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Hindustan Times
01-08-2025
- General
- Hindustan Times
A dark, bitter truth: Mridula Ramesh spills the beans on coffee
About a thousand years ago, in the mountains of Ethiopia, a shepherd boy named Kaldi saw his goats acting strangely. The next day, he followed and saw them eat red berries growing in clumps on a short tree with waxy, dark-green leaves, sheltered by the rainforest canopy. Coffee cherries dry in the sun, post-harvest. (Shutterstock) He plucked a berry and popped it into his mouth. Its meagre flesh was sweet, encasing twin seeds. He bit into these too and found them hard and bitter, but within 15 minutes, he had a spring in his step and was hopping along with his goats. This is coffee's origin tale, told in the highlands of the Kaffa region. The berry spread from these cool and wet climes around the world, but this is the climate that still suits coffee best. Back then, as word spread of this bean and its effects, priests began to chew on it to help them stay awake through long rituals. It took hundreds of years, journalist Mark Pendergrast writes in his book Uncommon Grounds (1999), for coffee beans to be roasted and brewed. Then, plantations came up in Yemen, and the port city of Mocha became the hub for global exports. The Ottoman Empire later inherited and reinforced this monopoly. Venetian traders then popularised the brew in Europe, but they still relied for their supply on roasted beans from Arab traders, who tightly guarded live plants. By the 17th century, coffee houses had spread rapidly across Europe, with England, particularly London and Oxford, becoming renowned for their vibrant 'penny universities', where people from across social backgrounds engaged in lively discussion, news-sharing and intellectual debate. Unlike taverns, these venues promoted the exchange of ideas and served as breeding grounds for Enlightenment-era thought. Several major British institutions originated in coffee houses: the Lloyd's insurance company began at Edward Lloyd's coffee house; the London Stock Exchange grew out of trades made at a café called Jonathan's. Members of the Royal Society frequently met in coffee houses. The coffee house catalysed Britain's intellectual transformation. *** In rainforests such as the Amazon, trees are levelled and the debris set ablaze, to make room for the lucrative plantations. (Shutterstock) Caffeine lay at the heart of this. It is structurally similar to adenosine, a naturally occurring neurochemical that builds up in the brain over the day and signals, by evening, that it is time for the body to rest. Caffeine resembles adenosine closely enough to bind to its receptors in the brain, but unlike adenosine, it does not activate them. These receptors, when activated, promote calm and sleep and regulate mood and motivation. By occupying these receptors without triggering them, caffeine blocks adenosine's calming effect, leading to increased neuronal activity and the enhanced effectiveness of dopamine pathways. Ingesting caffeine makes one feel less sleepy, more alert, improves reflexes and makes one more energised. In short, it made people more industrious. As demand grew, Europe's merchants began to ask themselves: Can we not grow this bean ourselves? The Dutch were the first to break the Arab monopoly by acquiring live coffee plants — historical accounts differ as to whether this was through smuggling or a gift — and cultivating them first in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and then in Java (Indonesia), in the 17th century. The French then obtained a plant from the Dutch botanical gardens in Amsterdam, which they successfully cultivated on Reunion Island and then in the Caribbean. Incidentally, another origin tale has it that Baba Budan, a 17th-century Sufi saint, smuggled seven seeds to India, hidden in his beard, to set up the country's first coffee plantation, in Karnataka. *** Cultivation of this crop is time- and labour-intensive, requiring several steps that must each be executed with precision. First, seeds must be selected and nursed into seedlings. These must be transplanted and tended to (with regular weeding, pruning, pest and disease control, and irrigation). At harvest, the cherries must be hand-picked, often selectively and over several phases, since they ripen unevenly. Post-harvest, the cherries must be processed, dried, hulled, sorted, graded and roasted, each step involving at least a certain degree of skilled manual labour. In a coffee plantation that I recently visited in Tamil Nadu, harvest coincides with the winter rains and the manager must cajole workers to stand in the downpour, braving leeches, to pick the cherries. Wages exceed ₹1,000 a day, with bonuses for productivity, but still, plantation ownerShakerNagarajan says, labour is not easy to come by. Incidentally, in one of the world's most expensive coffees, the Kopi Luwak, much of this process is outsourced to Asian palm civet cats, who eat and pass the bean, their stomach enzymes enhancing the flavour. Someone still has to collect the scat, extract the beans, clean, dry and roast them. Back in the 17th century, the need for all this labour spurred coffee's cruellest avatar: that of a plantation-grown crop enabled by deforestation and slavery. And it was brutal. Haiti, in 1788, provided nearly half the world's coffee, but under conditions so inhuman that a slave's life expectancy was 21 years. Then coffee began to eat into the rainforests of Brazil. The story goes that the seeds entered Brazil, then a Portuguese colony, hidden in a bouquet given by the wife of the governor of French Guiana to her Portuguese lover. After the country broke free of Portuguese rule in 1822, coffee plantations grew swiftly, clearing enormous, almost unfathomable swathes of the Amazon in the process. In his book With Broadax and Firebrand (1997), ecological historian Warren Dean describes how a crew of loggers would ascend a hillside, cutting through a swath of trees without felling them, until the foreman severed the 'master tree'. Its fall would trigger, like dominos, the entire hillside of timber to collapse in a 'tremendous explosion'. The felled trees were later set ablaze, leaving the land looking like a battlefield, 'blackened, smouldering, and desolate'. The ash, writes Pendergrast, provided a boost for the coffee seedlings, and when the soil grew tired, the plantation owner moved on and burned a fresh patch of forest. The irony of destroying a forest to plant a shade-loving crop was lost on the farmers. To meet soaring global demand, large swathes of the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, particularly the upland slopes, were also cleared. Brazil became, and remains, the world's leading producer of the bean, but at a cost that is now coming due for us all. *** Meanwhile, Brazil's gigantic coffee harvest caused prices to fall enough to make this a mass-market drink. As it entered the home, a cultural revolution was unleashed. Historian AR Venkatachalapathy writes that, in the early 20th century, families in Tamil Nadu drank neeragaram or kanji, essentially fermented rice water. Conservative commentators bemoaned the abandoning of this nutritional beverage for the amoral, probably unhealthy, new brew. In the US too, there was a raging battle over coffee's possible health impacts, with dubious arguments and counterarguments playing out in advertisements. But too many had grown accustomed to the alertness that the morning cuppa provided. Then, in the 1950s, climate struck, with a frost decimating the Brazilian crop, causing coffee prices to skyrocket. From the ashes of this disaster, another variant rose like a phoenix: Instant coffee, where cost, convenience and nifty advertising combine to triumph over taste. Now, the hardier Coffea canephora aka Robusta rose to prominence, despite its harsher flavour. Native to Africa's lowlands, the higher-yielding crop marked a new era, with the plant now devastating new geographies in Brazil, Uganda and Vietnam. Separately, in the 1960s, scientists began to develop new strains of Arabica. These could grow under sunlight, but needed far more fertiliser. This became a double whammy for soil health. Then, caffeine began to be packaged in new ways. A 350 ml can of Coca-Cola contains about 34 mg of the substance compared to the hefty 94 mg provided by a regular cup of coffee. The caffeine in soft drinks re-sculpted humanity's biochemistry once more. Neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman calls caffeine a reinforcer. It does this by making the dopamine circuits more effective in brain areas that make you feel alert and good, encouraging you to indulge in behaviours that accompany that shot of the substance. Studies have shown, for instance, that, particularly in older adolescents, caffeine consumption is strongly linked to reduced sleep time. Now consider that many energy drinks today contain nearly as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, and are ingested by sleep-deprived teens while scrolling mindlessly through Reels, not by a young adult at the beginning of their day. Imagine the brain being re-sculpted, not towards enlightenment but towards the mindless consumption of content designed to make tech companies wealthier. Meanwhile, climate is wreaking havoc on the plant. In many places, farmers are having to move to higher altitudes. Rising temperatures and humidity levels, meanwhile, tilt the balance in favour of pests such as the coffee bean borer and coffee leaf rust. In 2015, a study found that, based on current climate projections, about half the land currently used for coffee production would no longer be suitable for the crop, by the 2050s. As though to prove them right, coffee harvests have suffered in recent years across Vietnam, Brazil and Colombia, leading to record prices. Meanwhile, consumers are increasingly asking for fair-trade beans and sustainably produced brew. This may be just what the doctor, and the planet, ordered. And India is well-placed to benefit from such a trend. Stay tuned for more on this, in the next Trade-Offs. (Mridula Ramesh is a climate-tech investor and author of The Climate Solution and Watershed. She can be reached on tradeoffs@
Finextra
30-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Kaldi teams with WealthKernel to turn everyday cashback into investments
WealthKernel, a digital investing infrastructure provider, today announces a new partnership with Kaldi, a savings and investment app that converts cashbacks from everyday shopping into investments. 0 New research from Santander UK has revealed that there are significant gaps in the understanding of money management. Out of 2,000 people surveyed, 79% have never created a budget, 76% have never paid a bill, and 77% have not set aside funds for unexpected expenses. Just one in four reported receiving any financial education at school, leaving millions without essential financial literacy. Kaldi is a UK-based fintech app that aims to address this issue by simplifying how money works. Through its platform, users can automatically invest or save their cashback rewards, making wealth-building more accessible and jargon-free. This partnership enables Kaldi to use WealthKernel's core infrastructure services, including onboarding, custody and trading API, to power their platform. The company can also make use of the GIA, ISA and SIPP account wrappers and offer a full suite of account wrappers to its customers. Investments are now being embedded much earlier in the customer journey with companies like Kaldi recognising that wealth and savings habits are strongly connected to checkout behaviours, and that consumers can make purchases without penalty to their financial goals. For businesses, these models help them move beyond one-off purchases and increase their wallet share over time. Karan Shanmugarajah, CEO of WealthKernel says, Kaldi's approach towards investing is one of a kind. We're seeing a rise in the number of businesses that are moving from traditional budgeting tools to passive wealth-building while making financial wellbeing less complex for everyday investors. We are delighted to have Kaldi onboard. Mark Burges Watson, Co-founder of Kaldi says, WealthKernel's digital infrastructure has allowed us to focus on what matters - turning everyday retail rewards into real investments. Their API-first platform powers Kaldi's seamless journey from retail checkout to investment portfolio, giving customers secure, hassle-free access to low-cost money-market and index funds, to deliver a first-of-its-kind solution to the UK public.
Times of Oman
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times of Oman
The cuppa that connects us: Coffee drinking across cultures
Paris: Coffee's pop icon status is firmly established — from Starbucks' iconic Frappuccino turning 30 this year to the latest Tiktok trends leading us to try Dalgona or cloud coffee. But beyond fads, coffee has been brewed in ceremonies and sipped in salons across time and geography. Its history is steeped in colonialism; establishments serving it have also fueled revolutionary thinkers. Today, rising global temperatures and erratic rainfall are hitting farmers hard, leading coffee prices to soar to record highs. But the beverage remains — at least for now — an intrinsic part of world culture. Here's a (non-exhaustive) look at how and why it came to be that around 2 billion cups of coffee are reportedly drunk daily worldwide. Mythical and spiritual roots Legend credits an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi with discovering coffee after he'd noticed his goats becoming frisky from eating red berries. While the story is likely apocryphal, coffee — namely the Arabica variety — is indeed native to Ethiopia's Kaffa region, where it still plays a ritual role. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, where beans are roasted over an open flame and brewed in a clay jebena, is a moment of pause, hospitality and community. In Senegal, cafe Touba — infused with Guinea pepper and cloves — originated from Islamic Sufi traditions and is both a beverage and spiritual practice. In Turkey, unfiltered coffee brewed in a copper cezve is often followed by a reading of the leftover grounds, a centuries-old tradition that is still cherished, even among Turkey's Gen Zs. In Brazil, the cafezinho — a tiny, sweet shot of coffee — is a symbol of welcome, offered everywhere from homes to street corners. Finally in 2020, as the world hunkered down during the COVID lockdown, South Korea's Dalgona coffee — instant coffee whipped with sugar and water — exploded on TikTok. Beyond aesthetics, the trend offered people a simple, soothing ritual. Unique flavours: Cheese, egg and … poop? Across cultures, coffee has taken wildly inventive forms. In Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden, black boiled coffee is sometimes poured over cubes of kaffeost, or "coffee cheese," made from cow or reindeer milk, in a centuries-old tradition. Vietnam's ca phe trung (or egg coffee) blends whipped egg yolk with sweetened condensed milk — a wartime improvisation that is now ubiquitous. Then there's Indonesia's kopi luwak, often called the "Holy Grail of Coffees," made from partially digested beans that have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. Though prized for its smooth, fermented flavor, kopi luwak has been ethically controversial. High demand has led some producers to cage and force-feed civets. Others now promote "wild-sourced" versions from free-roaming animals, but third-party verification has been inconsistent. From sacred brew to global commodity Coffee didn't just travel in sacks — it travelled with trade winds, spiritual journeys and imperial ambitions. Though discovered in Ethiopia, the earliest written evidence of coffee cultivation points to Yemen. There, it earned the Arabic term "qahwa" — originally meaning wine — which gave rise to the words coffee and cafe. Sufi mystics drank it to maintain spiritual focus during long night chants. The port of Mocha on Yemen's Red Sea coast became a center of trade, shipping beans across the Islamic world and into Asia. Another legend says that an Indian Sufi saint, Baba Budan, smuggled seven fertile beans from Yemen to southern India in the 17th century, defying an Arab monopoly. That act seeded coffee plantations in Karnataka's Chikmagalur region. Soon, European colonial powers also grasped the bean's potential. The Dutch planted it in Java, the French in the Caribbean and the Portuguese in Brazil — each expansion driven by empire and built on the backs of enslaved labor. Brazil, introduced to coffee in the 1700s, would grow into the world's largest producer. Even Australia, a latecomer, has developed a robust coffee culture. Fun fact: Both Australia and New Zealand claim to have invented the flat white in the 1980s. Cafes: Conspiracies, civil unrest and cats Throughout history, cafes have been more than watering holes — they've been incubators of ideas, art and revolution. In 16th-century Istanbul, authorities repeatedly tried to ban them, fearing that caffeine-fueled gatherings could spark unrest. In Enlightenment-era Europe, cafes offered a cup of coffee and a heady dose of radical thought, frequented by thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau. In colonial America, coffee became a patriotic substitute for British-taxed tea. Boston's Green Dragon Tavern, dubbed the "Headquarters of the Revolution," hosted meetings of the Sons of Liberty — activists who organized resistance against British rule, particularly unfair taxation and policies that eventually led to the American Revolution. Over the past decades, cafes have returned as a "third place" — neither home nor office, but somewhere in between. Coffeehouses have also evolved into refuges for modern life. In the early 1990s, when home internet access was not yet widespread, many cafes started providing public internet access, which drew people to start working from those spaces. Meanwhile, other cafe owners came up with unusual perks for their businesses. In Taipei, the world's first cat cafe — Cat Flower Garden — opened in 1998, giving urbanites a cozy space to sip and socialise among feline companions. The trend exploded in Japan and now thrives worldwide, where the blend of caffeine and calm continues to comfort overstimulated cities.
Express Tribune
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
More than just a drink
Coffee's pop icon status is firmly established — from Starbucks' iconic Frappuccino turning 30 this year to the latest TikTok trends leading us to try Dalgona or cloud coffee. But beyond fads, coffee has been brewed in ceremonies and sipped in salons across time and geography. Its history is steeped in colonialism; establishments serving it have also fuelled revolutionary thinkers, reports DW. Today, rising global temperatures and erratic rainfall are hitting farmers hard, leading coffee prices to soar to record highs. But the beverage remains — at least for now — an intrinsic part of world culture. Here's a (non-exhaustive) look at how and why it came to be that around 2 billion cups of coffee are reportedly drunk daily worldwide. Mythical and spiritual roots Legend credits an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi with discovering coffee after he'd noticed his goats becoming frisky from eating red berries. While the story is likely apocryphal, coffee — namely the Arabica variety — is indeed native to Ethiopia's Kaffa region, where it still plays a ritual role. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, where beans are roasted over an open flame and brewed in a clay jebena, is a moment of pause, hospitality and community. In Senegal, cafe Touba — infused with Guinea pepper and cloves — originated from Islamic Sufi traditions and is both a beverage and spiritual practice. In Turkey, unfiltered coffee brewed in a copper cezve is often followed by a reading of the leftover grounds, a centuries-old tradition that is still cherished, even among Turkey's Gen Zs. In Brazil, the cafezinho — a tiny, sweet shot of coffee — is a symbol of welcome, offered everywhere from homes to street corners. Finally in 2020, as the world hunkered down during the COVID lockdown, South Korea's Dalgona coffee — instant coffee whipped with sugar and water — exploded on TikTok. Beyond aesthetics, the trend offered people a simple, soothing ritual. Unique flavours Across cultures, coffee has taken wildly inventive forms. In Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden, black boiled coffee is sometimes poured over cubes of kaffeost, or "coffee cheese," made from cow or reindeer milk, in a centuries-old tradition. Vietnam's ca phe trung (or egg coffee) blends whipped egg yolk with sweetened condensed milk — a wartime improvisation that is now ubiquitous. Then there's Indonesia's kopi luwak, often called the "Holy Grail of Coffees," made from partially digested beans that have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. Though prized for its smooth, fermented flavour, kopi luwak has been ethically controversial. High demand has led some producers to cage and force-feed civets. Others now promote "wild-sourced" versions from free-roaming animals, but third-party verification has been inconsistent. From sacred brew to global commodity Coffee didn't just travel in sacks — it travelled with trade winds, spiritual journeys and imperial ambitions. Though discovered in Ethiopia, the earliest written evidence of coffee cultivation points to Yemen. There, it earned the Arabic term "qahwa" — originally meaning wine - which gave rise to the words coffee and cafe. Sufi mystics drank it to maintain spiritual focus during long night chants. The port of Mocha on Yemen's Red Sea coast became a centre of trade, shipping beans across the Islamic world and into Asia. Another legend says that an Indian Sufi saint, Baba Budan, smuggled seven fertile beans from Yemen to southern India in the 17th century, defying an Arab monopoly. That act seeded coffee plantations in Karnataka's Chikmagalur region. Soon, European colonial powers also grasped the bean's potential. The Dutch planted it in Java, the French in the Caribbean and the Portuguese in Brazil — each expansion driven by empire and built on the backs of enslaved labour. Brazil, introduced to coffee in the 1700s, would grow into the world's largest producer. Even Australia, a latecomer, has developed a robust coffee culture. Fun fact: Both Australia and New Zealand claim to have invented the flat white in the 1980s. Conspiracies, civil unrest and cats Throughout history, cafes have been more than watering holes — they've been incubators of ideas, art and revolution. In 16th-century Istanbul, authorities repeatedly tried to ban them, fearing that caffeine-fuelled gatherings could spark unrest. In Enlightenment-era Europe, cafes offered a cup of coffee and a heady dose of radical thought, frequented by thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau. In colonial America, coffee became a patriotic substitute for British-taxed tea. Boston's Green Dragon Tavern, dubbed the "Headquarters of the Revolution," hosted meetings of the Sons of Liberty — activists who organised resistance against British rule, particularly unfair taxation and policies that eventually led to the American Revolution. Over the past decades, cafes have returned as a "third place" — neither home nor office, but somewhere in between. Coffeehouses have also evolved into refuges for modern life. In the early 1990s, when home internet access was not yet widespread, many cafes started providing public internet access, which drew people to start working from those spaces. Meanwhile, other cafe owners came up with unusual perks for their businesses. In Taipei, the world's first cat cafe — Cat Flower Garden — opened in 1998, giving urbanites a cosy space to sip and socialise among feline companions. The trend exploded in Japan and now thrives worldwide, where the blend of caffeine and calm continues to comfort overstimulated cities.
DW
13-06-2025
- Business
- DW
The cuppa that connects us: Coffee drinking across cultures – DW – 06/13/2025
The beverage's global consumption has been rooted in culture, comfort, rebellion — and TikTok fame. Coffee's pop icon status is firmly established — from Starbucks' iconic Frappuccino turning 30 this year to the latest Tiktok trends leading us to try Dalgona coffee. But across time and geography, coffee has been brewed in ceremonies and sipped in salons. Its history is steeped in colonialism; establishments serving it have also fueled revolutionary thinkers. Today, rising global temperatures and erratic rainfall are hitting farmers hard, leading coffee prices to soar to record highs, but the beverage remains — at least for now — an intrinsic part of world culture. Here's a (non-exhaustive) look at how and why it came to be that around two billion cups of coffee are reportedly drunk daily worldwide. Mythical and spiritual roots Legend credits an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi with discovering coffee after he'd noticed his goats becoming frisky from eating red berries. While the story is likely apocryphal, coffee — namely the Arabica variety — is indeed native to Ethiopia's Kaffa region, where it still plays a ritual role. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony, where beans are roasted over an open flame and brewed in a clay "jebena," is a moment of pause, hospitality and community. In Senegal, "cafe Touba" — infused with Guinea pepper and cloves — originated from Islamic Sufi traditions and is both a beverage and spiritual practice. Turkish coffee culture and tradition was listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013 Image: Liu Lei/Xinhua/picture alliance In Turkey, unfiltered coffee brewed in a copper "cezve" is often followed by a reading of the leftover grounds, a centuries-old tradition that is still cherished, even among Turkey's Gen Zs. In Brazil, the cafezinho — a tiny, sweet shot of coffee — is a symbol of welcome, offered everywhere from homes to street corners. Finally in 2020, as the world hunkered down during the COVID lockdown, South Korea's Dalgona coffee — instant coffee whipped with sugar and water — exploded on TikTok. Beyond aesthetics, the trend offered people a simple, soothing ritual. Unique flavors: Cheese, egg and … poop? Across cultures, coffee has taken wildly inventive forms. In Nordic countries like Finland and Sweden, black boiled coffee is sometimes poured over cubes of kaffeost, or "coffee cheese," made from cow or reindeer milk. A centuries-old tradition. Vietnamese egg coffee with foam featuring patterns of Hanoi's landmarks Image: Pham Dinh Duc/Xinhua/picture alliance Vietnam's ca phe trung (or egg coffee) blends whipped egg yolk with sweetened condensed milk — a wartime improvisation that is now ubiquitous. Then there's Indonesia's "kopi luwak," often called the "Holy Grail of Coffees," made from partially digested beans that have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. Though prized for its smooth, fermented flavor, kopi luwak has been ethically controversial. High demand has led some producers to cage and force-feed civets. Others now promote "wild-sourced" versions from free-roaming animals, but third-party verification has been inconsistent. The ethical harvest of 'kopi luwak' remains moot despite assurances to that effect Image: Rafael Ben-Ari/Avalon/picture alliance From sacred brew to global commodity Coffee didn't just travel in sacks — it traveled with trade winds, spiritual journeys and imperial ambitions. Though discovered in Ethiopia, the earliest written evidence of coffee cultivation points to Yemen. There, it earned the Arabic term "qahwa" — originally meaning wine — which gave rise to the words coffee and cafe. Sufi mystics drank it to maintain spiritual focus during long night chants. The port of Mocha on Yemen's Red Sea coast became a center of trade, shipping beans across the Islamic world and into Asia. An 1850 engraving of people working at a coffee plantation in Brazil Image: Ann Ronan Picture Library/Photo12/picture alliance Another legend says that Indian Sufi saint, Baba Budan, smuggled seven fertile beans from Yemen to southern India in the 17th century, defying an Arab monopoly. That act seeded coffee plantations in Karnataka's Chikmagalur region. Soon, European colonial powers grasped the bean's potential too. The Dutch planted it in Java, the French in the Caribbean, and the Portuguese in Brazil — each expansion driven by empire and built on the backs of enslaved labor. Brazil, introduced to coffee in the 1700s, would grow into the world's largest producer. Even Australia, a latecomer, developed a robust coffee culture. Fun fact: Both Australia and New Zealand claim to have invented the flat white in the 1980s. Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, has been impacted by climate change and soaring prices Image: Igor Do Vale/ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance Cafes: Conspiracies, civil unrest and cats Throughout history, cafes have been more than watering holes — they've been incubators of ideas, art and revolution. In 16th-century Istanbul, authorities repeatedly tried to ban them, fearing that caffeine-fueled gatherings could spark unrest. In Enlightenment-era Europe, cafes offered a cup of coffee and a heady dose of radical thought, frequented by thinkers like Voltaire and Rousseau. In colonial America, coffee became a patriotic substitute for British-taxed tea. Boston's Green Dragon Tavern, dubbed the "Headquarters of the Revolution," hosted meetings of the Sons of Liberty — activists who organized resistance against British rule, particularly unfair taxation and policies that eventually led to the American Revolution. Over the past decades, cafes have returned as a "third place" — neither home nor office, but somewhere in between. Coffeehouses have also evolved into refuges for modern life. In the early 1990s, when home internet access was not yet widespread, many cafes started providing public internet access, which drew people to start working from those spaces. Meanwhile, other cafe owners came up with unusual perks for their businesses. In Taipei, the world's first cat cafe — Cat Flower Garden — opened in 1998, giving urbanites a cozy space to sip and socialize among feline companions. The trend exploded in Japan and now thrives worldwide, where the blend of caffeine and calm continues to comfort overstimulated cities. Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier
