A few points on this interesting foray into coffee. I’m not sure I could
answer David Fahey’s questions but let me make a few comparative observations.
Coffee does not have the same position in Australia as in the US. Australia was
a nation of great tea drinking until the 1960s. In fact it was one of the
world’s greatest consumers of tea per capita. See for example the remarks in
that still wonderful book by G. Blainey, Tyranny of Distance. None of this or
little was consumed in tea houses to my knowledge. I have not heard of tea
houses in Australia, except maybe for Chinese people in the 19th century, but
tea was consumed in the family. It was a drink of domesticity—in opposition to
the pub, the drink of masculinity in colonial Australia. Coffee was largely
introduced or popularised as a result of two things 1) massive Italian (and
Greek) immigration after World War II and resultant Italian restaurants and
espresso and cappuccino coffee shops. E.g. Sydney’s famous Bar Italia. 2)
instant coffee, horrible as many people think. That was the sixties.
Chains are not so common in Australian eateries – except for hamburger chains
such as MacDonalds. Nor do I think chains are as common in regard to coffee.
Starbucks exists in Australia but is generally regarded with revulsion in the
circles I mix, though these may simply be pointed headed intellectual types.
There have also been jokes in the (fringe) media about its allegedly watery
coffee.
I don’t think Australians would think of using a coffee bar to do internet
work or portable computer work but I may be wrong. That may say something
about the larger conditions of life and sociability.
One distinctive thing about the US is the prevalence of chains in many walks of
life particularly in regard to food and beverages- -American business methods
are important in this regard, including the example of other types of chains,
and the huge size of the market making for enormous economies of scale. I
wonder whether there is also the same level of persistence in old cultural
habits among the key immigrant groups concerned with coffee drinking. Greeks
and Turks I know in Australia would not dream of drinking instant coffee or
Starbucks.
But there is something in the development of specialised shops of this type.
For example bread chains are becoming popular in Australia, for the better
bread they make in relation to supermarket bread. There are chains of
speciality cake shops, etc., wit generally declining quality as they become
more ubiquitous.
Generally coffee shops in Australia are part of an expansion of middle class
culture involving new styles of leisure, less masculine or rough than the pub—
similar to the shift from beer to wine.
We are told that caffeine is the world’s most common drug; so it’s good that
we are having this discussion.
Regards,
Ian Tyrrell
Quoting David Fahey <[log in to unmask]>:
> Two or three points:
>
> What is a coffee house? The concept has blurred with, for instance,
> bookstores selling fancy coffees (including chains such as Borders).
>
> How has coffee house sociability changed? I have in mind, for example,
> working with laptops at coffee houses and often Internet access too.
>
> My underlying question: why the choice of place for coffee or whatever?
>
>
>
> On Mar 9, 2005, at 6:28 PM, bruce erickson wrote:
>
> > Re: Tim Horton's
> >
> > Does it detract from the Canadian chic that Tim
> > Horton's is now in Michigan (at least)?
> >
> > On a slightly more serious note, it seems to me that
> > the upscale coffee shop chain model followed the
> > beginning of the flavorful coffee boom, which began in
> > the Pacific Northwest in the late 1970s. Small and
> > somewhat Bohemian-style coffee shops started using
> > freshly roasted beans to make strong coffee, espresso,
> > etc. As they began to spread, it was only natural that
> > capitalism American style would develop, and from that
> > came small regional-chains (Allann Bros. and many
> > more). Starbucks, et al followed.
> >
> > It strikes me as I remember this that the
> > proliferation of micro-brewery beers started, or
> > restarted, around the same time in the same region.
> > And now many of them have grown and there are
> > mid-sized breweries that brew the recipes for several
> > labels. In a sense, history almost repeats itself on
> > this one.
> >
> > Forgive my rambling, obviously closer to coffee time
> > than beer time.
> >
> > Bruce A. Erickson
> > Le Moyne College
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
> > Celebrate Yahoo!'s 10th Birthday!
> > Yahoo! Netrospective: 100 Moments of the Web
> > http://birthday.yahoo.com/netrospective/
> >
>
|