This is the mother of all coffee books.  I always mused that if only Nestle would share what they know about coffee, the trade would be advanced by leaps and bounds.

Sure, Illy likes to show off what they know, but Nestle, Kraft, P&G etc have far more information.That is what this book is, a compendium of information from seasoned researchers and professionals, with quite a few (like Wintgens himself) having spent quite some time at Nestle. This book is oriented towards those with real information needs about coffee production, or those with an insatiable appetite for coffee information.

The product of 40 agronomists, coffee researchers, and others with very specific knowledge and expertise, this book is up-to-date, even including through information on the coffee genome. The 5 sections in this massive 975 page hardcover book are:
* Growing
* Pests, diseases, and their control
* Harvesting and processing
* Storage, shipment, quality
* The latest economical and technological aspects

There are 40 chapters, over 600 pages of the main text, and 900 illustrations. The recommendations in the book are applicable everywhere, and not geared to any specific producing country. Please be warned, this book is not for the casual reader! I made a page of the Publisher Description and detailed Table of Contents, and another with Page View, snapshots.

From the publisher: "This, the first comprehensive review of coffee flavor chemistry is entirely dedicated to flavor components and presents the importance of analytical techniques for the quality control of harvesting, roasting, conditioning and distribution of foods. Provides a reference for coffee specialists and an introduction to flavor chemistry for non-specialists. The author is a research chemist with Firmenich SA, one of the few great flavor and fragrance companies in the world.Contains the most recent references (up to 2001) for the identification of green and roasted coffee aroma volatiles."