Was the 1990s the peak of the Coffeeshop experience? Obviously this was the decade that Starbucks became a household name, but I'm not really talking about that, I'm referring more to locally owned and operated coffeeshops. For me, the 90s to early 2000s coffeeshop was the peak of that kind of business. Back then, you could go into a coffeeshop, get a cup of joe or tea for around a dollar, sit down by yourself or with friends, smoke a cigarette, and read a book or study for a couple of hours, maybe play a board game off the shelf.

I remember going to my friend's uncle's coffeeshop in a college town in the early 2000s that still had this vibe. This was back when most Americans didn't know the difference between a latte and a capuccino. You didn't go to a coffeeshop to get a tasty cup of coffee, you went there to hang out with friends, or to dive into a book while smoking cigarettes, or to hear some shitty slam poetry while trying to flirt with cute girls there.

Still, I think the 90s was probably the peak for this. Because, at that time, people were becoming coffee snobs and you actually could get well roasted beans and coffee that was a lot better than Folgers or Maxwell House. Pre-90s you still had the cool social vibe, but without the good coffee. And post-90s, you got high quality coffee, but without the social scene. Because of this I think the 1990s into the 2000s was the peak for coffeeshop culture.

Also a big reason why they were popular was because you could usually smoke cigarettes there or at least they'd have a back area where you could smoke. As anyone knows, Cigs+Coffee are a god-tier combo, and both combined facilitated extensive conversation and creativity.

Just gotta be real I'm old and nostalgia-posting but I miss this vibe and it just doesn't seem to exist anymore. Today even the decent coffeeshops have a cold aesthetic that seems designed to get you to leave as quickly as possible to make room for other customers. Like even if it's a great coffeeshop with tasty coffee drinks for a reasonable price and friendly baristas they still almost all suck in terms of aesthetic and vibe. Like, even if they aren't corporate, they still just kinda suck

pic related, it's from a coffeeshop in Pittsburgh called The Beehive which has since closed down. pics from here: https://www.wesa.fm/arts-sports-culture/2023-11-14/pittsburgh-beehive-coffeehouse-history-book

Coffeeshops often used to have old couches that were picked up from thrift stores. They were designed to be comfy and inviting. Coffee wasn't seen as an expensive purchase back then, and neither were the pastries that some of them sold. They knew the average customer was unlikely to spend more than $3 or $5, perhaps $10 if they were a massive spender, and so the goal was to make the coffeeshop a comfortable space for lots of people to hang out at.

A lot of them had poetry readings or even local band performances. Many of them were open late into the night, often til 2 or 3am so that students, whether in high school or college, could hang out and study somewhere other than a library or their dorm room or parents house.

Even on mainstream TV shows the coffeeshops looked cool and cozy compared to what's out there today. Here's the coffeeshop from friends. Nothing special about it, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any coffeeshop half as comfy anywhere in the country today

The opening scene from the film So I Married an Axe Murderer perfectly illustrates what a good coffeeshop was like in the early 90s. People smoking, chatting, flirting, listening to music, late at night.

Why did this ever stop?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8k__drj7Lo

Even the shitty corporate stuff like Starbucks in the late 90s was downright cozy compared to what we have today

What's funny to me is how coffeeshops back then were still liberal-coded but without being annoying and obnoxious like they are today. Even in my city, a large majority of the coffeeshops are actually owned by Christian church cartels, and yet, almost all of them have the progress pride flag hanging high. It's so annoying. I don't care about trannies. I'm really not even anti tranny or pro tranny. But why do they insist I think about transgenderism and faggotry while I sip my latte? Is it that these places can't find qualified baristas to work without flying the tranny flag?

Here's another pic from the Beehive coffeeshop in Pittsburgh, I assume this pic was from the 90s due to the prices but it could be early-mid 2000s too

>>21401074
it's coffee. get over it

>>21401113
That has to be one of his worst takes of all time. Regardless though, my post was more about coffeeshops rather than coffee specifically. The beauty of the 90s coffeeshops was that you could actually get your coffee for cheap. Back then the people serving you coffee (they didn't call them baristas) were not pretentious millennials that listened to Mumford and Sons like he's talking about in that image. I understand his sentiment there, but I'm talking about the coffeeshops of 10-15+ years prior to when he made that statement, prior to the hipster corporate takeover of the coffee world.

Bourdain was also a drunkard so I'm not surprised he had little patience for coffeeshops. They were really nice back in the day. Even the coffee shop in Frasier, which was a bit more upscale than the specific type I am nostalgic for, was still orders of magnitude better than the soulless white and grey ones of today

>>21401058 (OP)
It's easy to shit on Starbucks, and we should shit on them, but we mustn't forget that in the 90s they basically created a market and then fulfilled it in parts of the country where cafes just weren't a thing. Zoomers won't believe this but there was a time when Starbucks was actually cool, and your favorite reactionary local indie artisanal coffeeshop might have never existed without them.

Obviously I'm not saying that coffee wasn't already popular, but previously the idiomatic American Coffee Experience was defined by the Classic Diner, something quite different although it's still heckin valid and bussin ngl frfr.

It's funny you post this. I'm gonna post about something in the Philadelphia thread in a minute because I'm gonna be in town today and you make me wanna go there: there's a coffee shop that opened in South Philadelphia a few years ago that captures that 'coastal hippie Grandma's living room' feel of 90s coffee joints. It doesn't do pour over. It doesn't have you select your beans and which roast. It doesn't even have man-bunned weirdos in it. It'll probably just be some guy in torn jeans he's had since the 90s and a random 90s band shirt (the owner). He's got some younger kids working there, too, but they're not as insufferable.
I forget what the "waves" of American coffeeshop mean specifically, but whichever one this one is, it's the one I most prefer, too.

>>21401295
Greek immigrants to Australia made coffee shops. Why didn't Greek immigrants to America?
Genuine question

>>21401058 (OP)
This thread feels so weird to me. I live in a bougie NYC neighborhood and we have multiple independent coffee shops per block. They're not cheap but they're perfect spaces for working or hanging out. On the weekends though, when the rest of the world floods into town, you gotta get there kinda early if you want a seat.

Lots of coffee types on the menu, of course, and the more advanced places let you choose type of beans and make their own well-thought-out concoctions. Some of them host events, little bands, poetry readings, stuff like that.

I was actually going to a lot of them lately since I was working on some writing, you find out which ones are great to work from and which aren't.

>>21401077
>she observed from the position of definite wallflower

>>21401113
>Guy Fieri is known to enjoy and even customize his coffee, particularly Americanos, which he often makes with a touch of cream or almond milk. He has also launched a line of coffee, "Flavortown Roasts," offering various blends and flavors, including American Diner, Bananas Foster
>“Really good coffee’s always been super important to me. It’s gotta be the real deal with big bold flavors,” Guy said.
Once more the man of fire proves his superior taste.

>>21401089
Why do you need to think about it? You obviously have some hatred or negative issues if seeing a rainbow flag ruins your coffeeshop experience.

What the fuck is wrong with you? What problem do you have with LGBT stuff? If it's nothing but a flag and otherwise you respect the bible-thumping owner cunts, just fucking ignore it or don't shop there.

Your thread seemed cool at first, but then you turned into a homophobe piece of shit. It sucks we can't still smoke in art gallery coffeeshops, but I'm okay with it if you can't either, fuckface.

>>21401408
uh oh, troonout

>>21401113
I always remembered him as this kinda funny, snobbish dude with a lot of knowledge. The more I read about him the more I think he was a gigantic faggot, not even because how he ejaculated over some literally who quirky aspects of asian cuisines that even locals don't care about, but more how he would also completely shit on mom and pop diners, anything below middle-middle class and basically any cuisine that didn't make him look special. He was an instagram food hoe with more vocabulary.

Coffeeslop amirite guise? Teehee lolll

>>21401426
He liked mom and pop places. He just didn't tolerate shitty food. What examples do you have of him shitting on any diners?
You're thinking of someone other than Bourdain.

>>21401408
It makes her upset. She's upset at the reminder that she'll never be a woman. She's upset that she'll never have babies. She's upset that she'll never get to be called Loretta. She's upset that she'll never be part of the People's Front of Judea. She's upset that she'll never be part of a plan to kidnap Pontius Pilate's wife. She's upset that she will never die in a fight with the Campaign for a Free Galilee. She will never contemplate a sandal or conjugate the verb.

>>21401074
>>21401061
>>21401058 (OP)
>>21401077
Finally a nostalgia thread I can sympathize with

Fastfood nostalgia posters should be tossed in a meat grinder and served at mcdonalds but big city 90s coffeeshops were kino

>>21401082
Global Village Coffeehouse aesthetic is so cosy.
A time dead and gone, there is little soul left in this world.

>>21401089
>>21401131
Except this you freak. They were pretentious for their time, just not in the same way, and there is nothing wrong with civil rights or giving jobs to trans people who can't get a job at more NPC places

>>21401077
Like how in god's name is the SIMAAM coffee shop not laughably pretentious by 90s standards, that was the joke, are you brain dead?

>>21401361
>Why didn't Greek immigrants to America?
They did, in huge numbers. But in the Northeast, they were better known for running... American-style diners, oddly enough.

>having to read a book in a coffee shop surrounded by other people talking and the noise of coffee machines and customer traffic because you can't stand to be alone for an hour

Lmao at extroverts.

Actually going out to a store to sit down and read a book just seems fucking crazy

>>21401555
I know, black people ruin everything.

>>21401077
I like this thread but this particular scene is just a fucking dive bar with a stage but with coffee instead.

>>21401077
Indoor smoking is disgusting. Smells like shit to anyone who hasn't clogged their scent sensory receptirs with tar molecules.

>>21401131
it's a beverage; it's not a lifestyle

>>21401408
I didn't need to think about it, but some faggot felt the need to force me to think about it and now I'm happy the entire globe is pushing back against you

>>21401058 (OP)
Definitely. Back then it was like a pilgrimage going to NL and going into a shop where you could legally buy from a menu with like 10 different strains. Then you'd worry about pigs controlling you on the way back, so you'd find the most suspicious looking car and stayed half a km behind it. Now its legal all over the place, so coffeeshops arent that special any more.

>>21401555
>Actually going out to a store to sit down and read a book just seems fucking crazy
>>21401553
>>having to read a book in a coffee shop surrounded by other people talking and the noise of coffee machines and customer traffic because you can't stand to be alone for an hour
>Lmao at extroverts.

These two posts tell me that you never experienced this era of coffeeshop and thus you can't understand why it was enjoyable. Going to a coffeeshop to read a book today is very annoying, for the reasons that you mentioned.

But it wasn't like that in the 90s. You'd go to a coffeeshop, and especially if it was mid-day, there often wouldn't be that many people talking. It would mostly be other people drinking coffee and reading the news, and if people did talk, they did so quietly like they would at a library.

Plus, back then, it wasn't as easy to make a good cup of coffee at home. If you went to the grocery store to buy coffee it was almost all pre-ground slop like Folgers or Maxwell House. The thought of drinking any other kind of coffee besides that was considered pretentious and obnoxiously snooty by a lot of people. You couldn't just go to the grocery store and get halfway decent coffee to make at home. If you wanted a decent coffee beverage, you had to go to the coffee shop.

Plus back then, people had larger families, and if you were a young person you likely had roommates. So going and sitting alone at a coffeeshop to read would often be a quieter place with less distractions than reading at home

>>21401058 (OP)
I still got this experience up through the mid-2010s. Now it's been sterilized out of nearly everywhere.

>>21401077
Check out the 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes, too.

>>21402571
In your little bubble maybe. It's pride month. No one is pushing back against anything. Gays are winning more than ever. If the flag makes you upset you're simply ignorant. You need to be educated.
Haters are ALWAYS unintelligent dolts like you. You simply aren't bright. You don't know information.

>>21401997
>Indoor smoking is disgusting. Smells like shit to anyone who hasn't clogged their scent sensory receptirs with tar molecules.

I'm sorry that you don't have taste. As long as a building has proper ventilation then indoor smoking is fine. It's actually the best way to smoke. Native Americans, who pioneered tobacco usage, primarily smoked inside of teepees. Much easier to smoke without the wind getting in the way.

A lot of coffeeshops back then weren't entirely smoking, but there's usually at least be a back area for those who wanted to smoke. That is how it should be, space for smokers and non-smokers alike. Regardless, being able to smoke in or at a coffeeshop was the norm from the 1700s up until the early 2000s. It is how it is supposed to be.

It's really not a coincidence that "third spaces" like cheap coffeeshops and 24 hour diners died out once smoking bans came into effect

>>21401370
Looks sterile compared to the pics OP posted.

>>21402825
>Looks sterile compared to the pics OP posted.
>>21401370
>This thread feels so weird to me. I live in a bougie NYC neighborhood and we have multiple independent coffee shops per block. They're not cheap but they're perfect spaces for working or hanging out. On the weekends though, when the rest of the world floods into town, you gotta get there kinda early if you want a seat.

Yeah, I'm in a Midwest city with a coffee scene that punches above it's weight and we have places like that too, and they make great coffee, but they just aren't the same as the old cozy coffeehouses.

found this pic on Yelp, it's the best coffeeshop in my city. Absolutely delicious, most of the time when I buy beans to grind at home, I buy them here. And yet...I just don't have a desire to hang out there. It's sterile and clean and the walls are bright white. There are no couches

>>21402796
Rather the price go up than let smokers in. Every ex-smoker I know hates the smell. Even ones who still crave ciggies.

>>21402792
>It's pride month. No one is pushing back against anything. Gays are winning more than ever
Yes anon that's why more companies than ever refused to change their logo to the fagflag for the first time in awhile. We are definitely losing and I am definitely feeling it lol

>>21403081
They made the flag too gay

>>21401077
We strengthened ourselves with diversity. Now you can get thousands of different coffee orders in a never comfy environment.

>>21401361
Metro Detroit is full of Coney Islands that were founded by Greek immigrants.

>>21402825
Looks comfy and upscale to me.

The city I live near is like 90% white and has a coffee shop/bookstore and a big vibrant mall
It reminds me of the 90s so much

the best thing about cafes, restaurants and establishments in general pre-2000s was the lighting. they werent bright as fuck like everywhere is now. you go into any cafe or restaurant today and youre instantly assaulted by the brightest LED lights in existence. and as if the lighting wasnt bad enough, then theres the decoration and furnishing. the walls are always the brightest shade of white available. the floors are always concrete. the tables are always the cheapest, most plain wooden tables they could find. who actually likes this? it looks cold and uncomfortable, like a prison almost. i dont know whats worse though, everything i mentioned above, or the fact that all white countries are 'multicultural' cesspits now. or the astronomical price of the coffee itself. they fucked literally everything up. everything is wrong.

>>21401058 (OP)
no the mid 18th century was
iirc they called them "penny universities" because intellectuals would gather there and discuss stuff
before the internet it was the place to be to exchange ideas and many very influential movements grew in cafes across europe

>>21403837
This is really the main difference. I could deal with the lack of smoking if coffeeshops were otherwise comfy. But even the nice ones usually aren't even comfortable. It's like they buy furniture that will specifically be uncomfortable so that you aren't tempted to linger around for a long time.

I remember back when coffeeshops used to either do free refills or cheap refills. You'd pay like 3 or 4 bucks for a coffee, but then to refill the mug would only be a dollar. Does that even exist anymore?

>>21403837
There was a brief remodeling where my local cafe was appropriately dim. Next week I came in and they'd got in their bright as fuck new lighting. Haven't been back since.