Making Better Coffee

How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Tastemakers Create Value

Edward F. Fischer

$49.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

University of California Press
29 November 2022

History of the Americas; Food & society; Anthropology; Social & cultural anthropology

An anthropologist uncovers how ""great coffee"" depends not just on taste, but also on a complex system of values worked out among farmers, roasters, and consumers.

What justifies the steep prices commanded by small-batch, high-end Third Wave coffees? Making Better Coffee explores this question, looking at highland coffee farmers in Guatemala and their relationship to the trends that dictate what makes ""great coffee."" Traders stress material conditions of terroir and botany, but just as important are the social, moral, and political values that farmers, roasters, and consumers attach to the beans.

In the late nineteenth century, Maya farmers were forced to work on the large plantations that colonized their ancestral lands. The international coffee market shifted in the 1990s, creating demand for high-altitude varietals—plants suited to the mountains where the Maya had been displaced. Edward F. Fischer connects the quest for quality among U.S. tastemakers to the lives and desires of Maya producers, showing how profits are made by artfully combining coffee's material and symbolic attributes. The result is a complex story of terroir and taste, quality and craft, justice and necessity, worth and value.

By: Edward F. Fischer
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 23mm
Weight: 363g
ISBN: 9780520386969
ISBN 10: 0520386965
Pages: 306
Publication Date: 29 November 2022
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Edward F. Fischer is Professor of Anthropology at Vanderbilt University, where he also directs the Institute for Coffee Studies. He has authored and edited several books, most recently The Good Life: Aspiration, Dignity, and the Anthropology of Wellbeing.

Reviews for Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Tastemakers Create Value

""Fischer's insightful new book. . . .illustrates in great detail…how rarely that increased value benefits Maya farmers directly."" * Economic Botanist * ""Making Better Coffee is an engaging exploration of the value and values that surround coffee. . . .This book will be very useful for researchers, providing an excellent review of the literature. It could be used in graduate or advanced undergraduate classes."" * FoodAnthropology * ""A captivating and enlightening journey that delves into the intricate and multifaceted relationship between coffee production and its enjoyment by consumers."" * Exertions * ""Making Better Coffee offers an unabashedly practical look at real-world market spaces that impact the lives of millions of people around the world. . . . [L]earning more about and from an industry that is simultaneously functional and dysfunctional is more than desirable. It should be mandatory."" * Administrative Science Quarterly * ""A compelling case study of our current stage of capitalism in which controlling the means of production no longer guarantees maximum accumulation. . . . Fischer’s work demonstrates that when we make better coffee, it is not necessarily better for everyone."" * Gastronomica * ""Making Better Coffee is a captivating and enlightening journey that delves into the intricate and multifaceted relationship between coffee production and its enjoyment by consumers. . . . The combination of Fischer’s storytelling, research, and thoughtful analysis makes the text a compelling read for both coffee enthusiasts and anthropologists . . . Ultimately, Making Better Coffee is more than simply an account of creating value for coffee; it portrays coffee production not just in terms of the resulting commodity, but also as a pathway for community empowerment and the pursuit of a better future."" * Exertions * ""Fischer illuminates, on the heels of the transition from Folgers (First Wave) to Starbucks (Second Wave), the cultural and economic shifts that occurred from Peet’s (Second Wave) to Blue Bottle Coffee (Third Wave). For this alone, the book is fun to read."" * Administrative Science Quarterly *