The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee (Freeman et al., 2012)

James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman, and Tara Duggan (contributors) · 2012 · Ten Speed Press

Bibliographic detail

• Title: The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee: Growing, Roasting, and Drinking, with Recipes
• Authors: James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman, and Tara Duggan (contributors; verify exact credits in-hand)
• Year: 2012
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (Penguin Random House imprint)
• ISBN: TBD — verify in-hand
• Pagination: TBD — verify in-hand
• Format: Hardcover (typical Ten Speed Press production for craft cookbooks; verify in-hand)

Physical description

Standard Ten Speed Press craft-cookbook production: well-designed hardcover with high-quality interior photography (typical of the Blue Bottle Coffee Co. visual identity). Cover and binding details to be confirmed in-hand. Condition recorded as good in the accession register.

Provenance

Physically in-hand prior to formal library accessioning; registered to the library 2026-05-24 under the TODO-26 buildout. Accessioned as HH-BOOK-2026-0013. The book had been carried as a resources/ entry prior to this consolidation.

Why it matters

Freeman and collaborators translate third-wave café practice into a book: how they think about green coffee, roast development, manual brewing, and a handful of recipes. Like other modern craft titles on the library shelf, it illuminates present-day taste language that can be held up against historic “cup quality” claims on vintage H&H tins and ads.

For H&H research, the book functions as:

1. Third-wave/specialty contrast — Freeman’s idiom is the language of contemporary specialty coffee. Holding it next to Ukers’s 1924 trade voice (Coffee Merchandising) makes the century of change in coffee discourse visible. The contrast itself is a research artifact.
2. Sourcing/transparency framing — Blue Bottle’s emphasis on green-coffee sourcing transparency throws into relief the opaque sourcing typical of H&H’s mid-century operation (Mexico-via-broker rather than direct-trade).
3. Recipe / craft-presentation — the book’s recipes and brewing-method walk-throughs are accessible reference for visitor demonstrations or in-museum brewing-station programming.

Pairs in the library with the rest of the modern coffee-enthusiast shelf: Home Coffee Roasting (Davids), The Art and Craft of Coffee (Sinnott), The Coffeeist Manifesto (Ward), and Uncommon Grounds (Pendergrast).

Notable contents

• Origin / sourcing chapters with Blue Bottle’s perspective on green-coffee selection.
• Roasting profiles and Blue Bottle’s house-style approach.
• Manual brewing methods (pour-over, siphon, etc.) with technique walk-throughs.
• Recipe section — coffee drinks, accompaniments.
• Photography is editorial-quality throughout (Ten Speed standard).

Related

• Home Coffee Roasting (Davids, 2003) — companion modern roasting reference.
• The Art and Craft of Coffee (Sinnott, 2010) — companion enthusiast title.
• Coffee Merchandising (Ukers, 1924) — early-twentieth-century trade contrast.
• resources/the-blue-bottle-craft-of-coffee.md — citation-pointer page.
• library/index.md — full library holdings.