A ‘coffee shop’ is a great meeting place for many people. When you walk into a coffee shop (be it Starbucks, Peet’s, Tully’s, or the Coffee Bean, or others) you walk into an environment of relaxation, with people of varying backgrounds and social classes enjoying the quiet atmosphere.
Some may be reading the newspaper, some may be reading a book, and some may just be enjoying the company of a friend or acquaintance.
A coffee shop is no longer just a place to go buy a cup of coffee. Even the word ‘coffee’ has changed, into a blanket term for a wide array of different beverages of varying flavors, varieties, sugar contents, calorie contents, and sizes.
Whereas once a ‘cup of coffee’ was just that, a cup of brown liquid in which you could add sugar or cream, now ‘coffee’ can mean a Double Venti Chocolate Mocha, or a White Chocolate Caramel Frappuccino with whipped cream.
The more health-conscious person can seek out a low-calorie, sugar-free drink; the hyper-caffeinated high school student can order a chocolate-flavored sugar-soaked milkshake, essentially, with a coffee twist; ‘coffee’ has been adapted to suit a wide variety of desires and tastes.
Sure, one of these big expensive specialty drinks is fattening and not a good idea to put into one’s system, but every now and then, our nagging sweet tooth must be appeased, lest we get driven insane by desire. Chains such as Starbucks have capitalized on this inherent desire, and have become very successful and marketable because of our needs and wants as consumers.
