Foreword
by Donald Schoenholt xiii
Editors' Introduction
by Michael W. Austin 1
Part I The First Cup: Coffee and Metaphysics 7
1. Coffee: Black Puddle Water or Panacea?
by Mark Pendergrast 9
2. The Necessary Ground of Being
by Michael W. Austin 25
3. The Unexamined Cup Is Not Worth Drinking
by Kristopher G. Phillips 34
4. Samsara in a Coffee Cup: Self, Suffering, and the Karma of Waking Up
by Steven Geisz 46
5. The Existential Ground of True Community: Coffee and Otherness
by Jill Hernandez 59
Part 2 Grounds for Debate: Coffee Culture 71
6. Sage Advice from Ben's Mom, or: The Value of the Coffeehouse
by Scott F. Parker 73
7. The Coffeehouse as a Public Sphere: Brewing Social Change
by Asaf Bar-Tura 89
8. Café Noir: Anxiety, Existence, and the Coffeehouse
by Brook J. Sadler 100
9. The Philosopher's Brew
by Bassam Romaya 113
Part 3 The Wonderful Aroma of Bean: Coffee Aesthetics 125
10. Three Cups: The Anatomy of a Wasted Afternoon
by Will Buckingham 127
11. Is Starbucks Really Better than Red Brand X?
by Kenneth Davids 138
12. The Flavor of Choice: Neoliberalism and the Espresso Aesthetic
by Andrew Wear 152
13. Starbucks and the Third Wave
by John Hartmann 166
14. How Good the Coffee Can Be: An Interview with Stumptown's Matt Lounsbury
by Scott F. Parker 184
Part 4 To Roast or Not to Roast: The Ethics of Coffee 193
15. More than 27 Cents a Day: The Direct Trade (R)evolution
by Shannon Mulholland 195
16. Higher, Faster, Stronger, Buzzed: Caffeine as a Performance-Enhancing Drug
by Kenneth W. Kirkwood 205
17. Green Coffee, Green Consumers - Green Philosophy?
by Stephanie W.Aleman 217
18. Coffee and the Good Life: The Bean and the Golden Mean
by Lori Keleher 228
How to Make it in Hollywood by Writing an Afterword! The Coffee Bean Guys 239
Notes on Contributors 242