MCC professor's novel about coffee trade aims to entertain as it teaches

By Patrick Garmoe
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, December 10, 2006

A McHenry County College instructor interviewed on “CBS Sunday Morning” for a class he taught on the world of coffee now has parlayed learning about lattes into “Salavandra: A Coffee Tale,” his first novel.

The novel is laced with nuggets on the economics and politics of the coffee industry, and is not meant as a primer for novice coffee drinkers.

Instead of writing a textbook for his students explaining the hows and whys of the coffee industry, Theodore Erski opted to write a novel that was so hot, students couldn’t put it down.

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