What have we done to coffee?

So I am writing this in a local café and there is a woman arguing with her barista over whether or not she ordered her half strength mocha in a ‘grande’ or a ‘venti’. Which honestly are just fancy ways of saying ‘big’ and ‘ way too big’? She was too busy talking at her friend about her workout routine to notice that the barista had been making her drink “wrong” for the last 2 minutes. The friend clearly was more interested in his phone. She was offered a brand new drink, venti of course. It was accepted, not as gift, but a given.

I’m pretty sure the coffee experience used to be so much more than what it is now. The Coffee House was the place where culture, philosophy and good company would meet. You could meet with friends to discuss the latest ideas buzzing about the academy; or browse vast archives of journals, international newspapers and great works of literature. Either way, I am sure there would be soft piano, the sweet smell of pressed coffee and the gentle buzz of a society that at least tried to value cultural progress.

I don’t think we ever had the chance to experience something like that in Australia. I’m pretty sure we have done the exact opposite. We have turned to Coffee House into the ‘cafe’. It is no longer the place to go to debate the fresh ideas in politics or art. No. Instead we go to talk about ourselves. Instead of consuming the writings of Tolstoy, the beauty of Chopin or the ideas of Dostoyevski, we consume gossip, sugar and nut milks. We order absurd beverages and then argue with our baristas about how last time they “got it wrong”.

How has this happened?

I thought about what it would look like if this cafe I am sitting in now were something like the old Coffee Houses. Perhaps the lady and her friend would join me to discuss a book or stage play that had provoked them on a level deeper than child’s sandpit. Then I realised that it would likely be MasterChef. I snapped out of it, finished my drink and left.

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