They say that alcohol lubricates the conversation; i would say that coffee or tea do that job way better (you start sober and stay that way). I am coming from a tea (called chai and almost never mixed with milk) drinking country where even babies are given sweet tea beside their mother’s milk, but i can’t be ambivalent towards coffee in all its glorious variations, taken preferably in a Viennese coffeehouse or a French café.
Today’s blogs/internet forums are becoming like the coffeehouses of previous centuries where people got together and exchanged ideas, read, wrote and generally got inspired; to be alone yet surrounded by like minded people. My beloved Stephen Zweig or Gustave Klimt have been ardent patrons of coffeehouses. The slow “coffeehouse death” of 1950’s has been reversed rapidly, of all entities, by Seattle’s Starbucks & other American coffee companies who went on a rampage with their idiotic “grande/venti/tall” shouts! I take mine “chez Peet” (the guru of everyone in gourmet coffee revolution). Too much noise for a small coffee… What’s missing is the true conversation; how can you have one when you are busy slurping your pumpkin spice frappuccino (770 calories)? Ok, so I am not proud of my decaf soy latte neither (they say decaf is the devil’s blend!)
I am very happy that this poster of mine got published. It should hit the sites like allposters.com, art.com, etc…by the end of September.
I don’t know about this tea/coffee business, but I hate Starbucks and still prefer two shots of Vodka, of course out of the freezer, anytime to trigger a civilized conversation.
Why the hate towards Starbucks? The conversation that binds two people is not in any way pummeled by the executives in Seattle high rises. If one has anything interesting to say, he/she can say it under a tree, on a balcony, around dinner table, and yes, even around the wooden, square table tops of Starbucks! To insinuate that Starbucks is in anyway responsible for our lack of creativity is just passing the buck.
I’ve been to book clubs that held monthly at Starbucks and although I really don’t care much for their coffee, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting friends on common ground. So what if they have stupid names for their drinks… as long as we’re not stupid enough to believe that names actually make their coffee better!
I guess tea, coffee, or alcohol are what we associate with our feelings of sharing, loving, and caring with our friends. I bet if someone did a study they’d find there’s more placebo effect in what we actually drink than what we associate with the ritual of drinking it. Oh wait… they’ve already done that study! College students were made to drink non-alcoholic beer in a social setting and started getting increasingly drunk and sociable as the night went on! They showed the signs of alcohol intoxication which they were previously told to expect. So much for the alcohol.
So, although I do drink both tea, coffee and my social share of alcohol (Single Malt please!), give me someone interesting to talk to and I can be served hot tar and be forced to listen to Shania Twain and still enjoy the experience!
LA POESIE AU CAFE
IL ETAIT UNE FOIS… LA POESIE AU CAFE.
GEORGES BERNANOS DISAIT:
“JE NE PEUX PAS ME PASSER TRES LONGTEMPS DU VISAGE ET DE LA VOIX HUMAINE. J’ECRIS DANS LES CAFES.”
LES ENSEIGNES DE CAFES SONT COMME AUTANT DE REPERES DANS LES RUES DES VILLES.
D’AILLEURS, EXISTE-T-IL UNE RUE QUI N’AIT PAS SON CAFE?
LES PETITES GENS, LES BANDES DE JEUNES, LES AMOUREUX, LES BEAUX PARLEURS, LES OISIFS, LES TRUANDS, LES ARTISTES… FINALEMENT, TOUT LE MONDE VA AU CAFE!
TOUT COMMENCE AVEC LA VENUE EN EUROPE D’UN BREUVAGE NOIR, CHAUD ET PARFUME: LE “QAHVE”.
CELA A LIEU AUX ALENTOURS DE 1600 PAR LES MARCHANDS VENITIENS. C’EST A L’AMBASSADEUR DE LA “SERENISSIME” A COSTANTINOPLE, GIAN FRANCESCO MOROSINI, QUE L’ON DOIT, EN 1585, LE PREMIER RAPPORT SURL LA CONSOMMATION DU CAFE. LES TURCS, RACONTE-T-IL, ONT L’HABITUDE DE “BOIRE DANS LE LIEUX PUBLICS ET MEME DANS LA RUE UN LIQUIDE NOIRATRE, BRULANT, EXTRAIT D’UNE PLANTE QU’ILS APPELLENT “CAFETIER” ET QUI A LA PROPRIETE DE TENIR EVEILLE.”
LE GRAIN DE CAFE VIENT D’ORIENT BOULEVERSER NOS FACONS DE VIVRE.
ON PEUT RACONTER, EN EFFET, L’HISTOIRE DE NOS SOCIETES, A TRAVERS L’HISTOIRE DES CAFES, TANT L’HISTOIRE DE L’UNE IRRIGUE L’AUTRE, LA PETITE SOULIGNE LA GRAND QUAND ELLE NE LA PRECEDE PAS. CES LIEUX PRESQUE ABSTRAITS DEVIENNENT LES LIEUX DES CONFIDENCES, DES DISCUSSIONS, DE L’EXPRESSION DES SENTIMENTS. LES IDEES LIBERALES Y NAISSENT. LES PAMPHLETS ET LES LIBELLES Y SONT DISTRIBUES.
LES POETES DE MONTMARTRE NE POUVAIENT VIVRE QU’AU CAFE ET CETTE AFFECTION N’A PAS ETE SANS LEUR NUIRE DANS L’ESPRIT BOURGEOIS. LEUR PAUVRETE, LEUR DEDAIN ET LEUR IGNORANCE DES SOINS ET DES SOUCIS D’UN FOYER, LEUR IMPOSAIT LE GOUT DE CE LIEUX PUBLIC OU ILS RETROUVAIENT, AVEC L’AMITIE DE GENS AYANT LES MEMES GOUTS, L’APPARENCE D’UN BEAU DECOR, UNA ATMOSPHERE FAMILIERE ET LA DOUBLE EXCITATION DE DISCUTER ET DE BOIRE.
PEU A PEU, LA RACE DES IMMORTELS AU CAFE, VILLIERS DE L’ISLE-ADAM ESSAYANT SES HISTOIRES INSOLITES SUR LES ADOLESCENTS, PAUL ARENE CHANTANT LE MIDI BOUGE, OU OSCAR WILDE, DESOLE ET FEROCE, CONTANT UN APOLOGUE, S’EST ETEINTE. ON NE VA PLUS AU CAFE QUE POUR Y PARLER DES MORTS ET DES MONUMENTS A LEUR ELEVER. IL N’Y A PLUS QUE LES “COMITES DE STATUES” QUI LES FREQUENTENT.
LES POETES NOUVEAUX SONT DES POETES DE SALONS ET DE THE DE CINQ HEURES. ILS SONT “CONFORTABLES” COMME L’IDEAL CHANTE DANS LE COFFRET DE SANTAL: “DORMIR TRANQUILLEMENT EN ATTENDANT LA GLOIRE. DANS UN LIT FRAIS, L’ETE, MAIS, L’HIVER, BIEN CHAUFFE. TOUT CELA VAUT BIEN MIEUX QUE D’ALLER AU CAFE”. CES VERS SONT DE CHARLES CROS QUI, LUI, N’ALLA GUERE QU’AU CAFE, OU IL ECRIVAIT, D’AILLEURS, UN AN AVANT EDISON, LE RAPPORT PRESENTANT A L’ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES LE PALEOPHONE OU PHONOGRAPHE. COMME MOREAS, CHARLES CROS MAUDISSAIT LE CAFE ET Y REVENAIT SOUVENT.
C’EST LA SCHIZOPHRENIE DES POETES!
Rome, le 6 septembre 2007
Daniela
Dear Michele, photos are wonderful. Half full china or mugs ooze an existential sadness. Bravo Admirable sensitivity for cultural history. Coffee, as all pleasure drugs has played an eminent role in building up modern society. The migrations of objects is as important as that of people. Coffee from Arabia landed with the Muslim warlord Suleiman (Soliman) storming Vienna. He was pushed back and only some coffee beans were left there. Tomaselli coffeehouse opened up at the Salzburg old marketplace (Alte Markt 7) in 1704. In Britain Addison and Steele were publishing the Spectator and the Tatler (1711) for the new houses brewing coffee.
I have seen lots of cafes in “Metros”, but this is the first time I see “Metro” in a “cafe”.
I am just wondering how a cup of “cafe” with “Metro” tastes.
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Very creative.
Askin Ozcan
From 1990s,onwards Starbucks coffee bars became a central component of the American social scene in part because they fulfilled the need for a nonthreatening gathering spot, a ‘third place’ outside the work and home. Ray Oldenburg, a Florida sociology professor, wrote most eloquently of this need in his book, The Great Good Place.
Oldenburg’s thesis is that people need informal public places where they can gather, put aside the concerns of work and home, relax and talk. Germany’s beer gardens, England’s pubs, and French and Viennese cafes created this outlet in people’s lives, providing a neutral ground where all are equal and conversation is the main activity. America once had such spots in its taverns, barber shops, and beauty parlors. But with suburbanization, they are vanishing replaced by the self-containment of suburban homes. As Oldenburg observes:
Without such places, the urban area fails to nourish the kinds of relationships and the diversity of human contact that are the essence of the city. Deprived of these settings, people remain lonely within their crowds.
http://mybanyantree.wordpress.com/
Smelling a cup of coffee, capuccino, noisette .. is already a journey around our global village.
In a cup, and more when I open the coffee bag, I’m suddenly surrounded with musics, sunset and sunrise, unknown countries, children playing, adults singing, also warm coloured lands.. and it continues while preparing coffee itself… hhhmm, i’m in love with coffee, and addict..
Your are right: coffee is a culture… what else?…. I hope we can share one very soon… miss you, and I am so sorry to have missed you when you were in L.A… we’ll catch up! around a good coffee!