The coffeehouses of eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe
were places where the embers of revolution were stoked. The
coffeehouses of twenty-first century Westwood are places where a
bit of flirting, some gossiping and maybe a little studying are
done.
While today’s coffeehouses may be less influential in the
political and intellectual landscape (You’re telling me you
didn’t know Robespierre got his start as a barista?), they
make up for that in their sheer number and bombastic prices.
The American coffee culture of recent times is fascinating. Only
in the last 15 years have chain coffeehouses taken over the
nation’s urban landscape, giving people refuges where they
can talk over $4 cups of pseudo-coffee or at least grab a
respectable espresso.
“As for why in the 1990s, there are probably lots of
explanations,” history professor David Sabean said. “It
probably means that at least a segment of American culture was
growing up ““ eating fresh vegetables, drinking decent coffee
and reading Hegel.”
With the recent addition of a Peet’s Coffee & Tea to
Westwood Village, along with new locations of The Coffee Bean &
Tea Leaf at the UCLA Hillel and in the Bruin Café near the
UCLA residence halls, there are now seven major chain coffeehouses
in Westwood Village. Counting the independent coffeehouses in the
Village and on campus, the number of places to grab a cup of coffee
in this neighborhood is staggering. (I lost count at 120,127.)
While there are four Coffee Beans in Westwood, Starbucks is
still the king of Los Angeles. Within two miles of UCLA there are
seven Starbucks, within five miles there are 44 and within 10 miles
there are 111.
These days people aren’t making simple decisions like
whether to go with decaf or regular, they are ordering things like
grande no-whip organic skim cabbage lattes or venti nonfat
140-degree pork fat cafe vanillas.
To demonstrate the nation’s obsession with high-priced
coffee, I decided to look into my own coffee spending. My bank
statement indicated that I spent $21.53 on coffee over the past
three months. That doesn’t take into account all the cash
I’ve spent on coffee, all the coffee that I’ve tricked
other people into buying for me and the fact that I’m broke
and would be buying more if I could.
Coffee has a colorful history in the United States. It was
brought to North America in the early seventeenth century, soon
after it was introduced in Europe, said history lecturer Gabriel
Wolfenstein. In 1773, the Continental Congress declared coffee the
official national beverage in protest against the British’s
Tea Tax.
Some say caramel additives and the like have tainted coffee,
once a noble player in the American Revolution. Furthering this
line of thought, it is often assumed that today’s coffee
culture is merely indicative of the crassness of American society
““ it’s argued that only a culture based on consumption
and materialism could create the $4 coffee drink.
I disagree, because in reality, there’s very little actual
coffee-drinking going on at places like Starbucks. That Frappuccino
in your greedy little hands is more like a milkshake than coffee
““ and I will posit the theory that this is why chain
coffeehouses have boomed in the last 15 years.
Starbucks popularized the alternative coffees ““ the mocha
lattes and the cafe vanillas ““ giving the plebes a new way to
get their sugar fix under the guise of coffee. In the 1950s, young
people went to the local diner for milkshakes, and this fulfilled
their social needs. But diners never gave up their annoying
jukeboxes and meat is murder, so today people go to the
coffeehouse, and get the same milkshakes, except the milkshakes are
called Frappuccinos or Ice Blendeds. Young people simply found a
new place to flirt.
“You see a lot of people in Starbucks on dates,”
said Carly Grovhoug, a former Starbucks barista who now works at
Espresso Roma Café in the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
“People who are scared to ask people to go to dinner and a
movie go to get coffee.”
It is also true that coffeehouses flourish here because students
need caffeine for those long nights of studying. Grovhoug recalls
once serving a Starbucks customer 14 shots of espresso at once.
Yet, it is clear that beyond serving its purpose as a physical
stimulant, coffee also serves as an emotional stimulant.
For example, I ran into an old friend from high school at the
movies Saturday night and we made plans to catch up over coffee
today. Why couldn’t we just save the four dollars each and
talk at my apartment? We could have even pooled our money and
bought a cheap bottle of Beaujolais.
“Coffee drinking is not an excuse to relate to people,
rather it offers a good medium for a pause and a chance for an
intimate conversation,” Sabean said. “Where else can
you do something like that?”
While today’s “coffee” is bloated with
unfortunate accessories like chocolate chips, coconut shavings and
foie gras, you never know, maybe the next revolution is being
plotted in the local Coffee Bean.
“Maybe there are small revolutions against particular
professors or exams being planned, but I don’t see California
secession emerging out of the Coffee Bean on Gayley,”
Wolfenstein said. “I could be wrong. Revolutionary movements
tend to be secretive at first. I’m not necessarily in the
know.
“The coffee shops are everywhere.”
(He said that last part ominously.)
E-mail Miller at dmiller@media.ucla.edu.