Bookstore and Coffee —— A Strange Relationship

Figure/text: The earth leans on the river.

Bookstore and coffee are two different things, and the strangeness lies in their similar genes and charm.

I don't know when it started. Nowadays, many independent bookstores always like to keep coffee company. To put it simply, there should be at least one professional coffee machine with a few special seats, and the bigger one should simply come to a shop in the store. Even when some traditional old shops were rebuilt, they began to generously set aside special coffee areas. Now the new books in the bookstore can't smell coffee.

Bookstore and coffee seem to have an innate relationship and predestination in previous lives. It's interesting to imagine this connection and fate.

It goes without saying that the bookstore is the carrier of ideology and culture. But coffee or cafes are "media of ideas and culture". How do you say this?

After coffee was introduced to Europe from the Middle East, it gradually formed the cultural tradition of modern cafes. Its most striking feature is that the cafe is a social place and a public forum. They are not only places for public gatherings to seek happiness, but also "natural homes" for people who discuss knowledge, state affairs and embrace idealism. People here talk with strangers on an equal footing, get news, debate and spread all kinds of ideas. Even the physical structures in cafes are designed to achieve these functions.

Alice, a cultural historian, described the indoor situation of Lotta Coffee Club, which was founded in 1659, in The Cultural History of Cafe: "The table is oval and very large, which can accommodate many people sitting around. There is a passage in the middle of the table so that the mill can serve coffee. Sitting at this table, the conversation and discussion will not be interrupted by coffee or tobacco sent by Mills. This table is a machine for debate ... "

1652 A few years after the first coffee shop appeared in London, there are dozens of coffee shops in London, and the growth trend is not decreasing. Lotta Coffee Club embodies their social characteristics quite intensively. Alice expounded the relevant historical facts and their significance. For example, the club put forward a set of speech and debate mode: determine the terms to be discussed in advance, put forward questions or opinions in writing when necessary, debate around these terms and let all views be expounded, and finally the ballot box determines the "judgment of club colleagues" of the terms discussed. The way of debate is obviously more meaningful than the topic of debate.

The influence of this model is growing, and political theorists, businessmen, officials and soldiers are also attracted to participate in the debate. At that time, it was the complicated process of the ups and downs of the British revolution. Clubs and cafes such as Lotta played an important role in this process by spreading ideas and public opinions, or challenging the monarchy with fierce remarks, and even planning rebellion in cafes, so some people called it "the cultural landmark of the British revolution."

In the following centuries, the coffee shop culture in Europe developed into a more diversified tradition on the basis of early experience. Cafe Kobolds, the first cafe in Paris, shines with the light of enlightenment because of the frequent patronage of Rousseau, Diderot and Voltaire. Florian Cafe in Venice has attracted many classics of different times, such as Balzac, Mark Twain, Monet, Hemingway and Dickens. It's like a cafe for writers and artists ... as well as a cafe for business clubs, a cafe for citizens and workers, and a cafe for young people full of rebellious spirit. ...

Obviously, in comparison, the history of bookstores is much longer than that of cafes (bookstores were called bookstores and bookstores at that time). In ancient China, it was also called a bookstore). Bookstore and coffee are two different things, and the strangeness lies in their similar genes and charm. However, what they have together is the power of thinking and knowledge, not romance, gentleness and elegance.

Bookstore and coffee have a certain karma, which is the hotbed and medium of ideology and culture. From today's perspective, the most important tradition of cafes, which has not been completely erased so far, can easily form an alliance with bookstores that are also disseminators of ideological and cultural knowledge. The two are destined to be the "best partners" that complement each other.

Reading needs to be quiet and awake, and coffee can make people quiet and awake, which is another reason why bookstores become attached to coffee. When you sit in the corner of the bookstore and drink a cup of coffee, at that moment, you are so quiet and close to your true self, and you can clearly hear your true self.

This is the "physiological characteristic" of coffee to people. It helps us think. From this we are closer to knowing who we are, what we are doing and what we plan to do, and what is really important.

I said in an article about coffee before that I don't exclude alcohol. On the contrary, I think it's quite pleasant to get a little drunk occasionally when drinking. Dionysus gave us a vague and illusory detachment from the world at that moment. But I prefer the spirit of coffee, which is rational romance and sober illusion. Only by being rational and sober can we base ourselves on life itself and show our true self more clearly.

I once read a coffee description by an English writer in the17th century, saying that drinking tea and coffee was very common in England at that time, and many people basically stopped drinking hard liquor because they knew that "it is very valuable for a person to keep quiet and awake." ②

Coffee, with its quiet and sober characteristics, has a positive influence and promotion on society. Some authors say that it coincides with the "aesthetics, ideology, morality and rationalism" of Protestantism. Based on historical facts, coffee and cafes are called "revolutionary catalysts", "birthplace of enterprises" and "information exchange centers". The researchers even pointed out that the aroma of coffee "helped Europeans get rid of decadent drunkenness and deepened the breadth of the Renaissance ... The aroma of coffee accelerated the history of human civilization". (3) It makes people quiet and sober, that's all, which is highly consistent with the spirit of the bookstore.

People usually think that bookstores are tasteful places. In fact, although going to the bookstore is not directly related to a person's taste in life, loving books and reading books often, especially classic books, can really improve people's ideological realm and taste in life.

People also regard coffee as a symbol of life taste, and drinking coffee seems more elegant and decent. In the words of historian barzan, this is a kind of "special admiration" for coffee, or coffee romantic complex. Just like when coffee was first introduced to Europe from the Middle East and Turkey, Europeans thought it was novel at that time and regarded drinking this exotic product as fashion.

Today's bookstores may also be based on this complex, or simply introduce it to cater to the public's cognition of coffee. People think that coffee can help improve the style of bookstores, make them more tasteful and therefore more attractive.

But how illusory it is to regard coffee as a symbol of life taste. If you leave the coffee shop and its cultural and historical background, coffee, as a taste hobby, cannot be tasted.

From the most general point of view, coffee is just one of countless drinks, neither petty nor high-end, it may just suit your taste. Can't be used to show off wealth. A pack of coffee beans with tens of dollars is enough for you to make many cups. ...

This is the double problem of Marchmann Ellis style: first, as far as drinks are concerned, is it "coffee mixed with hot milk" or "hot milk mixed with coffee" (due to the promotion of some brand coffee chain stores, coffee nowadays presents a serious dairy trend); The second and most important point is: If coffee abandons its own cultural tradition and people who drink coffee become docile consumers, is it still coffee that we understand and love?

The same is true for bookstores. If coffee breaks away from cultural and historical traditions and loses its function as an ideological and cultural communicator, the significance of coffee to bookstores will be greatly reduced.

The most ideal coffee in a bookstore is coffee in the full sense, which is not only a pure drink, but also has profound cultural and historical significance. The unforgettable coffee shop in Downing Bookstore, Hua Le Road, Guangzhou, once echoed the voices of many authors and artists. Its salon thought triggered a literary lecture in the narrow gallery of Fangfang Bookstore, taikoo hui, Guangzhou. The interaction between the speaker and the listener was brilliant and the thoughts sneaked here. In it, we can taste the unique fragrance of coffee and bookstore.

* * *

Perhaps from the market point of view, the combination of bookstore and coffee is appropriate but not necessarily the best. Judging from the current situation, people who are willing to visit physical bookstores are not as good as before, and there are not many people who like to drink coffee. Therefore, in order to survive, many bookstores deal in various fine products and even daily necessities in addition to coffee. In a sense, this is the alienation of bookstores-one of the countless alienation phenomena we see in our daily life.

This is both inevitable and "normal".

? (Written by Denghu Lake)

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Comment ※

The Lotta Coffee Club was founded by lawyer James Harrington and some supporters. It takes the Turkish Head Cafe located on the north wall of the Palace of Westminster as the discussion place. Mills, the owner of this cafe, made a table specially for it to discuss. For details about Tarot Coffee Club, please refer to Cultural History of Cafe by Marchmann Ellis (Guangxi Normal University Press, 1 Edition, February 2007), Chapter 4, "* * * and Coffee: Tarot Coffee Club", pp. 47-62.

(2) The Cultural History of Cafe (Guangxi Normal University Press, 65438+February 2007 edition, 1), p. 220.

③ See World Coffee Science by Han Huaizong (CITIC Publishing Group, 20 17, 1), pp. 36-59, p. 399.

Bookstore and coffee are two different things, and the strangeness lies in their similar genes and charm. However, what they have together is the power of thinking and knowledge, not romance, gentleness and elegance.

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