Wake up and smell the coffee war between London and New York
While England was once a nation of tea, we've looked to America for inspiration when it comes to our caffeine habits.
11:16 25 April 2014
London has always been that most cosmopolitan of cities. Never afraid to absorb and adopt habits and customs from other lands, as it suits. And where else better to illustrate London's fickle nature than in its caffeine consumption habits?
For years, Londoners were happy to get their regular fix of caffeine from that other sepia beverage, a traditional cup of Rosie Lee - tea. Increasingly, they are finding their caffeine kicks in a cup of molten toffee –that's cockney rhyming slang for coffee.
And while many of us have been sipping away on tea, a silent tide of coffee beverages has been swamping our streets. Take a look down any London thoroughfare these days and spot the gleaming, welcoming façades of coffee shops. Where once pubs and greasy spoons stood, now we discover bright, bold and brazenly popular coffee joints – glowing like diamonds on the dark London streets. It seems the famous coffee shops of New York have settled in the Big Smoke, winning over an enthusiastic new clientèle to their punchy, powerful brews.
On the surface, the success of coffee as a booming consumer product seems a little harder to fathom. In the UK our favoured coffee tipple is the latte and we are happy to pay a pretty penny for this treat – something that's hard to compute in a contracting economy. But the clue is in the word 'treat' – a hot cup of caffeinated coffee comfort is an affordable treat we can justify whilst keeping within our tightened budgets.
Growth in the appreciation of quality, specialist coffees has seen a rise in the interest of products such as Tassimo machines that enable the re-creation of the coffee shop experience at home. Many UK kitchens proudly display these expert beverage making gadgets, consistently turning out cups of coffee perfection, just like having a domestic barista.
It has always seemed that cities like New York are fuelled on the buzz of coffee. In films and TV sit-coms such as Friends, the coffee bar plays a central part in city life. Increasingly, with the demise of pubs on UK streets, coffee establishments are filling the vacuum with their high customer service levels, great coffee and sociable atmosphere.
Glamorous sounding names full of promise, such as Starbucks and Costa are now as familiar on the streets of London as red Routemasters. Coffee shop culture is being gulped down in all its grab- a- cup-and-go glory, and the only question that remains, is who is winning the coffee war – New York or London?
On the face of it, it seems New Yorkers drink more coffee. But Londoners drink it more regularly. New Yorkers have a penchant for espressos, whilst in Blighty they favour lattes and cappuccinos. A staggering 800,000 British coffee drinkers visit a coffee shop four times a week, proof if it were needed, that coffee really is giving tea a run for its money in the national beverage stakes. So when it comes down to the wire, and who really is winning the coffee war – let's just say it's a close run thing. New Yorkers and Londoners would both probably like to claim victory, but the truth is it's getting too close to call...
