COFFEEHOUSES AROUND THE WORLD
Coffee has been a social lubricant since the 14th century, it helped people feel more comfortable in social occasions. It is a deeply rooted a habit of the modern world, and played a role in its formation, starting from 14th century coffeehouses in turkey, to the Parisian Deux Magots, a now-popular tourist attraction, which used to be the favorite place for French intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre, to the London coffeehouses and their popularity among intellectuals, artists and politicians.
Coffee culture today could be about business or leisure: especially in business hubs, you can spot business people, or students working for hours using the coffeehouse’s Wi-Fi, which has become an essential part of the coffeehouse experience, and in populated and touristic areas you find people having a good time conversing, reading or passing the time with pleasant music in the background.
Generally in European countries, like Austria, Germany and Norway, a coffeehouse is a shop that serves coffee, as well as pastries and sandwiches etc.
In the Netherlands and Belgium, a coffeehouse is typically a bar, and sells alcoholic beverages, the Netherlands, a koffiehuis serves coffee, while a “coffee shop” sells soft drugs and is generally not allowed to sell alcoholic beverages.
In France, most cafés are lunch restaurants by day, and bars by night, having pastries in the morning. In Italy, they have richer variety of espresso coffee. In the US, coffee shops originated from the espresso coffeehouses of Italian American immigrant communities, and are similar to European coffeehouses.
In the Middle East, the coffeehouse is a crucial social gathering for men, serving coffee and tea. Men go to coffeehouses to listen to music, play table games and enjoy hookah (shisha).
In India, coffeehouses are the best place for business meetings or meeting friends.
In Malaysia and Singapore, coffeehouses are called kopi Tiam in Malay, they serve variations of coffee and a popular drink in south-east Asia called Milo.
In Oceania, coffee shops are called cafés, and have been introduced through the Italian immigrants fleeing Europe during World War II.
To conclude, coffeehouses are a global phenomenon, and have adapted naturally to local cultures, enabling social gatherings and presenting a context for communication and social interaction, while serving coffee variations for customers, which is an interesting natural selection case for the standardization Vs the globalization debate in the internationalization studies.