Hipsters And Coffee: Moving Beyond The Stereotypes
Coffee sometimes feels too snobby, too hipstery. We know. We get it. We’re sorry that so many people in our industry have created a mood of exclusivity around coffee—it was never meant to be that way.Thankfully, the industry’s changing. Cafes are becoming more inclusive, customer service is becoming warm and friendly again—even in hip cafes—and it seems that awkward judgemental "coffee hipsters" phase we’re all too familiar with is entering our rear-view mirror. We want to spend a few minutes going beyond the stereotypes and highlighting the way the coffee industry is moving on. We also want to point out the ways that this recent phase was just that—a phase. Context helps give us hope for a more balanced, welcoming coffee world. And we’d love to share that hope with you.
Let’s Keep In Mind: Coffee Hipsters Are People Too
Tight jeans, big beards, and tattoos aren’t everyone’s style, but we need to be honest with ourselves: only a small portion of these folks were ever weird or snobby. Those moments really stuck out to us though—they sort of set our expectation, even if they were actually not that frequent. Your average coffee hipster enthusiast is just an excited, passionate person. They’ve fallen in love with the diverse flavors of coffee, they’ve been captivated by the craft of brewing those beans with skill, and a few of them have forgotten what it’s like to be a normal coffee lover. Oh, and we’re guilty of this too—which is why we can say that those weird looks and condescending tones are usually honest accidents. It can be difficult to keep in the excitement, and sometimes it comes out in a not-so-socially-acceptable way. We’re sorry. And we apologize on behalf of coffee hipsters everywhere. We just love coffee and want to help you love it too.
Coffee Begins On A Farm Without Hipsters
Well, there may be hipsters on some farms, but we generally find that coffee farmers are also excited, passionate people. They just manifest that excitement with less social-awkwardness than we coffee hipsters sometimes do. For farmers, the craft is in growing amazing coffee. They study soil acidity, rain patterns, coffee genetics, and a whole slew of amazing things that we don’t usually think of here in the States. They’re coffee snobs in their own right, and we’re so glad they are (the coffee’s better that way). Before there were hipsters, there were amazingly skilled coffee farmers.
Cafe Culture’s Long Been About Community
Coffee culture has existed for a thousand years in Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. As a display of hospitality, hosts take coffee beans harvested from their backyard (literally), roast them, grind them, and brew coffee with them all in one go. It takes an hour or so, but your senses are engaged the entire time and it’s a community-building ceremony. Before there were hipsters, there were Ethiopian neighbors performing the coffee ceremony for each other. The first coffee houses on the Arabian Peninsula were places of community and conversation. People from all walks of life would share stories, discuss politics and religion, and built relationships over cups of coffee. In fact, these communities became so strong and culturally significant that various governments tried to close down coffee houses because they feared the conversations being had. Of course, that never worked. Before there were hipsters, there were Arabian cafes filled with normal folks after work. Cafe culture spread all over the world. In Italy and surrounding countries, espresso is a daily staple. Customers walk up to espresso bars, order cappuccinos, and drink them in a matter of minutes before heading off to their next engagement. It’s a quick exchange, but still so central to the culture. Before there were hipsters, there were Italians sipping on quick shots of espresso before work.
