The Professional Barista’s Handbook

by Carlo Odello

The Professional Barista’s Handbook is an interesting attempt by Scott Rao – American consultant in the USA coffee business – to provide a 360° view on the art of being a barista. “When, 14 years ago, I started working in the business I used to read each and every available book on coffee I could find – says Rao in the introduction. After having read all these books, I was left with the impression that I had not learned so much on how to prepare a great coffee”. In a few words: there was no book with the most relevant and down-to-earth hints for a barista. Given that he could not find any, Rao decided to write one himself with the aim of producing the first truly exhaustive manual for a barista. No doubt that this is a book which covers everything and each topic is dealt with in great detail: percolation, dosing, the methods for levelling the ground coffee in the filter-holder, pressing and, it goes without saying, everything which has got to do with preparing an espresso (more than that: there is also a chapter on tea). The author makes a thorough description with continual reference to scientific research, data and numbers. However, sometimes, Rao suffers from excess of zeal and proposes solutions which could be deemed, quite rightly, a bit complicated and the usefulness of which could be legitimately questioned. If we neglect some overdoing here and there, Rao’s book is a good quality guide. Indeed, it is a collection of most of the things a barista should know if s/he wants to define her/himself a real professional barista.

The Professional Barista’s Handbook
Author: Scott Rao
Dimensions: 17,7 x 25,3
Pages: 100
Price: US$ 45,00
ISBN: 978-1-60530-098-6

You can buy it at:
www.theprofessionalbaristashandbook.com

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