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Coffee Sapiens: Innovation through understanding is an all-encompassing deep dive into the world of coffee by elBullifoundation.
If Ferran Adrià is known as the philosopher chef then it seems fitting that he and his elBullifoundation has completed a comprehensive encyclopedia on coffee, its history, consumption practices, production techniques, and myriad varieties of coffee, and gain an understanding of the coffee industry as a whole.
They say coffee is the world’s most consumed beverage and best love stimulant. Since the first European coffee house opened in Rome in 1645, heralding the beginning of the West's relationship with coffee, it has become a more and more integral part of our everyday lives. Today it is impossible to even imagine a world without coffee.
In fact, coffee’s effect on western society cannot be underestimated. The coffee house was a crucial hub of Ideas during the enlightenment and our age of reason. Before caffeinated beverages took hold in the west, the daytime drink of choice was alcohol, it was unsafe to drink water. So people were rising in the morning and drinking ale and wine throughout the day and gin and whiskey at night. When the culture moved from a depressant culture to a stimulant culture it allowed for the cultivation and proliferation of ideas and reason.
When Ferran Adrià closed elBulli in 2011, the restaurant had already become a hub of ideas and culture around gastronomy. It could be considered the epicentre of a movement that defines modern gastronomy. That elBullifoundation would turn its attention to the understanding of coffee makes total sense.
As more and more chefs turn their attention to coffee, ‘Coffee Sapiens’, stands as the reference guide for anyone who wants to get to the essence of the drink and understand it from the inside-out.
“There is no history book on the subject of fine dining, no great research works, no thesis on Escoffier,” says Adria. The Sapiens project addresses the lack of academic understanding of the culinary arts and fine dining by setting a methodology for knowledge and research. ‘Coffee Sapiens’ is the result of the elBullifoundation’s research into coffee and the first of many books to come.
Coffee Sapiens: Innovation through understanding will be available from April 15 and is the perfect companion for anyone already involved in the coffee industry from baristas to roasters, but equally useful for coffee enthusiasts, chefs and anyone interested in gleaning the knowledge of one of the culinary world’s great minds.
