The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee


Book Description

"Absolutely riveting . . . Essential reading for foodies, java-junkies, anthropologists, and anyone else interested in funny, sardonically told adventure stories." —Anthony Bourdain, author of Kitchen Confidential Full of humor and historical insights, The Devil’s Cup is not only ahistory of coffee, but a travelogue of a risk-taking brew-seeker. In this captivating book, Stewart Lee Allen treks three-quarters of the way around the world on a caffeinated quest to answer these profound questions: Did the advent of coffee give birth to an enlightened western civilization? Is coffee the substance that drives history? From the cliffhanging villages of Southern Yemen, where coffee beans were first cultivated eight hundred years ago, to a cavernous coffeehouse in Calcutta, the drinking spot for two of India’s Nobel Prize winners . . . from Parisian salons and cafés where the French Revolution was born, to the roadside diners and chain restaurants of the good ol’ USA, where something resembling brown water passes for coffee, Allen wittily proves that the world was wired long before the Internet. And those who deny the power of coffee (namely tea drinkers) do so at their own peril.




In the Devil's Garden


Book Description

Deliciously organized by the Seven Deadly Sins, here is a scintillating history of forbidden foods through the ages—and how these mouth-watering taboos have defined cultures around the world. From the lusciously tempting fruit in the Garden of Eden to the divine foie gras, Stewart Lee Allen engagingly illustrates that when a pleasure as primal as eating is criminalized, there is often an astonishing tale to tell. Among the foods thought to encourage Lust, the love apple (now known as the tomato) was thought to possess demonic spirits until the nineteenth century. The Gluttony “course” invites the reader to an ancient Roman dinner party where nearly every dish served—from poppy-crusted rodents to “Trojan Pork”—was considered a crime against the state. While the vice known as Sloth introduces the sad story of “The Lazy Root” (the potato), whose popularity in Ireland led British moralists to claim that the Great Famine was God’s way of punishing the Irish for eating a food that bred degeneracy and idleness. Filled with incredible food history and the author’s travels to many of these exotic locales, In the Devil’s Garden also features recipes like the matzo-ball stews outlawed by the Spanish Inquisition and the forbidden “chocolate champagnes” of the Aztecs. This is truly a delectable book that will be consumed by food lovers, culinary historians, amateur anthropologists, and armchair travelers alike. Bon appétit!




Coffee


Book Description

A fascinating full-colour history of coffee, the world’s favourite drink




Devil's Cub


Book Description

Georgette Heyer's bestselling historical romance featuring a dashing and wild young nobleman and the gently bred young lady, both chasing happiness on a collision course with destiny. A rogue on a rampage... The Marquis of Vidal is a notorious rake, impossible to tame. Any night of the week you can find him wenching, gambling, or fighting, much to the dismay of his parents the Duke and Duchess of Avon. Forced to leave England after nearly killing his man in a duel, he decides to take a beautiful girl with him. In his rush, however, he runs off with the wrong woman. This lady is not a doormat... Determined to save her sister from the scandalous Marquis, Miss Mary Challoner throws herself into his path, hoping he'll release her when they get to Paris. But Vidal is intrigued by the unexpected young lady, who's not particularly impressed with him. The devilish rake has apparently met his match. And as Mary finds herself more and more entangled with the fascinating rogue, her reputation and her future are on the line. Take a deep breath and don't trip over your petticoats: This best-selling historical Regency romance features mistaken identities, a dashing rake, and a very smart young lady on a collision course with a marriage made in scandal.




Uncommon Grounds


Book Description

The definitive history of the world's most popular drug. Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous "Coffee Crisis" that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the "third-wave" of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs. As the scope of coffee culture continues to expand, Uncommon Grounds remains more than ever a brilliantly entertaining guide to the currents of one of the world's favorite beverages.




The Devil Drinks Coffee


Book Description




The Traveler's Cup


Book Description

When Damaus put his name in for the Traveler’s Cup he wasn’t expecting to be chosen. But when his highborn name is called out of forty-thousand Grey, the slaves to his people, he has no choice. It turns out even the elite Lumen people aren’t exempt from the law.




Coffee


Book Description

Wild, a coffee trader and historian delivers a rollicking history of the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world after oil, and an industry that employs 100 million people throughout the world.




Devil's Ink


Book Description

Watch Jeffrey Pugh discuss his new book, Devil's Ink **Our sincere apologies. The web address listed on the back cover flap for following the devil online is incorrect. The web address is devilsinkblog.com, not devilsink.com. Future copies of the book will sport this correction. "What if Satan kept a blog? Blogging is a new form of communication, after all, and evil has always been keen on using new means of propaganda to accomplish its purposes. "Of course, evil is elusive—difficult to discern and more difficult to define. Still, since ancient writers first put the Satan figure into the story of Job, or the serpent into the story of creation, evil has been the subject of much of our greatest literature, from fiction to philosophy. This vast output is testimony to the fact that the mystery of evil perplexes and puzzles us, creates daily struggles for us, and continually scars our existence. If we can imagine intentionality behind all the evil in the world—not hard to do—then the image of Satan blogging to his minions and to all interested parties about the contemporary ways and means of evil is not much of a stretch at all." —From the Preface Jeffrey Pugh writes not about our personal relationship with sin but about the forces and ideas to which humans give their lives, with great material effect on the world. He explores how evil embeds itself structurally in human life and how that can bring us misery and frustration. But he writes in a playful way that makes such reflections accessible to a broad spectrum of readers. Check out the Devil's blog! devilsinkblog.com




The Devil's Cup


Book Description

Can you handle mornings without a brew? No? Multiply that. Imagine an entire population under a cloud of lethargy, unable to kick start their days. Now introduce coffee. Bingo. The brain moves into over-drive and it's time for empire building.So goes Stewart Lee Allen's crazy theory. Only thing is, after retracing coffee's journey to world domination - by train, rickshaw, cargo freighter and donkey - he has plenty of evidence to back it up.Stewart Lee Allen has filtered out the richest beans from coffee's hot and frothy history . . . serving up a steamy, high-energy brew that will stimulate you more than a triple-strength espresso.