Coffee Shop Anthropology Paper

The Drink of reason, coffee, seems to not have changed much culturally to this day, as when it is brought to the table over 250 years ago (pg. 170). Coffee remains to be the drink over which people meet

My observations of human behavior were made at Starbucks on Grand avenue, New York near Elmhurst. I chose this location due to the high customer traffic that it sees. Since it is a popular coffee shop, the customer base cuts across different multicultural sector of the population. There is a lot of variety in the backgrounds and personalities of the people visiting the shop. This quality makes any patterns that are recognized more representative of the general public.

I set out to find a place to begin my observations, not knowing what to fully expect, what I may find. So I decided to look around at what is close to my home that isn’t a place I frequent or have even visited at all. Then it came to me, the Starbucks that is only about a mile away is a perfect place for me to observe subjects that I would consider different from myself, seeing as how I consider such obscene prices for coffee ridiculous. Starbucks is a very popular chain of coffee vendors that describe their product as more about quality than what Americans are used to in typical coffee joints.

I chose to do the Starbucks Ethnography over all of the other options because Starbucks currently plays a large role in the social behaviors of today’s society. It has grown significantly from when it was first founded and is currently dominating the coffee market worldwide. Starbucks has become a social and cultural phenomenon because, “...it is at once a globalized consumer institution and a local place in which the mundane daily activities of sipping coffee, writing in journals, and conversing with friends are practiced” (Dickinson 7). Since I am in the age group that Starbucks is particularly trendy with (young adults), I already have some expectations for what the results of the ethnography will be. I have also lived in Orange County for my entire life, so I had some context as to which race would be more prevalent to the Starbucks I had gone to. I wish to explore the symbolic anthropology, which, “...focuses on understanding cultures by discovering and analyzing the symbols that are most important to their members” (Nanda 35). Understanding the symbolism behind coffee and Starbucks is important since it has multiple meanings and has become deeply ingrained within our culture.

Coffee is a beverage that is globally consumed, but also a product that has different values in different parts of the world. The role coffee plays in society differs around the world, from the farmers who grew the crops to the people who constantly consume them. Social theoretical perspectives are capable of showing the different roles coffee has in different societies. Symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and Marxism are three theories which show coffee’s role sociologically. These theories show how coffee affects people physically, how it affects them emotionally, how it leads them to have interactions, how it connects different parts of society, and how it’s economically controlled by a select few.

Joshua Davenport owned a coffee bar/bistro in the small town of Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania situated on the Delaware River. He wanted to bring the old world elegance to his rural community, a place where neighbors could meet and converse over espresso drinks prepared by an expert barista. The shops name is called “Espressivo” that attracted many young people, especially the college students at the nearby campus, and older

I gathered my information from Dunkin’ Donuts shop on the Third Avenue. Dunkin’ Donuts is one of the largest coffee shop chains in the world. I chose this because it is close to our house. When I first walked into the shop, I heard Chainsmokers’ Closer song. It was also a quiet place sometimes where you could just sit and relax. It is a small place with limited seats. There were only three small tables and a long table. The place is air-conditioned, so it is cold. There is also free Wi-Fi, so the customers will not get bored while they are waiting in line or drinking their coffee. There is also a Baskin-Robbins inside the store, so it is not only a coffee shop but also an ice cream shop. I wanted to interview one of the staff, but they were busy. I ended up interviewing an old woman because she was sitting with me since there were limited seats. She is 71 years old and originally from Mexico. She was 23 years old when she moved here. She is married to a Mexican too and they had three children.

Patrons like myself stood in line scanning the café for empty tables and available seats. The arrangement of the tables in this area allowed for more seating flexibility and appeared to lower social boundaries between customers while encouraging interaction between members of cliques and individual patrons. Armed with my laptop and cappuccino, my observations occurred from an empty table in the center of the café.

There are so many cafés in Zagreb, so we asked people if they are satisfied with the offer of various kinds of coffee in them. We also asked them if they like reading books and magazines and surfing on the Internet while drinking coffee. We were interested in what people think about representation of

When entering a grocery store, most people don’t take the time to stop and observe their surroundings, for their soul purpose at that instant is to purchase what very food they may need for that day or maybe even for that week. However, through all the haste of wanting to go in and out of grocery stores as fast as one can, most are unaware of the very culture that they too are now apart of, the interactions, both verbal and through people’s body language that they are experiencing, how people look and dress, even what is considered appropriate behavior although not specifically written down. Culture is all around us, and we all contribute to it, whether it is through our norms, values, symbols, or mental maps of reality (Guest 2014, 38-43). That is why through this assignment, I took the time to observe the culture experienced in the American grocery store Stater Brothers, the ethnical Filipino grocery store Seafood City, while also taking the time to reflect on my own personal views of what I thought was “normal” through my experience working in Northgate Gonzalez Market, a Mexican grocery store for three years.

Seeing someone holding a cup of coffee on the street is not unusual at all nowadays. In fact, they are starting to get more common. There are now different varieties to choose from. Shops or cafes also provide a lot of different choices or products to consumers. Prices could range from low to high, depending on what type of coffee beans you have chosen to make the coffee. By adopting the sociological imagination to coffee, it gives us a better understanding of what coffee represents in a social context. Based on the definition by Mills, [the sociological imagination can be defined as] the ability to understand the dynamic relationship between individual lives and the larger society (Ravelli, Bruce and Michelle Webber, 2016). This is basically where individuals have to think outside the box. In this case, we have to think specifically for the object, coffee. For instance, how does it perform its function in the society?

Though coffee houses throughout Europe have a self-explanatory function of meeting point, discussion area and recreational facility, this concept has only recently been explored in North America, and is gaining in popularity and social recognition as we speak, and is only expected to increase over the course of the next few years.

I can always look forward to starting my day off, with a steaming cup of coffee, I love that even if it 's a cold, dark, and gloomy day outside, a big cup of coffee can get me through the day. I could go on and on about my appreciation and fondness over the drink itself, but I won’t. However, I would like to share with you a remarkable phenomenon that I’ve come to notice, it is other people sharing this experience, this love for coffee, and they do it all across the globe in shops known as “cafes,” or “coffee shops.” And this is exactly what Howard Schultz (The CEO

Coffee shops are well known as a place where you can get any types of coffee and related coffee beverages any time you want and need. Many coffee houses nowadays are serving also some food, snacks and desserts. Some of coffee shops turned into huge business and large companies like Starbucks.

Coffee shop is the famous business in Cochin. Coffee or Tea bar is a daily requirement for the local coffee lovers, and it is a place to dream big things in life and to discuss among friends and relatives and just a comfortable place to meet your loved ones or to read a book, all alone. With the growing demand for high-quality tea or coffee and great service, The Melody Coffee shop will mainly focus on the institute of management studies in Cochin and other private institutes also. The kind of culture will offer its customers the best prepared coffee/tea in the area that will be served with a muffin and a sweet, moreover we will provide some free books that many more old customers can read and enjoy their visit. The shop will operate a 70 square foot coffee bar near to the entrance of the institute of management studies in the building. The identified place can be obtained for lease for 8 months and it is possible to get a nearly extension in the upcoming months and years. The start-up funding which is available with Mr. Hemant is INR 80,000/- and it is surely that the remaining amount of Rs 50000 will be incurred through some commercial loans from the Bank of Baroda. The business is expected to gain more and more profit that will be more than 150000 per year. Melody Coffee shop will try to maintain a high gross profit margin and reasonable operating expenses throughout the year.