Monday, September 26, 2005


amusing

"if you want to compete with the mermaid, you have to be different. . .but a number of local coffeehouses have hit on an easy way to set themselves apart: sell beer."

the coffee-wine bar concept has been catching on for a couple of years here, but i think this is the first documentation i have on the coffee-brew pub trend.

oh, and it's nice to finally be able to prove that i'm far from the only one who calls starbucks "the mermaid" -- it's actually a widespread usage.

of course to many who are unfamiliar with the history of coffee, it seems strange to put alcohol on the menu of a coffeehouse. but in fact the earliest english and american coffeehouses always served beer and spirits as well as the more expensive coffee.

and of course most italian espresso bars serve alcohol too. so this is just a return to the roots of coffeehouse culture in the west.

finally, a big bccy congrats to long-time pals kenny nye of 9th st. espresso and doug zell of intelligentsia for the great mention in the recent wsj article!

posted by fortune | 10:13 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 2 comments