Across forests, mountains, and vast tropical plateaus, the authors take us through the life of coffee—from its very beginnings in Central and Eastern Africa to its later spread across Asia and the Americas. The coffee tree is now cultivated in a hundred different tropical countries, growing under a wide range of environmental conditions that are more or less similar to those under which it originally evolved.

Differences in the varieties grown, climate, soil, farming practices, and processing methods result in an incredibly wide range of differences in quality between one area and another, and even between one plantation and another. The influence of these factors is often unfamiliar to those working with coffee further down the chain, and will be of interest not only to them but also to the more curious consumer.

For their part, many coffee producing countries are only just beginning to discover great coffees and what makes them great. In this photographic journey, the reader will gain an understanding of how coffee quality is shaped by climate, framing practices, plant varieties, processing methods, and other factors involved in the many different traditions in the coffee world, as the product makes it way from field to cup.

This is a book that opens the doors to a new understanding of a product of great importance in our lives. It will launch you on your own voyage of discovery of the diversity to be found in coffee's aromas, flavors, and its very origins.