Coffee & Community Pt. 1
It is no secret that Americans love their coffee. Tall, grande, venti, sugar soaked or black, hot or iced - at the end of the day we’re just glad to get it in our bloodstream. It’s often the final incentive that gets us fumbling out of bed most mornings and carries us through the mid-day doldrums. In the land of Capitalism, coffee has found a place and a purpose: driving productivity.
That’s not to say coffee culture in America is all work and no play; while franchised brands have certainly laid claim to most street corners, the local coffee shop is still alive and well. The Central Perk daydream of meeting friends and sipping lattes can still come to full fruition in smaller shops, complete with ambient music and oversized chairs. However, when it comes to community building, Italian coffee brings people together in a way not often matched.
For the everyday coffee drinker in Italy, the drink of choice is the espresso. It’s small, fast, and usually enjoyed standing at the counter at the local bar. While in the US a bar may call to mind craft beers on tap and custom cocktails, in Italy il bar is the neighborhood pit-stop for all your light fare needs from a coffee and pastry in the morning to a simple panini or evening aperitivo.
Often small and with limited seating, Italian bars see a high and fast turnover rate during peak commuting hours. Neighbors come in for a dose of socializing and local news as much as they come in for a caffeine hit. The result? The first sip of your espresso is enjoyed in the company of your mailman, but by the second sip he’s been replaced by the music teacher. Repeat this dance twice a day over the span of a few weeks and you’ll quickly come to find yourself intimately invested in your local community. “Has anyone seen Nonna Maria yet today? She hasn’t come by since Tuesday...”
In this way, small coffees in small spaces can drive community. Connections are quickly and repeatedly forged, if not amicably forced, by the standing-room-only layout and the fast nature of an espresso. The approach is a far cry from the linger & lounge style seen here in the States where free wifi and abundant seating encourages longer but not necessarily more social visits. Rather, the seats are filled by pre-planned meetups with close friends and remote workers typing away on their laptops; each table in a world of their own.
It wasn’t until 2018 when Starbucks opened their first location in Italy that these coffee cultures overlapped significantly in Italian neighborhoods - and with the franchise slowly growing in the country it poses an interesting question: how will American coffee culture impact Italian communities, and how could American communities change if the Italian bar took hold here?
There is no space to claim one approach is better than the other - whether you choose to enjoy a slow indulgence or a quick sip, the quality of the experience is entirely subjective; but the next time you find yourself in Italy, consider committing to a local bar for the duration of your stay and see what connections unfold!
