I Feel the Earth Move… By Cal Orey


WORLD WATCH EARTH CHANGES


Coffee in different forms treated my preteen, green taste buds. My budding imagination took me to foreign lands where coffee trees grow and flourish and people enjoy sophisticated coffee drinks. I observed adults sip- ping coffee spiked with alcohol and non-alcohol. It was intriguing to discover a new spin on the beverage that was forbidden for kids like me to drink.


After one dinner party at our home, my mother (coffee must have been the gift that gave her boundless energy) served slices of cheesecake paired with dark-colored coffee in small white porcelain cups. I asked her, “What is this dark stuff?” She answered, “Espresso. I drank it in a bistro in Paris.” Since her trip to Europe, when I was in the third grade, she came back home with coffee attitude.


Served in a 3-ounce demitasse (espresso cups) the beverage presentation looked cute, like something in an Alice in Wonderland scene. I wanted to taste the strange, dark brew but was timid. It looked like the coffee cup picture on the cover of a French menu that my mom brought home from her trip abroad to France, Spain, and Italy. Actually, the Italian-sounding “espres- so” word (which I incorrectly pronounced “expresso”) originated in France in the late 1800s and was appreci- ated in Italy later.


So, I shut my eyes (like diving off a block into a cold pool at swim club) and sipped the dark mud. “This tastes awful!” I exclaimed. Like a coffee plant that had not fully matured, what did I know? I was still a kid. I swapped my coffee for a bowl of coffee ice cream with chocolate syrup.


At the same time, during the 20th century, coffee roast- ers and retailers were also discovering what titillated the palates of Americans. Coffee company pioneers understood the demand for the caffeinated brew, from workplaces with coffee breaks to coffeehouses. They knew that coffee had a place both at work and play. These findings have been embraced and are now expanding to buzz-worthy health news effects of cof- fee for the mainstream audience while its roots are linked to the French Mediterranean region and America back in the day…


Cool Coffeehouses in the 20th Century…


The 20th-century coffeehouses rooted from the popu- lar espresso bars in Italian-American communities, such as Greenwich Village and San Francisco’s North Beach. These coffee shops glorified coffee in the Bohemian Beatnik era of the 1950s—the decade I was born in and grew up to experience the coffeehouse phenomenon.


In the 1960s it was a time when poets and folk singers, from Bob Dylan to Joan Baez, paved the way to a cool hangout where antiestablishment young people sipped black coffee, smoked cigarettes, talked politics, and


Oracle 20/20 September 2013


A Cup of Coffee Culture socialized.


In my teens, I recall hitchhiking in the sixties north to San Francisco, where coffeehouses were a place to meet strangers and escape. But as time passed, coffeehouses became more sophisticated in their coffee selection…


Hot High-Tech Coffee Era


The places boasted an array of coffee roasts from around the world, flavored coffees, organic coffee, and hot and cold coffee drinks and have an espresso bar type of atmosphere. Bookstores, such as Barnes & Noble, offer coffee and snacks, from bagels to cookies. These are places where people set up their laptops to work or play, as well as interact with others.


Socializing contributed to the rise of coffeehouses. Like centuries ago, people sit and enjoy coffee, which pro- vides not only health aspects in relaxing and commu- nicating but also a dose of healthful coffee, which was and still is part of the coffeehouse package that is here to stay. As time passed, in the 1980s and 1990s, cof- fee shops and family-style restaurants served regular coffee, meals, and pie. As a kid who lived through the coffeehouse period, I experienced the transformation.


So, I have been to European-style bistros in San Francisco and on the Bay Area peninsula up to Lake Tahoe. Cafes with European flair offer an outdoor ter- race or sidewalk with seats, tables, and umbrellas. Once a place for solely face-to-face socialization, in the nineties cafes in America were becoming hot spots for computers. Internet access in a café or bookstore with an espresso bar was a place to work and relax. And coffee shops, like these, continue to be a mainstay in United States as well as around the world.


21st-Century Café Culture in 6 Regions


Coffeehouses are a mainstay in different countries. So, if you travel to one of these regions and are in search of a coffee fix, this is what you might find.


• Arab World/Turkey Coffeeshouses: Serve coffee


and tea. In these places dominated by men and boys, beverages are enjoyed while playing chess, and watch- ing TV.


• Australian Cafes Roasted specialty coffee and “FlatWhite,” a coffee drink, are hot for students and artists.


• China Coffeehouse Chains: Drinking coffee is a popular pastime for young businesspeople who are on the go.


• French Cafes: A bistro is a combo café/ restaurant in Paris. Coffee spots like these are for intellectuals.


• Netherlands Coffee Shops: Places like in Denmark, c


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