee drink, or lengthy explanations on how, for example, to choose coffee machines. You will most likely find inspiration here to better understand coffee and change the attitude towards it forever. After reading this book, you simply cannot have a cup of poorly prepared coffee, believe me.

If you don't like coffee, then chances are you just never tasted really well-made coffee.

It is worth mentioning that this book is only about drinks prepared with a semi-automatic espresso machine. Another feature is the submission of content in three languages at once (Russian, English and French).

No words can describe the whole variety of espresso. In a cup of this drink there is a lovely aroma of coffee beans; richness, piquancy and complex flavors …

The coffee berry is a repository of aromas and flavors. To experience their diversity and enjoy them to the fullest, knowledge, flexibility, skill and creativity are required.

If you don't like coffee, then chances are you just never tasted really well-made coffee.

This is how the step-by-step process of the barista looks like, which creates patterns and images on the surface of a coffee cup. You can try again. There are several similar step-by-step instructions in the book.

And this is what the coffee wheel looks like - a special chart for the classification of flavors used at tastings.

In addition to new information and inspiration, the book provides many tips on how not to do and how to do it:

1. For example, you will learn that boiling water has a detrimental effect on the taste of ground coffee. It interrupts almost all shades and adds bitterness to the drink.
2. And also that a properly prepared espresso doesn't need sugar at all. In most cases, it is added to mask the taste of imperfectly brewed coffee.
3. Hernow advises not to leave the coffee on a heat source so that it does not acquire a bitter taste, and recommends pouring the coffee into a pre-heated thermos if you want to keep its temperature.
4. A completely understandable, but very difficult to implement advice that coffee beans are best bought a few days (maximum - two weeks) after roasting, and grind the coffee just before drinking.
5. “If you want to find higher quality coffees, you should look to coffees from a single origin. These are coffee beans harvested from one plantation, in one region or one crop, and not a mixture from different countries or even from different continents (coffee that we buy in supermarkets is most often a mixture sold under one brand or another) " …

Below you can download selected excerpts from the book and get to know it better. My resume is a great gift book for a barista friend or just a coffee lover. The text of the book is quite atmospheric, and the pictures of coffee are simply gorgeous, with the few exceptions of a few personal photos of Hernow, especially in his topless form, sprinkled with coffee beans. Unfortunately, the authorship of the photos is not indicated.