Coffee: The Great Cultural Connector

This is a guest post by Jessica. Learn more about how you can guest post for Daily Shot Of Coffee.

Coffee is the second most widely traded commodity in the world, after petroleum. It is one of the most highly consumed liquids, right up there with water and tea. Today, coffee is found all over the world in a variety of forms. Various coffee traditions and coffee houses speckle the globe, yet we often don’t take enough time to truly appreciate the significant role coffee has played in the history of our cultures and societies. Oftentimes, we spend a lot of time talking about the roast of the coffee or where it comes from. But, what about how coffee connects us to our culture? How about how coffee connects us to each other?

From Miracle Drug to Hedonistic Beverage & Political Game Changer

Starting around the 15th century, coffee drinking spread from the Arab World to India and then to Europe, and eventually the Americas. Early on, it was hailed as a “miracle drug” with healing properties by Sheik Omar, who may have drank his first cup of coffee in Ethiopia. Through Egypt and Yemen, coffee was introduced to the Arab World. The first records of coffee drinking didn’t take place in bustling coffeehouses, but in Sufi monasteries in Yemen. Coffee was “smuggled” out of the Middle East in the late 1600’s to India. At this point, coffee was as “black as ink” and was poured in porcelain glasses and passed around from one person to the next. From India, the black liquid magic spread to Italy and the rest of Europe.

Coffee turned into a thriving trade between Italy, North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East. As it went through the Venice port, it became accepted at large when Pope Clement VIII deemed it a “Christian” drink. While coffeehouses in the Arab World were already hotbeds for political gatherings, story telling, and game playing, the coffeehouses in Europe came on the scene a bit later. The first coffeehouses in Europe started making an appearance in the 17th century and likely came about through the Kingdom of Hungary, who at the time was the mediator between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Interesting how coffee at this age was already quite prominent in trade and political diplomacy!

By 1675, there were more than 2,000 coffeehouses in England. It became meeting places for great minds and intellectuals of the time. Supposedly, the coffeehouse was even the birthplace of the first Encyclopedia. Despite Charles II’s attempt to close down coffeehouses for being the meeting place of the “disaffected,” the public continued to flock to them. Decades after Charles II’s failed “Proclamation for the Suppression of Coffee Houses,” these same coffee shops housed men from all different professions who could sit, read, and discuss news for and against the government. Coffee houses, like Will’s Coffee House in London, became seen as the “great social equalizer,” places that came to symbolize liberty and republicanism.

It may be hard to imagine now, but when coffee was first introduced to North America during the Colonial Period, it didn’t take off as quickly as it did in Europe. It was really only during the Revolutionary War, when Britain cut back on the number of tea imports, that our founding fathers turned their eyes to coffee. Interestingly, during this time, coffee consumption went on the decline in England, and the demand for tea went up. So, America’s independence was also reflected in the rebellious choice of preferring coffee to tea.

The Evolving Faces of Coffee Houses in the USA

Coffee shops in the United States developed very differently from the coffee houses in the Arab World and most of Europe. Starting out much later, in the 1950’s, coffee houses tended to serve as entertainment venues for live musical performances. In the 1960’s, the folk music performances naturally began to tie into the political awareness and youth culture of the decade. During a time of social revolution, the coffee houses of the Unites States reflected this counterculture mood sweeping the country. But, the youth weren’t the only ones attracted to coffee houses. Churches also seized the opportunity to perform outreach campaigns by opening up coffee shops. Guitar players and singers performed Christian music, coffee and food were served, and a sort of casual family-style atmosphere emerged. While the coffee shops we think of today existed on college campuses and neighborhoods that had a more artsy and counterculture flare, it only became more widespread in the 1990’s when the Starbucks Italian-espresso bar coffee culture went mainstream.

Embracing the Diversity of Coffee Cultures

From sidewalk cafes in Paris to smoky coffeehouses in Damascus, people are coming together over coffee in all kinds of ways. In the United States, most coffee shops also sell pastries, while in Malaysia and Singapore, coffee is typically served with breakfast toasts, eggs, and coconut jam. Whether people are going to coffee houses to watch a soccer game, talk business, or even do work using the free wifi, coffee shops and coffee allow people form all walks of life to share something warm under the same roof. Whether we’re convening in the office kitchen for a coffee break or are sitting down to a cup of coffee in a foreign country, coffee’s worldwide presence and history goes far deeper than what we see on the surface.

So, cheers to your next cup of coffee and enjoy the new relationships and experiences that may come your way this new year over coffee.

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Jessica is a native New Yorker whose love affair with coffee started in college in Rochester. Now, living in Israel, she has been exposed to different coffee cultures and people, which in part has inspired her to start the website, Over Coffee.

Category: Coffee Thoughts