Author and curator of Designing Coffee, Lani Kingston, is a specialty coffee industry veteran with four bestselling books under her belt. Her first book, How To Make Coffee: The Science Behind the Bean is now published in 12 languages and is a textbook at barista academies around the world. She works as a freelance consultant alongside running an agency (Four Seasons of Food) that supports food and beverage businesses globally with everything from brand development to marketing support. Born in Australia, she has lived in London, New York, and Singapore – and now resides in Portland, Oregon, where she is a professor of anthropology at Portland State University teaching coffee history. She is also the Conference and Education Manager at Coffee Fest, the premier specialty coffee industry trade show held four times a year in different cities across the United States.