If there’s only one book on your shelf about coffee, there’s no doubt in our mind which one it should be: The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffmann. Hoffmann, famously, is the co-owner of London’s Square Mile Coffee Roasters and the 2007 World Barista Champion. His popular Youtube channel has changed the way we use our French press, helped us keep chaff off our counter, and given us some candid commentary on everything from “specialty” instant coffee to new products. Hoffmann’s groundbreaking book is now available in a second edition, which includes six new country profiles. Hoffmann was gracious enough to answer a few questions we had about the book.
First of all congratulations on the second edition of The World Atlas of Coffee. How long has the second edition been in the works?
In some ways work started on the second edition the moment the first was released. I kept a running file of people’s feedback, captured little tiny errors or things I wanted to improve. The edition was actually commission over 18 months ago. The nature of books like this – very heavily illustrated – is that they need to be wrapped up nearly six months before publication, so there’s weird period of nearly half a year after you’ve finished the work before you can really talk about it….
