Third Places: Coffee Shops
A drink so special that a 16th-century pope blessed it to prevent Satan from having it, coffee has been a highly influential drink throughout human history. It has been responsible for much of the world we know today, through trade, imperialism, revolution, and legalized widespread drug use. Today, coffee is part of many people’s everyday routines, often in the dedicated establishment of coffee shops. The ubiquity of coffee shops has simultaneously spread coffee’s influence while lessening its power. The future of coffee and coffee shops is ours to shape, and we must ensure it’s as beneficial as the past.
History
The discovery of coffee is unknown, but the story goes that a man found the cherries after watching dancing goats high on caffeine. A fun story, but we can’t know for sure. What’s more important is that coffee has been around for a very long time. Caffeine stimulation via coffee cherries was utilized through chewing before humans turned it into a drink. However, once the plant was turned into a drink things took off. Over centuries, the pursuit of coffee beans made fortunes for people in South America, led to global schemes to stabilize prices because of fragile harvests, and fueled countless deaths globally.
All this effort culminated in the popularity of coffee drinking in many countries worldwide, and where there was coffee, coffeehouses soon followed. These were largely similar to what we know today, where people could buy a cup of coffee and hang out with others. In London, coffee shops were often specialized for certain crowds, be that finance, merchants, mariners, intellectuals, etc. They were venues for lectures, businessmen would list their regular shop as their business address, and they would be ground zero for the spread of news and gossip. Some regarded coffee shops as places of higher education, since many intellectuals or professors would give presentations to and converse with their contemporaries, and anyone who bought a cup of coffee could attend.
This resulted in the proliferation of information and thus intellectualism. Many leaders and people in power were cautious of these coffee houses for this reason, as they easily spread anti-establishment ideas and often sparked revolutions. In France, the French Revolution began outside of a coffee shop. Coffee shops of the past are not dissimilar to those of today, although modern locations pack less of a disruptive punch to society.
Present
In the modern world, coffee shops still function similarly. For the price of a drink, you can often access untold information via internet access, and the spread of information (and gossip) still happens when people meet up for socializing or professional means. Though, these coffee shops aren’t always the community institutions of the past.
Starbucks is easily the largest, and one of the most popular, coffee shop chains in the world. This is not quite the revolutionary establishment that shaped the world previously, as it is a global capitalist corporation that serves low-quality (often unhealthily sugary) coffee, is known for anti-union practices, and drives smaller coffee shops out of business. Starbucks does not foster community the way local, independent coffee shops do; instead, it is a poster child for uncontrollable corporate gain.
Coffee shops are no longer the go-to place for information that they used to be, as people now have internet access at all times. It often might be easier for people to talk via text or social media than meeting up regularly in person, be it because of work, family, physical distance, or any number of reasons. It seems that more than ever, people are struggling with loneliness. Digital connections don’t provide the sense of belonging and community that in-person connections do, and people are suffering the consequences of these face-to-face encounter losses.
Hope is not lost though. Local, independent coffee shops are still fighting the giants, and as people continue in their disillusionment with the digital world, a return to third-place coffee shops can help people foster the connections we so desperately need.
Future
It comes as no surprise that the defanged modern coffee shops exist at a time of anti-intellectualism and isolation, where many people have lost easy, cheap access to the quality education and communities that they could have gotten from contemporaries at coffeehouses of the past. However, that doesn’t mean that coffee shops are a lost cause. People are turning in greater numbers to in-person relationships and interactions, and independent coffee shops, to compete with giants like Starbucks, often create opportunities for these to happen. Be it events like run clubs, live music, or other creative events, coffee shops are providing these experiences to draw customers in.
Even without these events, the smaller scale of local coffee shops provides opportunities for short but effective face-to-face interactions with baristas. The technology-ridden, industrialized nature of Starbucks doesn’t lend itself to these, given the need for speed to maintain corporate growth. But smaller, local coffee shops benefit from these relationships to keep the nearby residents coming back. This mutually beneficial situation will continue to be vital for small coffee shops’ survival, and why they will continue to be valuable.
As for anti-intellectualism, with the rise of remote work, professionals of all kinds can spend more time frequenting coffee shops to get their work done, forging connections and sharing information as they once did. Maybe this freedom from in-person offices (with people of similar intelligence and skills) can help spread ideas that change the world. We certainly could use that.
Conclusion
As I write this article in my own local coffee shop, I can see many incredible things happening. By the door, taped-up papers advertise a local gym and an art show. I see people working, calling friends, regulars asking the barista about his forthcoming child, the owner’s son helping him bring in boxes. I am greeted warmly by the chef, who recently dubbed me his favorite customer, as he asks me about my weekend. Everyone here knows me by name, and even while I sit at a table alone, getting my work done, I feel like I belong. I get to sit next to other regulars and talk with them, learning new things and forging connections. This place is special, and it reminds me that the present and the future aren’t so bad. We need third places, and I am excited to see how the future shapes them, and how they shape the future in turn.
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