THE VARIOUS FLAVORS OF COFFEE

Author: Anthony Capella ISBN: 9780553807325 9/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: BANTAM
Time Period: 1896

When a woman gives a man coffee, it is a way of showing her desire. —Abyssinian proverb It was a cup of coffee that changed Robert Wallis’s life—and a cup of very bad coffee at that. The impoverished poet is sitting in a London coffeehouse contemplating an uncertain future when he meets Samuel Pinker. The owner of Castle Coffee offers Wallace the very last thing a struggling young artiste in fin de siècle England could possibly want: a job. But the job Wallis accepts—employing his palate and talent for words to compose a “vocabulary of coffee” based on its many subtle and elusive flavors—is only the beginning of an extraordinary adventure in which Wallis will experience the dizzying heights of desire and the excruciating pain of loss. As Wallis finds himself falling hopelessly in love with his coworker, Pinker’s spirited suffragette daughter Emily, both will discover that you cannot awaken one set of senses without affecting all the others. Their love is tested when Wallis is dispatched on a journey to North Africa in search of the legendary Arab mocca. As he travels to coffee’s fabled birthplace—and learns the fiercely guarded secrets of the trade—Wallis meets Fikre, the defiant, seductive slave of a powerful coffee merchant, who serves him in the traditional Abyssinian coffee ceremony. And when Fikre dares to slip Wallis a singlecoffee bean, the mysteries of coffee and forbidden passion intermingle…and combine to change history and fate.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I read—and loved—Anthony Capella's THE WEDDING OFFICER. When I read something from an author that is as captivating as THE WEDDING OFFICER was, I am sometimes worried that the second book I read from the same author will not live up to my expectations. So it was with a mild bit of trepidation that I opened THE VARIOUS FLAVORS OF COFFEE. Mr. Capella's other work had been amazing; could this one follow or would it fall flat? I wondered.

I needn't have worried.

THE VARIOUS FLAVORS OF COFFEE proves that Anthony Capella is a gifted storyteller. This  new book, a tale of a man who chooses an unlikely path only to find it is perfectly suited for his character and ultimately his heart,  reads so smooth and seamlessly it is as if the reader is seeing the story, rather than reading it. Every character's voice is heard clearly. Each nuance is detected. The details that set the scenes are so vivid that accents and emotions ring true.

The account is told from the hero's point of view. It begins with Robert Wallis introducing the reader to himself—a much younger twenty-two-year-old version of himself. He goes back and fills in the backstory, telling that an expulsion had brought him to be in the position to complain about a cup of coffee tasting "rusty." This observation brings him into contact with Samuel Pinker, who is in need of a writer. The two begin a relationship that proves to be life-altering for both. In the subsequent years' hysteria, lost love opportunities and the suffragette movement, as well as the "modern" medical practices of the day, all make this an interesting read.

THE VARIOUS FLAVORS OF COFFEE is enchanting. As full-bodied and rich as the best brew, Mr. Capella's story of life among the coffee beans is one that I can heartily recommend. Bravo!

Kay James