Sunday, December 01, 2002


regional coffee styles

although the mall culture and tv here in the u.s.a. has commoditizied and blandified everything, to the point that often you can't tell whether you're in south jersey, south texas, or south alaska, regional coffee styles still exist.

in some cases this is in spite of starbucks, and in other cases, becasue of it. for example, the new southern culture of ultra-sweet candy-flavored dessert coffee drinks. clearly this shows some influence from the starbucks specialty drinks, like the caramel macchiato, etc. but southerners have taken this idea and modified to meet their own traditions, adding specifically southern flavors (praline) and making drinks ever sweeter to meet the intense sweet tooth long associated with the south.

obviously when we think u.s.a. coffee culture, we think of starbucks in seattle, and perhaps of the bay area beatniks and hippies that created the peet's culture. in the mid-west, however, there remains a strong dunkin donuts drip coffee culture; their super-super-sized espresso drinks may come from the gloria jean's at the mall, which seems to sell mostly seasonally themed flavored beans, like pumpkin spice.

while here in new york, of course, there's diner coffee, and the coffee you buy from metal carts on the street corner, traditionally served in the little blue cups with the greek key design. i've written about these regional cultures before, especially in the use of soy milk and kinds of chocolate.

but perhaps right now the most interesting coffee culture is in miami -- where the cuban coffee experience meets starbucks. thus the ancient latin tradition is galvanized into a higher quality, while offering an alternative to the bland starbucks atmosphere. this interesting fusion is happening before our eyes. it's exciting, which is clearly one reason the colombian coffee federation has decided to open its first juan-valdez-themed coffee shop there. (again, i've mentioned this before.)

i'm deeply interested in regional coffee cultures, especially the new ones that are forming in india, russia, china, japan, and korea, as these formerly tea-drinking nations meet coffee for the first time. currently this is in the form of the global starbucks expansion, although in india it seems due to the barista chain. readers, please write and tell me about your local coffee culture!

we here in new amsterdam, of course, unlike the rest of america, have been avid coffee drinkers since the 17th century, a time when most of the colonies were drinking english tea. our dutch influence made us new yorkers early coffee lovers; most of america did not switch from tea until the famed boston tea party. thus it pains and puzzles me that we currently do not have a brilliant coffee culture to equal those of seattle and the bay area. . .

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