If you know me, you know I love coffee. However! I am not addicted to caffeine. How can this be? I grew up drinking coffee since I was 6 years old (maybe when I was 6 it was mostly milk, but it was still my job to brew the coffee every morning). My mom began drinking coffee when she was 5. While this may not be normal for most American families, my mom’s side of the family is Colombian, and there’s much less stigma related to coffee there. Plus, it’s typical to add cinnamon! This practice did not turn into a caffeine addiction because due to having ADHD, I actually experience the opposite effect from coffee — it makes me sleepy and calms me down. So, if I don’t drink coffee in the mornings I don’t really feel a difference at all because after all, it’s always been more of a social and cultural activity for me.
Okay! That was a lot, But that background brings me here, to Germany, where I have quickly fallen in love with the culture of “Kaffee and Kuchen” on Sundays. I like the idea of one day each week being a Ruhetag, and as someone who’s not very religious, I appreciate how it’s done in Germany. Businesses except for cafes and ice cream places are closed, and the expectation is that you’ll sit (preferably outside) with friends and family and exchange gossip or “Kaffeeklatsch.” Clearly from having read about and listened to Bach’s coffee cantata, coffee and coffeehouses have held important social roles for quite a while. In fact, how long coffeehouses have been around is fairly fascinating to me (and maybe this is just an amazement of how much older many buildings in Europe are than in the US), but Cafe Riquet (where our one on one German sessions are being primarily held) was founded in 1745 — a year before Princeton was founded! When I decided to first check it out on my own, I felt a bit like a fish out of water after realizing that I was the only person with a laptop out, working. To be fair, this was on the holiday we had off, but I still haven’t seen too many people working in coffeeshops when I walk around town (which is quite often). While working in a coffee shop is definitely my happy place, it’s caused me to wonder how the same exact spaces are treated in different geographic locations. I wonder what it must feel like to go to a US coffeeshop on a Sunday (or any day) and see almost everyone with their headphones in, bent over their computers. It does stress how we as Americans can be quite individualistic and perhaps more antisocial than other regions where rest time is more built into the weekly schedule.
Wondering where these traditions all began, I decided to read a bit more about German Kaffee und Kuchen. I began by reading an article from the Goethe Institute called “The Culture of Coffee.” It starts with an interesting account from a student named David who grew up in Germany and left to attend the University of Minnesota for college. He remarks that in contrast to to-go cups in the US, many german coffee places serve you your drink on a porcelain cup which means you’d have to take your time and finish your drink before you leave the coffee house, forcing you to slow down. He also remarks that coffee is treated as more of a stimulant in the US (students would drink it to perform better in class, feeling a dependency on caffeine) whereas coffee in Germany was drank more for enjoyment or as a social activity.
Next, the interviewer speaks with a local expert in Berlin: Jochen Hintze, the owner and founder of JOcaffè Rösterei und Maschinen, which is a shop roastery. He notes that his favorite aspect (aside from the coffee and a good Kenyan roast) is the way that people who live in the same neighborhood get to know each other through the coffee shop. In my experience, I have almost never met someone new at a coffee shop and stayed in touch. Places like Small World and Sakrid function more for maintaining pre-existing relationships or running into friends which has its own positive aspects, but I find it interesting that meeting new people seems to be more associated with coffee shops in Germany.
Next, Hitze begins explaining that another term for Kaffee und Kuchen is ‘Konditoren gehen’ because the tradition used to be centered on visiting a cake shop called ‘Konditorei,’ getting a slice of cake, and having a cup of coffee. He also talks about the shift in coffee culture from the mid-80s to the arrival of Starbucks in Germany. Surprisingly, he describes it as a positive shift in bringing back coffee culture as it encouraged people to leave their houses to get a cup of coffee.
Upon return to the US, I will definitely continue enjoying Ruhetag on Sundays and inviting my friends out to Kaffee und Kuchen perhaps at Small World, perhaps somewhere else.
https://www.goethe.de/prj/tbp/en/bpa/cul.html
