By Rachel Wade
One country’s coffee culture will never be identical to another country’s, and it all symbolises the value of diversity.
Culture signifies the strong diversity of the Earth, with each country having its own unique traditions that disassociates them from the rest of the globe, ultimately forming nationalistic individualism of each person. We often overlook culture, and solely appreciate it once we are thrust into it, such as when we are on holiday to Spain or Germany, or visiting a Japanese or Mexican restaurant.
Your daily routine will always correlate with your environment, which is mainly the country you live in. For us ‘Brits’, we are accustomed to the bipolar weather, packs of chavs, boisterous pubs and the hierarchy of supermarkets. This - despite how unappealing it may appear - is the traditional British culture, and often leaves the foreigners who had been susceptible to associating British people with ‘sipping tea all day every day’, personally knowing the Queen and indulging in fish and chips, experiencing a culture shock.
Yet one thing each country can certainly take pride in, no matter which culture it derives from, is their coffee culture. Coffee is universally used as a ‘pick-me-up’ to awaken our senses, either enjoyed in the mornings as our ‘cup of joe’ or in the afternoon at a coffee shop or in the workplace when meeting with friends or colleagues. Coffee is everywhere, and its popularity is retained no matter how far you travel.
The classic British coffee culture consists of multiple environments: waking up and grabbing a mug before the day begins, in the break room of the workplace, or at a cafe where you sit, relax, socialise, and take time out of your day to slowly sip on a latte or americano, usually in a Costa or Starbucks. However for other European countries, coffee is enjoyed in slightly different ways.
In Sweden, they call having a coffee break ‘Fika’, and it’s usually consumed with ‘Fikabrod’ (coffee bread), which is usually a cinnamon bun or some biscuits. Unlike British culture, they find it essential to divert away from having a coffee break alone at your desk at work, and use it as a time to meet up and spend some time together at a cafe (their breaks occurring up to four times a day). The coffee they consume is never usually espressos as they prefer to have larger mugs of coffee to spend more time enjoying their break.
France is largely a ‘cafe culture’ rather than a ‘coffee culture’. They do not prefer to ‘drink on the go’ and consume excessively large amounts of coffee in a hurry to work, instead they take their time to savour their time in the cafes, which are designed primarily for consumer comfort. Most of the French ‘people watch’ whilst in a cafe and take in their surroundings rather than grab a takeaway shot of espresso and leave within a minute.
Italy has certainly the most authentic coffee history, dating back to the Roman age. They take pride in this heritage, the Caffé Grecco being its oldest cafe by being built in 1760 and still remaining. In modern Italy, coffee culture consists of standing at a “bar” and following certain rules to ordering. They would not traditionally go to a cafe, order a caramel latte and relax into a sofa reading or chatting (unlike the typical American and British culture). It is often an order of espresso, along with the menu consisting of an abundance of different types to try. They order it, they drink it, they resume their day. Surprisingly, as coffee has been made such a normality to Italians, naturally an order of coffee will be no higher than one euro (90 pence), whereas in Britain a mug of a regular americano is approximately £2-£3. This striking difference certainly shows the contrasting attitudes towards the value of coffee - the latter disregarding the beverage as much of a necessity compared to the Italians.
Cà phê sữa đá, Vietnamese coffee, is made with a couple tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk, with dark roasted coffee slowly dripped over the top from a special type of metal filter, then poured over a glass of ice. The Vietnamese never shy away from experimenting with new flavours, evident from the recent rise in popularity of avocado, yogurt and coconut coffees. Narrow streets, wide streets, desolate streets, busy streets; it takes little effort to hunt down a cafe due to the abundant amount overspilling the country. Like the French, they do not simply have coffee on the go. It is a time to relax, mingle and breathe. Diversification of stylised cafes are on the rise, independent cafes being the main population and a stark contrast to major European cities such as Berlin are invested with Starbucks or other major chains (for instance the popular German coffee chain Einstein Coffee, located on every street corner).
Coffee culture is unique across the globe; each country having its own traditions based on their history. Even if you are not a lover of coffee, being educated on a country’s culture enhances your experience for when you visit, and stimulates social awareness skills and respect. We often find ourselves straying away from our cultural knowledge within the midst of great capitalistic brands corrupting each city and town - yet it's the independent stores that aid us to receive the proper cultural experience. For instance if you travel to places such as Rome or Paris, don’t always be lured into going to a Starbucks, a McDonald’s or a H&M - alternatively try a place to shop, eat or drink that is independently run or is a large part of solely that country’s culture. Only then will the experience truly be worth the travel, won’t it?
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