Cafe Culture and Society, Then and Now

What this episode covers

Hello coffee lovers, in between interviews on why we need to meet up over coffee. I'll share short episodes that delve into all things coffee, think of them as a shot of espresso. Hello coffee lovers to talk a little bit about cafe culture today. And I'm hopeful that you will share with me your favorite cafes for meeting up with friends. And or just doing work. And we all know there's a Starbucks around the corner. But I love all of the Sweet Little Shops that I run into that are true entrepreneurial endeavors. And they take such pride in the coffee that they choose how they brew it. The baristas are always showing their love with hearts and all kinds of Cafe art on on the coffee. So please share with me. But I do want to talk a little bit about it. Because coffee houses really have earned the cultural place as centers for social ritual. And that's something I took from Wikipedia. And I'll I'll cite that article in the notes as well. But it is the modern day meet up and cafes have been important gathering places in Europe, and all over the world. In Mecca, actually it was they temporarily banned them due to the fear that they attracted political uprising. So there's a lot that happens in cafes, right? You know, we meet up because we want to help a friend. We want to connect with people. We want to have a business meetup. But there's a lot of other ways that cafes have been used. So, you know, to gather politically and be able to garner attention of a lot of people in a place that feels very safe and easy to go to like that really is amazing to me that it would have been banned. I don't think we really experienced that now. But you know, there's also a lot of them around the world, right. So in doing a little reading, I found that Albania has surpassed Spain, in the most coffee houses per capita in the world. cafe culture in China has multiplied and Seoul South Korea had a 900% rise between 2006 and 2011. So as you can see, every country has coffee houses and has cafe culture. And if you think about it, the internet cafe sort of became a term. Its which were like the L A N cafe or land cafe. I'm not sure how it would be interpreted. It brought the digital nomad to life. You know, we hear a lot about lifestyle and freelance culture and the gig economy. And where do people work? A lot of times they gather at a coffee house because there's free Wi Fi, right. So in the US, being the largest market for coffee, followed by Germany and Japan, followed then by Canada, Australia, Sweden and New Zealand. They are some of the largest consuming countries. And the US has a lot of these internet cafes. I think they really were born out of that Starbucks type of culture, as we know is all over the world. But they didn't start all over the world. So I just wanted to share with you some of the interesting countries and how cafe culture has come about. Like for example, in Paris, they developed a whole Cafe Society. And that was in the first half of the 20th century and it gets featured a lot in movies like old movies. The Viennese coffeehouse in Central Europe, was itself a microcosm for scientists and artists. And if you think about it, like artists, musicians, intellectuals, they would meet there to discuss projects, theories on the world. Jumping back to France, for example, the coffee consumption is considered a social activity and part of cafe culture. And in Northern Europe, coffee parties were a popular form of entertain meant I love the idea of a coffee party. So do you have coffee parties? What is your cafe culture? I would really love to know how you use the coffee shop for your benefit. Is it strictly just to hang out with friends? Is it to go get some work done? Is it to sit and speak about your vision and innovation and ideas for business? What is your cafe culture and where do you go? Let me know. You could put them in the reviews on Apple podcasts or DM me on Instagram. And if you'd like to support an indie podcaster there is a link in the show notes for buying me a coffee. Please subscribe and share a cup of coffee culture with your friends.