The new age coffee house

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: “The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion and given more promise to hope,” said 19th century physician Isidore Bourdon. These words perhaps explain why coffee houses were so intrinsically and so fashionably anti-establishment for so long. As far back as 13th century, according to the website The Bean Scoop, the kaveh kanes of Arabia were inspiring religious (secular) and political discussions not especially popular with the authorities. From Mecca to Cairo and Aden and there on to Constantinople and Europe, the coffee house radical flourished with impunity. So it was that within a mere 30 years of its European debut, Charles II of England was shutting down London’s houses of sedition, as he preferred to term them! And in 1789, French intellectuals at Cafe Foy were inciting the mob that ultimately stormed the Bastille.

The Indian coffee house was not much different in flavour. The proletariat may have stuck to tea or the five-stars, but coffee — drunk at stalls, dhabas, Udipis and at a United Coffee Home or India Coffee House — appealed to both college-goers and idealistic intellectuals, mostly an impoverished lot. This was the second half of the 20th century, of course. A time when it was fashionable to be poor.

But then came the liberalised, globalised nineties, the new go-getting Indian and the swanky Baristas, Coffee Cafe Days and Qwiky’s. The writing on the macchiato foam was clear: The coffee bar had metamorphosed, almost overnight. But into what exactly?

Well, hang out at the Capital’s bars and it’s clear that the coffee bar has gone mainstream. From starting out as a fashion statement — which served as a strong motivation to down a cup of Irish coffee @ Rs 90 — about three years ago, the cafe is now an upper middle class lifestyle statement, an intrinsic part of urban pop culture.