Coffeehouses

Coffee amazes me. It has for sometime now. Not only is it my personal drink of choice, but to me it also resembles so much in this world. A symbol of globalization, manual labor, empire, democracy, the public sphere, not to mention aroma and flavor.

Coffeehouses are similarly notable. While the men waiting at Lexington for the British passed the time in a tavern, the seeds of revolution are born in such coffeehouses. Why? Because of the ancestor to the iron newspaper stand sitting across from me. Coffeehouses became a communal place for people to read the news (or have it read to them) and then discuss it. A bloke (I like British slang) pissed at the government only discovers that he's pissed because of the coffeehouse.

I'm starting a reading course this semester where I will study various pieces of literature dealing with the 18th Century (primarily focusing on the French Revolution) one book will deal with Coffee, another the public sphere - the two are inseparable. Coffee is and has always been a commodity. As such it was not grown in Europe and had to be imported. Namely from the Turks. So now we have globalization. The Middle East has given Western Civilization so much, one wonders why they are not counted in the picture - it would certainly lead to a more interesting picture of Western Civilization. But I digress.

A reference to James Schmidt's audio commentary on the Enlightenment seems due. He has greatly influenced my thoughts on the subject. As Schmidt points out, coffee had its opponents then as it does now. They used to argue it caused impotence and was not nearly as communal as a pint (it was too expensive to buy a round for everyone) now usually the detractors are parents, most will let you drink your weight in Mountain Dew but not touch coffee. One wonders though, if there is something in this warm brew that causes a spark in the synapse and leads one to think outside the box. Wish for change, hope for it, and then fight for it. Maybe the Reign of Terror was then simply a caffeine high, or conversely a symptom of withdrawal.

Much of this sounds ridiculous but I'd be willing to bet someone who reads this will eye his fellow patron at Starbucks a little differently, probably while calling the ATF or FBI.