World Atlas, Cereal, Rucksack & More
We at GUSTATORY are advocates of great coffee, but we’re also advocates of creating a lifestyle around coffee that allows you to appreciate and enjoy artisanal qualities of speciality beverages. If you’re enthusiastic about speciality coffee, then enjoying yours in a comfortable environment is a must. Whether that be through creating a calm and relaxing space to enjoy your morning coffee, right the way down to the coffee cup itself, all of these factors play a big role in each of our enjoyment of coffee.
Speciality coffee shops frequently adopt these principles in their curation and decor - they understand that coffee is an experience, not just a drink. You’ll often see coffee shops adorned with plants, comfortable seating, well lit spaces, collections of lifestyle magazines, relaxing music and good quality cups and tableware. All of this isn’t done by chance, it’s done to make the experience of drinking coffee more pleasurable for their customers.
As such, we therefore advise that we all ought to adopt similar principles at home where we can. We’re not all lucky enough to have the space and furnishings of our favourite coffee shops, however, we can all invest in a coffee table and think about what to put on it and that’s what we’re going to be talking about today.
For anyone interested in interior design there’s a trend circulating at the moment surrounding coffee tables and how to style them. We’re not talking about how to style them in a room, rather how to decorate them in a way to make them up to date. This is all to do with coffee table books and magazines. The current trend is to stack your coffee table high with books and magazines and have them on display for all to see.
It’s not as simple as just spreading books haphazardly over the surface of the table, the idea is to be more considered than that and creating stacks of curated books whether that be by colour, subject matter etc. It’s a novel idea (excuse the pun) and we thought we’d recommend some of our favourite coffee reads to get you started.
1/ Cereal Magazine
As stated on readcereal.com, 'Cereal is a biannual, travel and style magazine based in the United Kingdom. Each issue focusses on a select number of destinations, alongside engaging interviews and stories on unique design, art, and fashion’.
Cereal has been a firm favourite of ours for years. Their beautifully curated magazines not only look the part, but also provide plenty of inspiration with topics covering a range of subjects. We particularly enjoy their photographic style and if you’re into photography then we definitely recommend checking out some of their photographic contributors; James Stapleton, Sean Davidson, Maureen M. Evans and Rich Stapleton.
Along with their print publication, Cereal have created a lifestyle around their brand by also featuring curated playlists and visual media/films alongside side their written content. This provides an extremely immersive experience that really allows you to get a sense of the brand they’ve created.
2/ World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffman
James Hoffman is arguably one of the more recognisable names in speciality coffee. Founder of popular London-based coffee roaster Square Mile, and owner of one of the most viewed channels on YouTube dedicated to all things coffee. There isn’t much James doesn’t know about coffee, he even won the World Barista Championship back in 2007.
This beautiful book takes the reader on a journey through coffee. Exploring the globe and educating readers on beans being grown, the varieties of coffee, the harvesting and processing methods, the flavour profiles and tasting notes as well as offering valuable insight and advice on brewing coffee throughout. This book features so many areas of interest and is jam packed full of wisdom and visual aids. For those new to speciality coffee, or for those looking to learn more and dive deeper into the details, this book is a must.
If you’ve viewed James’s YouTube channel then you’ll be familiar with his prowess in explanation and teaching and this is conveyed further in his written work. And if you’re not familiar with his YouTube channel, it’s well worth a watch and would make for an excellent companion to this book.
3/ The Touch: Spaces Designed for the Senses
Speaking of coffee tables and all things interior design, for those of you who are interested in finding some inspiration for your space then this beautiful book by Nathan Williams of Kinfolk and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects is a must. Kinfolk and Norm Architects are highly sought after names in their respective fields with Kinfolk’s magazine adorning coffee shops and homes the world over due to their thoughtful and curated publication which encompasses all things lifestyle. Coupled with Norm Architects, the Copenhagen based design company that not only work in areas of industrial, residential and commercial interiors, but also work in photography and art direction.
The Touch: Spaces Designed for the Senses is truly a meeting of minds. If you’ve enjoyed Kinfolk and Norm Architects work independently then this offering is sure to have endlessly turning pages for hours on end. The photography, the layout, the inspiration make this book a perfect companion for your coffee table.
4/ Rucksack Magazine
Rucksack Magazine is a printed bi-annual adventure and lifestyle publication. They began in 2016 as an online journal and have since released and print eight volumes of their physical magazine, their eighth and most recent volume being called ‘Coast’.
This magazine is perfect those who enjoy thought-provoking and evocative stories coupled with striking and inspiring photography. Rucksack have a great eye for spotting photographic talent and feature a variety of different written and visual contributors. The subject matter of their magazine is varied, often featuring a select few destinations, as well as shining the spotlight on some fantastic lifestyle brands - all of which inspire adventure, travel and exploration.
So there’s a round up of four of our favourite coffee table books, and for more, we have our Coffee Books & Prints section to GUSTATORY. Hopefully there are some new titles there for you to explore and, if you’re coffee table isn’t already stacked high full of books and magazines, now is a good time start - you’ll be bang on trend.
GUSTATORY (adjective): curating excellence in taste.