Bleedin' Obvious: Coffee Shops
Much more than just a place to just drink coffee, they have become embedded in our culture and are now places to catch up with friends, share gossip and read the paper. No need for any research on that topic then surely? No, you're wrong, there's much hard work to be done.
The two human geography researchers, Eric Laurier and Chris Philo from Glasgow University, spent over a year sipping lattes, cappuccinos and espressos in search of just why we spend our time there. They went into Starbucks branches as well as greasy spoons. Despite the essential work involved in the study, the project’s funder (who claimed the work was ‘socially relevant’) refused to send the pair to Italy to compare notes - it’s a hard life.
The driving force behind the work was Dr Laurier’s interest in how people come together in modern society and find ways of meeting each other. However, he hardly sets the world alight with this new information, and admits “the things we are reporting on are things we know already. There is nothing there that would make you say, ‘oh gosh,’”.
So, what was it all in aid of? The other findings from the study included: people go to coffee houses to drink coffee; people leave if the coffee is no good and that when people ask to borrow a newspaper from a fellow coffee drinker, the response is either a ‘cold shoulder’ or a ‘warm response’. Also, when people set out to get a coffee, they go in the order of “beginning, ordering, seat-selecting, occupying the table and leaving” - rocket science eat you’re heart out.
Coffee facts:
Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after oil; over 10 billion pounds of coffee is exported every year from over 70 countries. Brazil, the largest coffee-producing nation, produces 30 to 40 % of the total world output.
There are about 25 major species of coffee tree, but two are more common than the rest: Coffea arabica (about 70% of world coffee production) and Coffea canephora v. robusta (the other 30%).
It takes about five years for a coffee tree to mature; each tree can yield the equivalent of one roasted pound of coffee, or about 70 cups.
Coffee was available in Europe from about 1608, although it was mostly for the rich and used initially as a medical remedy. Europe’s first coffee house didn’t open in Venice until 1683.
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