Folk Cafe Bar
Coffee Revolutions @ Folk Cafe Bar
It started in Seattle in the late '70's, so the story goes. After years of drinking some of the blandest coffee imaginable - so bad, that most American restaurants offered bottomless cups of the stuff - Seattle led a coffee revolution. Given the number of Italian Americans, it's a mystery why it took so long but within a decade, the country was covered in Starbucks, a company of Seattle origin.
But the revolution soured and now the US is synonymous with a new kind of bland coffee - the double-skinny-mocca-latte-soy-milk with a twist-to-go etc - sold in cups, with stupid names (the smallest usually being called a grande) in giant chains of identikit coffee houses.
The Aussie Coffee Revolution
The Australian coffee revolution quickly followed, again surprisingly slow, given the the long existence of enclaves of European immigrants in all the big cities. However, instead of going for the dolled-up coffee sold in a chain route, the Aussies went for more European style independent cafes selling the classic range of coffee styles. But they did get new names - espresso became a short black, an Americano transmogrified into a long black and a new milk based coffee - the flat white, or flattie, appeared.
It took even longer to get going in the UK - again, a bit weird given that Cliff Richard found coffee before he found God. (Remember his first movie in 1959 - Espresso Bongo?) Perhaps it's because of the dominance of that ghastly insipid drink known as the English cuppa - milk with a suntan. Tragically, however, it looks like we're following the Yanks, minus the commitment to service of course. Even the indie cafes sometimes suffer from the fact that the person making the coffee often doesn't know how to use the shiny coffee machine.
The Holy Coffee Church of Folk
That's why I have joined the holy coffee church of Folk - praise Justin, hallowed be his name! He may be worringly fond of Steely Dan and his jeans collection belongs on a bonfire, but he and his staff know how to make a coffee ...and his machine is old, moody and red. How cool is that?
Words by Peter Lawler
(Peter is a Manchester-based coffee snob who would make coffee compulsory if he could and distrusts people who only drink tea, as well as intellectuals who don't smoke - but that's another story...)
