author lani kingston on a blue background

Author, educator, anthropologist, & brand strategist with 15+ years shaping the global food and coffee world.

I help food and beverage businesses grow through culture-driven strategy, storytelling, and education.


My work spans continents and industries: I’ve published four best-selling coffee books translated into 17 languages; helped set up and run MAST Chocolate’s bean-to-bar chocolate factory in London; headed a cooking school in Australia focused on food waste; and worked as one of Chef Dan Barber’s senior managers at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. I’ve judged for the UK’s prestigious Great Taste Awards; launched coffee brands in Singapore; written for global publications; and spent years researching food culture, production, and ritual around the world.

Today, I help food, beverage, and travel businesses build and grow through my agency, Four Seasons of Food. I also direct education and brand strategy for Coffee Fest, serve on the board of Slow Food Portland, and teach food and coffee anthropology at Portland State University.

I’m still writing and researching – books, essays, content, scripts – always returning to the cultural thread that runs through what we eat and drink.

cover of spill the beans book by lani kingston

BESTSELLER

Spill the Beans: Global Coffee Culture and Recipes

Now in 6 languages!

NEW RELEASE

Designing Coffee: New Coffee Places and Branding

Now in 3 languages!

Curious about my books, events, or media work?

Books, events, writing, and brand work – explore some of the food, beverage, and travel projects I’ve brought to life.

Want help with your business or project?

Practical support, big-picture thinking, and brand-building for businesses across the food and beverage industries.

Want stories, insights, and occasional updates from the food & coffee world?

All my latest articles, projects, events, recipes, trips, classes, and books can be found on my Substack. Subscribe today!


LATEST NEWS

  • Monthly Musings: January, 2024

    Monthly Musings: January, 2024

    This month, discover Sweden’s most delicious (for my money, and Chef Magnus Nilsson may just agree) flatbread; the latest from Coffee Fest; and new interviews from Designing Coffee. I also take Tatler Magazine on a tour of the world’s best coffee shops. Last month was one of quiet reflection. A few days before Christmas, we…

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  • Interview with Tatler Magazine: Inside the world’s most unique and beautiful cafés

    Interview with Tatler Magazine: Inside the world’s most unique and beautiful cafés

    I am very excited to announce the release of a feature article on my work and career in Tatler Magazine – a leading fashion, arts, and design publication founded in Britain in 1901. Written by Barnabas Mah and published on October 17th, 2023, the article focuses on my latest book, Designing Coffee, and my experiences…

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  • On the Road: The Ultimate Sweet Lovers Guide to New York City

    On the Road: The Ultimate Sweet Lovers Guide to New York City

    Originally published in Taste & Travel Issue 17, Spring 2015. Oven doors open to let waft the scent of freshly baked cookies filled with crushed pretzels, butterscotch, and potato chips; seasoned hands deftly squeeze piping bags filled with rosewater-scented cream onto tray after tray of fresh croissant-doughnut pastry hybrids; ice cream vats are filled with local milk,…

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  • (not) Chocolate, (not) Milk: a dessert for Chef Dan Barber’s WastED Menu.

    (not) Chocolate, (not) Milk: a dessert for Chef Dan Barber’s WastED Menu.

    In 2017, renowned New York restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns brought their unique pop up WastED to the roof of Selfridges, London. Partnering with local food producers and manufacturers, they sourced food that would usually have gone to ‘waste’ and created a fine dining pop-up with some of the UK’s leading chefs and culinary…

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