Their earlier incarnation, the coffee bars of the nineteen fifties and sixties, were fashionable for a while but then lost their appeal, until eventually they were seen as a quaint relic of the past, frequented only by the likes of sad loners, tourists and cheating husbands. I can't remember ever going to one myself.
In those days of course few people had even tasted a top-notch coffee. Most of us were used to the insipid taste of instant coffee out of a jar, consisting of mysterious brown particles, and knew nothing better.
Now there's a coffee shop on virtually every street and the number escalates by the day. The quest for the perfect coffee - the freshest, tastiest, healthiest, climate-friendliest cup of joe, made from the most ethically-sourced beans on the planet - has become a relentless obsession. I'm as keen on a good cup of coffee as anyone else, but I can't help thinking the search for coffee nirvana has gone a bit too far.
It's now quite normal to drop into a coffee shop several times a week, and pay anything up to a tenner for a coffee and a pastry. Anyone who never enters a coffee shop or doesn't like coffee is seen as a bit strange.
I have to admit Jenny and I like coffee shops. We go for a coffee and a chat every week at Caffè Nero (I know, I know, tax avoidance etc, but we love their coffee). We'll have a coffee if we're meeting friends or sitting in an airport or just killing time. But I'm not a fanatic about the taste. A decent latté will do me fine. I hope the beans weren't harvested by downtrodden peasant farmers, but I'm not going to spend the morning investigating.
I'd rather amuse myself by trying to spot the cheating husbands.
(Thanks to Kylie for the idea)
I hope the beans weren't harvested by downtrodden peasant farmers, but I'm not going to spend the morning investigating.
ReplyDeleteCrikey, Nick, that's a terrible thing to write.
Haven't we just done the coffee thing at Kylie's? I think I need more tea.
Sx
Ms Scarlet: What I mean is, I don't want to spend hours (or weeks) looking into all the different coffee companies and how exactly they harvest their beans. And can you believe what they say anyway?
DeleteOut of interest, I looked at the Caffè Nero website. They stress that they seek out "the most progressive coffee farmers" and seek to guarantee quality and consistency. No mention though of wages, working conditions etc which is what I really want to know.
DeleteDespite an outlet for India's largest coffee shop chain being just fifty meters away from home, I must confess that I have never been inside since its opening.
ReplyDeleteI am not a coffee person at all and prefer Tea. India offers so many varieties of tea that depending on one's mood, one can go to any number of outlets for one's choice. Most are stand and drink out of small glass outlets but some do have sitting arrangements where one can have tea and some snacks to go with it.
Ramana: So you're immune from the galloping coffee trend! Jenny and I actually drink a lot more tea than coffee. And I like herbal teas as well.
DeleteThere you go, Nick. As we all suspected I am, by your definition ("Anyone who never enters a coffee shop or doesn't like coffee is seen as a bit strange"), a bit strange.
ReplyDeleteSometimes (joke) I swear I fled the motherland and countries bordering same because Coffee is sacred. If you want to talk to my parents between the hours of three and four in the afternoon forget it. It's when they have coffee. Naturally them having had coffee for breakfast too. Which reminds me: Unlike your assertion, coffee where I come from (mainland Europe) is never INSTANT. It's lovingly ground and filtered. A beeping ritual. And don't go to Italy. Or Spain. Or Turkey. Or anywhere. Other than England, home counties ca. 1982 or the Ritz for afternoon tea.
I like the theory of coffee, the smell in practice. Alas drinking coffee gives me/my hands a pronounced tremor. Literally puts me on edge. I cottoned on to this in my early twenties. No more. Though will down the occasional Espresso after a meal as not to be a spoil sport.
What does piss me off big time (excuse my language) is how pretentious coffee has become. A flat latte? What's that when it's at home?When John and I were still on talking terms I asked him that question, innocently so, and got short shrift. As to the price of a Costa et al, well, that's obviously up to one's priorities.
Make mine a double,
U
Ursula: I know, other countries have always preferred properly brewed coffee. In Italy it's virtually impossible to buy instant coffee, nobody's interested.
DeleteThe Flat White is topped by a very thin, 'flat' layer of steamed milk, and nothing else. A Skinny Latte uses skimmed milk and low-fat additions. I don't bother with either of those, a standard latte is all I need.
I love coffee shops, esp the ones that aren't chains. I wish we would have had them when I was a teen because we had no place to hang out, besides the mall. I stick to decaf now, but there's nothing like a cup of coffee and good conversation with a friend.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: We have some local, independent coffee shops, but either the coffee is rubbish or they're too crowded or the staff are always brusque.
DeleteThe wretched things are just appearing here in San Jose...out in the sticks it is still just caffs dispensing coffee, soft drinks and food.We gave up growing coffee thanks to a fungus infection and climate change which saw our beans ripening in the rainy season instead at the end of the dry...
ReplyDeleteFly: That's a shame about the unsuccessful coffee crop. I'm surprised coffee shops are still so rare in San Jose. With a population of almost 300,000 that's similar to Belfast which is sprouting coffee shops like mushrooms.
DeleteI take exception to "sad loners" so many loners I know are not sad. I am a loner. I love sitting in my local coffee shop (ethically sourced beans, locally roasted, supporter of local bakeries, make their own organic soups too) and just being. I bring my laptop on occasion and write. Or read. Or knit if I feel like it. Sometimes friends meet me there. Daughter refers to it as my "salon" and I always laugh. What I find sad are people who think you have to be with someone not to be sad.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
www: I didn't mean to imply all loners are sad. There are plenty of happy loners. In fact I'm a bit of a loner myself and I'm no sadder than anyone else. Your coffee shop sounds like a great place to hang out.
DeleteAmericans are bigger coffee drinkers than tea drinkers, so there have always been coffee shops. But many, many more of them of late. When I moved here in 1989, there were just a few I could go to, now the options seem endless. I used to like to go by myself and have a cup of coffee and people watch. I wasn't remotely unhappy about doing that alone, though - it felt peaceful. These days, we virtually never go to coffee shops unless we're traveling. That's mostly because I like my coffee plain and have no interest in the chai-light-latte-mocha whatevers. We have a little bean grinder at home and grind up enough for a pot of half-caf every morning and I'm happy as a clam sitting in bed or out on the sun porch drinking it.
ReplyDeleteAgent: Indeed, spare me the chai-light-latte-mocha whatevers! I don't like sitting in coffee shops on my own, I get very self-conscious. I'll only do it if I'm dying for a coffee.
DeleteThe only thing I like about coffee is the smell. Never could drink the stuff. Can't even eat anything described as mocha flavored. Probably because when I was young Grandma let me have a cup of coffee at breakfast. She liked her coffee strong and this was last night's coffee reheated. Gives me shivers just thinking about it even now.
ReplyDeleteLinda: I drink more tea than coffee because I find it more refreshing, but I do like a good latte now and then. I don't like mocha either.
DeleteAh, Nick, if only I could afford to frequent coffee shops.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: Of course they have big overheads - staff costs, maintenance, business rates etc - but the prices are strictly for the well-off.
DeleteNick, regular coffees may well be for the wealthy but for many very lean years a weekly latte was the only treat I could afford. It's all in the frequency
ReplyDeleteKylie: A weekly treat - why not? But if someone goes into their local coffee shop daily, that really adds up.
DeleteI am happy with a cup of reasonable coffee but I tend to go to the ones that say they are fair trade or else are run by local people earning an honest living. It is the stuff in the food that bothers me, why dont people ask for whole grain these days? So much horrid white rice, slimy white pasta, spongy white bread...
ReplyDeleteOh dear that sounds grumpy, I do not really mind that much, it's only elevenses. ☺☺
ReplyDeleteJenny: I don't think Caffè Nero is officially Fair Trade, but they do say their farmers are fairly rewarded, they pay premium prices for their beans, and the vast majority of their beans are from identifiable sources.
DeleteI do agree with you about the strange aversion to whole grain. Mass-manufactured sliced white bread is awful.
Try again. I wrote two comments earlier and neither appeared. Strange!
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the strange ones -- don't drink coffee or tea. I do like water. How weird is that?
ReplyDeleteJean: Water is probably much better for us than both coffee and tea. And a lot cheaper!
ReplyDeleteBlogger likes to keep us on our toes by wiping out the odd comment....
I don't like coffee but love the smell. I wish I did enjoy it so I could taste some of those wonderfully tantalising titles.
ReplyDeleteI expect you know that coffee shops were the norm in England before tea came along.
Liz: Indeed they were, though in the 18th century they were so controversial (centres of political dissent) that King Charles II tried to shut them all down.
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to drink Birds mellow coffee. I can't remember when I first started to really enjoy coffee. Now I enjoy meeting a friend for coffee and a chat. We go to Costa, or a couple of independent cafes in the town.
ReplyDeletePolly: I don't remember Birds mellow coffee. In fact I don't remember what brand of coffee my parents drank, or even if they drank coffee. They certainly drank plenty of tea.
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