Dr. Al Thompson’s latest book COFFEE: From SEED to BREW is colorful, readable and informative—without telling you more than you want to know. It will occupy a place of dignity anywhere coffee is enjoyed. The book was written at the urgings of Transitions of Guatemala, a private and voluntary organization whose mission is to enable those with disabilities to lead happy and productive lives. Profits from the sale of the book will contribute to their work.

The production of coffee at the Thompson’s model Finca Los Nietos, at San Lorenzo El Cubo, some four miles from La Antigua Guatemala, describes the growth of the coffee trees after seeding and through the stages of luchuga, perico and cruz—naming early phases in the appearances of the young plants. Harvesting the scarlet, ripe coffee beans, ‘cherries,’ proceeds to processing, drying, raking and roasting. Wisely, Dr. Al does not commit himself concerning the best way to brew coffee. “Making coffee for others is as difficult as frying an egg to suit a friend,” he says.

After a long and distinguished career in education, teaching others, Dr. Al decided to teach himself and his wife, Carolyn, to grow and produce coffee. “We did not read any books about the subject. If we had, the process would have appeared so daunting that we would never have begun,” he adds. Based on the adage, “the way to learn to do things is to do things,” they plunged into a little-over-an-acre piece of wasteland containing a few ancient coffee trees. In the course of 16 years under their care and that of their committed assistants, the plot has become a productive, small-scale coffee beneficio, processing beans for neighboring small farmers as well, and producing high-class aromatic Arabica coffee within a beautifully landscaped jungle of orchids and other tropical plants.