DK Food & Drink Boutique

With comprehensive wine encyclopedias and clear, easy-to-follow cookbooks – this selection of our illustrated epicurean titles will be sure to please your favourite foodie!

All the books in the boutique are specially priced at 30% off for a limited time, so get them now!

I love cookbooks and food in general and the DK Food & Drink Boutique are full of both.  I decided I was interested in two somewhat different titles to check out from the boutique as they are unlike any other book I own just based on the descriptions alone; Coffee Obsession and The Beer Book.

Coffee Obsession

More than 150 million Americans drink coffee each day. We’re not the only nation obsessed: More than 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world each day.

In Coffee Obsession, we take a journey through the coffee-producing nations around the world, presenting the different styles, flavors, and techniques used to brew the perfect cup. We explore how coffee gets from bean to cup in each region, and what that means for the final product.

Through clear step-by-step instruction, Coffee Obsession will teach you how to make latte, cappuccino, and other iconic coffee styles as if you were a professionally trained barista. With more than 130 classic coffee recipes to suit every taste, detailed flavor profiles and tasting notes, as well as recommended roasts from around the world, Coffee Obsession is like nothing else out on the market.

 I love coffee but I don’t know much more than the essential basics about it.  I mean I know where the coffee aisle is and I know how to brew a basic cup.  That’s about where my knowledge ends.  I do love coffee though and I’d love to be able to brew myself specialty cups of coffee and save myself the trip to the coffee shop.  I’d love to go into the specialty coffee section at the grocery store too and know what I am looking at and make an informed purchase.  This is where Coffee Obsession comes in.  This book is not only a beautiful and unique coffee table book but it also offers a lot of great information for those new to the world of Coffee.

The author details step-by-step techniques, the different types of coffee beans and equipment,  and also includes over 100 recipes from around the world and more!

The Beer Book

The US ranks 11th on the list of top beer-drinking nations. We love our beer, and we love to learn about beer.

The Beer Book is a visual catalog of more than 800 breweries, whistle-stop beer trails, and key beer facts, and is an indispensable guide to the world’s favorite drink. Revised and updated to include the newest and hottest brews, The Beer Book features every significant brewery in every significant brewing nation, and showcases new and specialty beers, as well as the classics.

 The book is divided by Key Nations and then “The Rest of the World”.   Each brewery featured has a listing including short history, contact details,  strength and tasting notes.  I was a bit disappointed to find that Canada was relegated to “The Rest of the World” and a couple double page spreads with many well known micro-breweries MISA from the listings.  The first 60 pages feature American Beers.   

Aside from that, I noticed that Jamaica was missing, and they actually produce one of my personal favourite beers – Dragon Stout.  I did find Dragon Stout in the index but the entry says to see Desnoes and Geddes (D&G) who is the brewer but there is no entry in the index for them so this may have been an omission by error or the entry was in a previous edition and removed.

Aside from that this is a really great book and although  you may never get the chance to try all the beers in the book it is a really great guide for choosing new and different beers from around the world.

Elizabeth Lampman

Elizabeth Lampman is a coffee-fuelled Mom of 2 girls and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. She enjoys travelling, developing easy recipes, crafting, taking on diy projects, travelling and saving money!