What is coffee culture?
Coffee culture is the set of traditions and social habits that grow up around drinking coffee, above all as a way of bringing people together. The term also covers how coffee spread and was adopted as a stimulant.
Coffee culture can be traced back to 16th-century Turkey, and from there it reached Europe in the 17th century. During the 1600s, cafés sprang up across Western Europe and the Mediterranean, serving not only as social hubs but also as favourite meeting places for artists, writers and socialists.
From coffee house to café
Some of the earliest coffee houses in the Islamic world appeared in Damascus and were called Qahveh Khaneh (Persian for coffee house). On the Arabian Peninsula they also opened in Mecca, and in the 16th century they spread to Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire. At first, coffee houses were mainly used by men. They became popular places to gather over coffee, talk about entertainment and politics, play board games and listen to music.
Coffee arrived in Europe in the 17th century, and the new coffee houses quickly became hugely popular. Some sources say the first one opened in Italy, in Livorno in 1632, while others say Venice in 1640. In the 19th and 20th centuries, European cafés were meeting places for writers and artists.
In most European countries today, a café is a small eatery that mainly serves coffee and tea alongside cakes, tarts, pies and buns. Many also offer light meals such as sandwiches and salads. In southern Europe some cafés serve alcohol too (wine, for example). In the Netherlands there are two kinds: the koffiehuis, which serves coffee, and the café (used as an English term), which sells space cakes among other things and is generally not allowed to sell alcohol. In both France and Italy, many cafés work as lunch restaurants by day and bars by night. In Italian, cafés are simply called bars.
Coffee cultures around the world
Countries with a strong coffee culture each have their own traditions, and these have become part of their national identity. It might be the way coffee is brewed or drunk, or the ceremonies and drinks that go with it. Here are a few countries where coffee holds a special place in people's hearts.
Brazil
Coffee is enormously popular in Brazil across every age group and walk of life. One of the country's favourite drinks is café com leite: extremely strong coffee mixed with plenty of milk, usually served at breakfast to adults and children alike. Another Brazilian favourite is cafezinho, made with a similarly strong blend and a generous amount of sugar.
Ethiopia
The coffee plant is known to originate in Ethiopia, where it has grown for more than 4,000 years. Around the 6th century AD, people in Ethiopia discovered its stimulating effect when they began chewing its leaves and berries.
Today the coffee ceremony is one of the best-known parts of Ethiopian culture. As a guest in Ethiopia you'll be offered coffee by friends, at gatherings or simply as part of daily life. Drinking Ethiopian coffee is a cultural experience in itself, especially in the land where coffee began.
The long ritual of preparing coffee in Ethiopia is called Bunna. The beans are first washed carefully in water, then roasted in a pan over a fire. Once the heat has cracked their skins, they are ground. The ground coffee goes into a traditional Ethiopian pot, the jebena, with hot water, and is served in small tulip-shaped cini cups.
Italy
In Italy, locals drink their coffee standing at the counter rather than taking it away. Espresso is the default, it is never flavoured, and traditionally nobody orders a cappuccino after 11 am. In fact, milky espresso drinks are generally a morning-only affair.
Caffè is the Italian word for coffee. It can refer to the Italian way of making coffee, to an espresso, or sometimes to the European coffee bar itself.
Turkey
Turkey's coffee culture goes back a long way: the first coffee houses in Istanbul opened as early as the 16th century. Today, Turkish coffee means a way of making unfiltered coffee, where roasted, very finely ground beans are boiled with a little sugar in a cezve, a traditional small pot with a long handle. The coffee is then poured into the cup grounds and all.
The grounds left in the cup are sometimes used to tell the future, and there's a real art to it.
Greece
Greece's national coffee, the frappé, was invented in 1957, and its name comes from the French term for drinks chilled with ice. Frappé mainly refers to the shaking step, done either in a shaker or with a hand blender. You can usually order it in three levels of sweetness: skétos (no sugar), métrios (medium sweet) and glykós (sweet). Made with condensed milk, it becomes a frapógalo instead.
Japan
Japan is famous for its tea culture, but over recent decades coffee has become a trendy drink there too. Canned iced coffee was already popular in the 1920s, and many claim it was invented in Japan. Today you can buy canned coffee, hot or cold, from vending machines all over the country.
Japan's first café chain, Doutor, opened in 1980, boosting consumption and turning coffee into a valuable economic resource. Doutor's big success lay in its setting, which made it easy and appealing for people to take their coffee with them to work or school.
Hong Kong
In the 1920s, mostly wealthy people or those of higher social standing could afford coffee, while ordinary people rarely drank it, as it cost more than tea. In the late 1930s, Yuanyang was invented in Hong Kong and has been a hugely popular drink ever since. Yuanyang is a blend of coffee and tea and can be served hot or cold. It is named after mandarin ducks (yuanyang), a symbol of married love, as the birds always appear in pairs and the male and female look strikingly different.
Sweden
Swedish coffee culture has a long history, and Swedes are among the most coffee-loving people in the world. The Swedish fika is a unique concept that has become known worldwide and is spreading to many countries and online.
It is often described as a social institution: making time to share a cup of coffee or tea, and a little something to eat, with friends and colleagues.
South Korea
During the pandemic, people stayed at home far more. Many started experimenting with food and drink, and Dalgona coffee became a popular challenge.
Creamy, caramel-coloured Dalgona coffee is whipped coffee made from just four ingredients: instant coffee, sugar, hot water and milk.
It takes its name from an old South Korean street snack of the same name, which it resembles in taste and colour. The snack itself enjoyed a comeback in South Korea after the success of Squid Game on Netflix. Perhaps you already know which snack we mean? 😊
Fancy a coffee now?
Take a look at our coffee range at Etnomat
You'll find lots of different coffees, including:
- Turkish coffee
- INKA coffee
- Flavoured cappuccino
- Nescafé
- Instant coffee
