Tuesday, December 30, 2003


regional coffee culture, part xii; selling specialty coffee like fine wine

to copy the example of the california wine industry has long been the advice of those who wish to increase coffee quality and aprreciation in the u.s.a. and today it seems as if peets is taking this concept seriously.

as of jan. 1, the former head of a fine winery is set to become chairman of their board.

i love the spit & whittle club. i've written about groups like this before: classic small-town u.s.a. coffee culture.

while everyone knows now that the current free-lance culture means people use starbucks and other coffeeshops with wireless internet connections as their offices, what's new is how these working hang-abouts are now integrating themselves into the shop staff itself, going so far to help employees carry and deliver.

this creates not only a new public space, a new marketplace, but perhaps a new social structure as well?

however, not everyone is as open to new and fluid constructions of social space and coffee tradition. people have asked me about this: and i think the problem here is the waitresses don't want to see a self-service pastry bar in place.

they see their café as an authentic social ritual where they preside as a living link to vienna's storied literary and artistic past. this the new owner doesn't seem to appreciate.

he wants to attract young people with modern self-service to make the place less intimidating, and to reconnect it to the trend for "authentic" italian style -- a café with a bar. his idea of authenticity is clashing with that of the waitresses. . .

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