Coffee Novelist

I was just made aware of a book on Starbucks that I felt like needed to be added to this list. It is titled, It’s Just Coffee-A Starbucks Baristas Decade from the Inside by Riley Studor: it’s just coffee: A Starbucks Barista’s Decade from the Inside: Studor, Riley: 9798998340611: Amazon.com: Books.

I put this book on my “to be read” list and will read it sometime soon. The author and I exchanged a few emails and I’ve read the description on Amazon. It seems like a worthy chronological follow-up to my own novel, Tripio. At first glance, both novels appear to be about a Starbucks that is more difficult to find these days, so one may as well read about.

Books for the Starbucks fan on your shopping list

A while back I read How Starbucks Saved my Life by Michael Gates Gill. In the interest of full disclosure, I read it out of curiosity, as opposed to organic intellectual interest. In other words, I read it to see how that memoir compared to my historical fiction novel, Tripio. I may offer a full review in a later post. But for now, I will simply offer a comparison of “How” to Tripio, ingeniously using coffee as the yardstick.

How Starbucks Saved my Life = Blonde Roast 

Lightly roasted coffee that’s soft, mellow and flavorful. Easy drinking on its own and delicious with milk, sugar or flavored with vanilla, caramel or hazelnut.

Tripio = Espresso

A complimentary blend of beans of differing origins: it is intense, deeply flavored and when brewed correctly leaves a lingering sweet aftertaste. And, for my money, this novel gains more value as Starbucks continues to search for an identity. In that light, Tripio, should remind all corporations that baristas, and all employees, or even partners, are not bits of data and it is ludicrous to manage them as such. Sorry, people. It can’t be done.

 

From Barista to Boardroom=Pike Place Blend

 

I did read this since I wrote this post several years ago. The part that stuck with me was the very end scene and it seems almost sad now, in light of what has happened to Starbucks. But, I can’t spoil it by going into anymore details.

Take a look. It’s in a book

 I have also read several of the titles below. But I’m not a big fan of reviews anyway, so feel free to choose one that interests you.

Coffee for Dummies by Major Cohen

Taking Responsibility: Heart mind and Soul by Jeff Hamill

It’s Not About the Coffee and The Magic Cup both by Howard Behar

Work Freely: Love your Job, Love your Life by Nancy Richardson

The Multiplier Effect of Inclusion by Tony Byers

Female Firebrands by Mikaela Kiner

Steady Work by Karen Guadet

Pour Your Heart into It and From the Ground Up both by Howard Schultz