Milky with a dash of ginger! Coffee culture in modern society.

I have an addiction to caffeine.
No seriously.

Born and raised in West Yorkshire, I was practically weaned off the breast and onto a teapot.  Aged nine I sampled my first espresso and my God it was grim.  However,once my dad showed me the magic ingredients that are milk and sugar I was hooked.
On average I drink about 8/9 mugs of tea a day during the week, and 4/5 coffee's on the weekend.

I like to experiment with different flavoured syrups, sugars, different types of milk, froth, no froth... this has resulted in me being called 'such a white girl' by my housemates.  When I asked what that statement meant I was told that I was obsessing in the culture of coffee that was introduced to us from America.  That, and my VERY active Instagram account fueled with snaps of my latest beverage and my 'mugshots'* apparently resulted in making me a stereotypical 'white girl'.

In light of this I decided to take a look at the nation's obsession with tea and coffee.  Why do we spend such a great amount of money on drinks from a franchise when we are perfectly capable of making a decent brew ourselves?  What exactly is so good about a mochaccino, or a skinny soya decaf latte? Why are we allowing huge corporations to take over our towns and buy out the quaint little coffee houses we spent out Saturday afternoons in
as kids?

British culture and tea drinking.

I do however LOVE a nice cuppa though.  It is very typically British to partake in the consumption of a mug or two of tea during the day.  So if it's so British to drink tea, why are the majority of our hot drink franchises coffee shops? Why are tea rooms diminishing to make way for multiple Starbucks' and Costa's in each and every town in the UK?  After a tad of Googling I found that my love of tea is not to do with me actually enjoying the drink, but rather to do with my astounding patriotism to my country and it's national drink (though we did steal it from China...), and also the geography of where I was raised in England.  Why is it then, that I cannot purely enjoy tea?  Why does it have to be that I'm English and was raised in the tea capital of Britain?  

Americanism and coffee culture.

If tea is associated with Britain, and coffee is associated with America why are there so many coffee shops in the UK whilst drinking tea is suddenly a trend in the US?  I mean the town I live in currently got a Starbuck's in the Student's union two years ago and it was in all the local news.  We got a big one in the town centre a fortnight ago and no-one can stop talking about it.  (Though in fairness it's probably mainly to do with the incredibly bad Welsh translations they have on the walls.)  I went into a small cafe a few days ago with a friend and asked for a cuppa tea and was told that they only served coffee (of at least 40 varieties), hot chocolate or iced drinks.  I then found a 'proper' British cafe that agreed with carrying the apparently outlawed tea.  When ranting about this atrocity to my course mates an American friend of mine told me that she didn't understand why I 'needed' a cup of tea and that whenever she felt like a beverage she walked towards the coffee pot, hands shaking with anticipation.  I told her that her dirt water did not appeal to me in any way unless it was pumped full of milk and sugar to a point where it tasted at least somewhat like a bad cup of tea.  She then got very huffy with me and told me tea tasted like piss.
After this utterly hilarious conversation (which we are now laughing about) I thought about how we were so riled up and eager to defend our 'national' drinks and for the life of me I cannot understand why we have claimed these as ours and why we get so defensive about them.  I guess it's because they're everywhere we turn, coffee shops cropping up on every street corner.  Cafes luring hipsters in with promise of book sales, open mic nights and the best damn hibiscus tea you'll ever Instagram.  I guess the real reason we give a crap is because tea and coffee has been drilled into our heads as a national emblem to the point where obsess over them endlessly.  We are literally being Starbuck'd.

Starbucking: corporations taking over.

Starbucking is the taking over of small businesses in order to make way for large corporations and franchises.  The best example of this is in fact the popular coffee house Starbucks.  With so many shops popping up all over the globe is this the reason that we have become so obsessed with coffee?!!  Are we being forced into it by some mad coffee dealers, Fairtrade, or even the governments?!!  I'm not sure, but whatever way you look at it, we're participating in the hostile takeover of small coffee shops, tea rooms, and book nooks to make way for empty framed, ironic permed, skinny jeaned dicks who think they're 'cool' because they have their name incorrectly spelled on the side of a cardboard cup...  I know for a fact I'm guilty.  My university campus has a Starbucks in the Union and with 5% student discount and a further 10% off for student reps I'd be a fool not to take up the offer of reduced rate froth with a shot of coffee underneath it, right?  RIGHT?!!

Starbucks v Costa.

So what's the difference between Starbucks and Costa?  Other than the Christmas drinks of course.  Pumpkin spiced latte or black forest hot chocolate?  The decisions, the decisions...  

Here is a nifty litle poll which has decided this for me, take a look...  http://worldversus.com/CostaCoffee-vs-StarbucksCoffee


Have I piqued your interest..?

If I have then here're a few sites and articles that I found pretty interesting when looking into this.  And also a couple of definitions for you.  Perhaps you should pop the kettle on before you read these... ;)

The origins of tea in UK society
http://www.tea.co.uk/a-social-history

Americanisms swamping the UK?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1282449/Americanisms-swamping-English-wake-smell-coffee.html

Simon Pegg explaining Starbucking
http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-08-14/film/the-worlds-end-interview/

Urban Dictionary definition of 'Starbucking'
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=starbucking

Politically incorrect jokes about coffee
http://www.anti-anti-americanism.com/blog/2009/01/the-fly-in-the-coffee-cup/

*'Mugshot'

A 'mugshot' is a photo of a person's face half hidden behind their mug as they drink their latest beverage of such importance that it is then published on the internet.  Kind of a 'selfie' with drinks...



nicholaannexx