I had this little blurb forwarded to me yesterday:
"When he [Mark Steyn] shows no interest in Starbucks, a friend suggests he doesn’t understand coffee culture. What
culture? asks Steyn. The coffee houses of 17th-century England were
hives of business. They spawned the Stock Exchange and Lloyd’s of
London. The coffee houses of 18th-century Paris were hives of ideas:
Voltaire, Rousseau and the gang met to thrash out the Enlightenment.
What have the coffee houses of 21st-century America spawned? The
gingerbread eggnog machiato and an accompanying CD compilation."
Bravo, sir. Much as I love my coffee shop experience, methinks a timely change is in order...