Coffee culture

Why is coffee a symbol of a lifestyle, a way of communication and also a barometer of society? It seems that the way you drink or share a cup of coffee signals also what type of society you live in, how much freedom you have to voice your concerns and to dip yourself in a more interactive society. Coffee is these days the symbol of the sleek, sofisticated and liberal kind of person that shares his/her thoughts over a cup of smoking dark coffee. From New York to Paris, from Mexico to Sydney it is like a sacred ritual, of social politeness and of being knowledgeable of good urban manners.

In Italy is so omnipresent that it doesn't have to do with the attitude of the person (everybody drinks coffee here), but it is a way chaos and different personalities are expressed. Every person has its own favourite way of having a coffee. Variations are the quantity of water (less is a ristretto, more is called "americano", and considered unworthy of the name "coffee" for 99% of Italians), the presence or absence of milk (macchiato, caffelatte, etc.), the amount of coffee shots (doppio, etc.), and even the cup it is served in: tazza (cup), tazza grande (big cup), vetro (glass). Me, for example, I started off having a caffelatte (one shot of coffee with milk), and evolved into less milk with a simple macchiato. Italy is like that: all Italians do things differently from one another, and agree to be one single people talking and arguing about how the rest of the country is crazy by being different.

In Chile coffee is just an argument to bring people together, under the strangest circumstances. Coffee in Chile is absolutely awful. It doesn't taste well, and only until recently it was the most common thing to find instant coffee even in upmarket restaurants. So, it is not surprising that what is important about coffee is not coffee itself, but the surrounding scenario. Probably the most cultural thing about coffee in Chile is the "coffee with legs". I visited a couple of times these places, for the sake of curiosity (true). It is a mise - en - scene that it is quite outrageous, very close to bad taste. Especially because many people (men) go to have morning coffee. Once I was walking by one of these coffe with legs places and there was a girl at the door inviting passers-by to go in, saying "today we have painted bodies". We didn't go in, just in case.

The strangest thing for me is that even I think of coffee when I want to relax and have a break, even though sometimes if I am honest to myself, I don't really feel like having a cup of the black liquid. Maybe it has finally penetrated my own brain connections and convince me that there is so much more than just a fine-smelling drink, and that its cultural, sexy appeal is more than just an invention.