[.ca] The Espresso Bartenders Guide to Expresso Bartending (ISBN 0963617370)

As a professional barista I found this a worthwhile purchase:
Before I tell you why you need this book let me warn you the beauty of it is not in the writing. Nor is it terribly comprehensive or exhaustive in detail. The greatness of this book, though, is in the recipes by name. If you're brewing espresso as a science you are failing your audience. The art is what distinguishes great espresso and great service from that mud you get at the local C-store! Go ask that clerk behind the espresso machine if he/she can make you a snickerdoodle! "Huuuuh?" Buy and use this book but remember you are an artist and need to consult this book only for inspiration and guidance - Bill Anderson.

Good recipes, incredibly crappy book:
This book is a prime example of why self-publishing is an iffy proposition. The recipes in it are excellent; that's not the problem. The writing is wretched, the editing is nonexistent; while I'm sure the author is an excellent tutor one on one (whatever criticisms I have of the book as written, she knows what she's talking about), but she cannot write to save her life. I found reading this book as an adjunct to my training (I was a Starbucks barista at the time) to be terribly useful, but I haven't seen my copy since 1999 and I haven't really missed it. The only really invaluable recipe here is the Snickerdoodle latte, which is a vanilla latte with whipped cream and cinnamon on it. Apart from that there are far better sources for information. For the record, the three stars I gave this book are almost solely because of the recipes (it gets some props for at least attempting an organization that fits a barista better than a bartender, though); if it wasn't for that it would barely be deserving of one star.

Fun and unique recipes!!!:
I use the unique recipes for my daily specials. My customers look forward to trying something different each day. Sometimes the recipes may be a little too different, but that's what makes the daily specials interesting. If my customers are having fun with it then it's a GOOD THING!!!

Espresso Bartenders Guide to Espresso Bartending:
This book is a must to have. I call it my Bible at the coffee shop. There are so many excellent recipes for coffee drinks, my customers want to try a new one every day. A MUST TO HAVE

BAD !:
600 recipies ... WHO NEEDS IT ? There is nothing said about the art of making a great espresso, a few useless pages in the begining and that's it. What about all the different types of coffee machines ( piston or pump ? ), the water, the milk ? In the little paragraph about milk, UHT milk used throughout Europe, the land of Espresso, is not even mentioned ... and yes you can make your own UHT milk. There are so many recipes that would make anyone SICK, the awful variations suggested were invented to fill in pages. A barista needs to know how to make good espresso and a few basic coffee drinks, no one needs a book suggesting Marshmellow in a rasberry flavored ... thing, topped with whip cream. Awful. Coffee lovers : avoid it.