In a world full of brewing guides and ‘best coffee’ books, ‘Destination Coffee’ takes a different, gentler approach to understanding international coffee culture.
Where the likes of Lonely Planet are the go-to for coffee travel guides, this cutesy coffee table book sets its stall out with overviews of how the coffee cultures vary around the globe even if these do tend to be top-level insights.
It opens with the history of coffee, brewing tips and how to understand coffee labels. All basic knowledge to most coffee enthusiasts but it offers a singular place to gather this information for those just setting out in their caffeinated journey and acts as a helpful reference just to flick back through if you need a little reminder.
Where it comes into its own is its international offering, talking about how coffee is consumed in different countries and what regions have specific speciality drinks. This adds a wonderfully educational element to it rather than just saying where is good for coffee (although it does note ideal places to sample the best coffee in each destination). These snippets often have a history of how coffee made its way to these places or how it holds a social or cohesive importance. 
It’s quirky and quaint, something highlighted by the gorgeous illustrations by Wenjia Tang, it holds handy tips and fun facts but is at its best when sharing insights about the world’s

James Hoffman is the go-to voice of the British coffee scene. A former World Barista champion, he has cornered the niche on all things coffee with his YouTube channel that offers simple and direct explanations to get the most out of your coffee experience.

​It is perhaps then, no surprise that his latest offering is a book called ‘How To Make The Best Coffee at Home’ given how hard it can be to get consistently high quality coffee if you don’t have high end equipment or barista training.

A prize from one of www.coffeefiltered.com's regular raffles, the book comes into my possession with little prior knowledge of its contents. What it appears to be is a sort of catch-all attempt at elevating the domestic coffee experience of those who have an interest in specialty coffee but with no barista experience. It plumbs the depths of how to make the most out of your different home equipment items and talks about the origin of your coffee, the water quality and little tips and tricks that can just take you to that next level.

This is all to be expected, but there are some really nice touches that take this beyond the realms of a sort of caffeinated self-help guide into something a little more extra. With its talk of traceability of coffee and step by step guide for buying and brewing the best beans, it really is a completely rounded approach to maximising coffee for enthusiasts. I’m particularly fond of how it’s broken down into how to buy, taste and brew great coffee whilst walking you through the essentials of what you need and explains how different methods of brewing need different things to get the best results - with guides on how to use all major forms of brewers.

What I will say is, for those with barista or roasting experience, it’s going to hit all the same beats that your training has. so will offer little to those who have an insider insight other than a few interesting pointers here and there. However, for those who love their coffee but have never worked with it and want to start really getting the most out of it, I think this is an excellent introduction to making great coffee at home.