Kenneth Davids is one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in the U.S. and the world. In 1997 Ken co-founded Coffee Review with Ron Walters with the aim of fulfilling their vision of coffee as a true specialty beverage, every bit as worthy of meticulous connoisseurship as wine. During his thirty years as Coffee Review’s editor-in-chief Ken reviewed thousands of coffees and published nearly two hundred cupping reports.
Ken has published four influential books on coffee. Coffee: A Guide to Buying, Brewing and Enjoying appeared in 1976 and subsequently sold nearly 270,000 copies in five editions, helping define many of specialty coffee’s themes and appeals. His second book, Espresso: Ultimate Coffee, was nominated for a James Beard Award. Home Coffee Roasting: Romance & Revival, 2003, is about to appear in its third edition, and has greatly influenced both home coffee roasting and nano-roasting in Asia and the U.S. His fourth, 21st Century Coffee: A Guide, appeared in 2021 and has been translated into five languages. Renowned coffee commentator Donald Schoenholt calls it “the masterpiece of a coffee master.”
In 1999 Ken co-produced, hosted, and scripted “The Passionate Harvest,” an hour-long documentary film on coffee production that won multiple awards, including a prestigious Platinum Award (Best of Show) at the 2001 Houston International Film Festival.
His workshops and seminars on coffee sourcing, evaluation and communication have been featured at professional coffee meetings in the continental United States (including thirteen conferences of the Specialty Coffee Association of America), Hawaii (including workshops for growers in the Kona region), Korea, Canada, Colombia, Australia, India, Europe, Ethiopia, Kenya, El Salvador, Indonesia and Japan.
Ken is Professor Emeritus of Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In 1996 he was awarded a Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Coffee Literature by the Specialty Coffee Association of America.
