Chapter 30 Part 3: There is a coffee-loving mood

In Cambridge, our class is usually two hours, and we usually have a break of about 15 minutes in the middle, but here it is not called a class break (break between classes), but a coffee break (coffee break).Everyone hurried out to buy coffee. Dr. Fennel suddenly got off topic in a lecture and talked about a very basic concept in economics-marginal utility. "The marginal utility of the first cup of coffee in the morning is a hundred pounds, or even more," she said apologetically, "I haven't had coffee this morning, so let's finish class earlier OK, I'm going to get a cup of coffee."

Sometimes I feel that the people here are like machines, and coffee is the fuel, without which it cannot function. Coffee has different connotations in different countries. I used to live in a girlfriend's house in Italy.Every morning, she would rub her sleepy eyes, wear soft pajamas, and make herself a pot of coffee with the fragrant sunshine.Then sit on the sofa, light a Fumo cigarette, and taste the small cup of Espresso.The rich aroma slowly transpired and flowed in an instant, circling around the small apartment, lingering like a ghost. "If I'm not in a café, I'm on my way to a café"—forgot which French writer said it.Someone did a survey, just write down a house number in France, and nine out of ten it is a cafe.Writers, philosophers, artists, these people give the French cafe culture a distinctive elegance.Look at Hemingway's "Paris, a Flowing Festival", which describes his love for Paris.At that time, Hemingway was just a young literary lover, living in poverty, living in a broken house.Every day he went to buy a glass of wine in a coffee shop, and then wrote his novel.Tired, he just watched all kinds of people in the cafe, those free-flowing people, like the inspiration in the mind of a writer, slowly passed by.As soon as I close that book, my heart is full of the strange Paris, the small Parisian café with such fragrant coffee, such beautiful women, such bright sunshine and such free heart.I really went to France last year, and went to the small cafe mentioned in Hemingway's book.Outside the cafe are mottled old houses, and the faint sound of the accordion wafts through the narrow streets.There are no trees on the narrow street, but the windowsills of the houses are full of flowers.I am deeply fascinated by their corner cafe (corner cafe).A newspaper, a cup of coffee, a cigarette or a plate of exquisite snacks, the most important thing is the kind of leisurely interest - live without surprise and noise, and experience without rush.The taste is presented little by little in the taste.No wonder Xu Zhimo said that if there are no cafes in Paris, I am afraid that there will be nothing lovely.

If the French coffee culture is classical, the American coffee culture is a popular representative.In any soap opera, such as Sex and the City, Friends, or Sweethearts (the story of a group of lawyers, which I love), you can see the main character buying a paper cup coffee in a coffee shop early in the morning ( paper cup of coffee), pouring coffee into the stomach while rushing to work.But the fate of that cup of coffee is usually unfortunate: uninspired screenwriters will always arrange for the protagonist to bump into someone (nothing more than a future lover or someone who was a lover), and then spill the coffee on the ground. on him/her.In that culture coffee is a fast food associated with being busy: I'm busy - I work hard - so I need coffee to pick me up.

Europe's attitude towards the United States is complicated: it envies the economic development of the United States in its heart, but it also despises American culture in its heart.You can laugh at the vulgar coffee culture in the United States, but so what, Starbucks has grown from only four small stores in Seattle to more than 1,200 coffee shops all over the United States, and now it is crazy to open its chain stores around the world. It arrived in the UK in 1998, and it is ambitious to enter Paris this year.The "invasion" of Starbucks makes those French who are used to basking in the sun in the lazy afternoon somewhat helpless, but the sense of superiority in their bones makes them very disdainful of outsiders.The president of the French Association of Catering and Cafes commented on the difference between the old Paris cafes and Starbucks: "The first cafe was opened in Paris more than 300 years ago. Starbucks cannot compete with French cafes, because cafes are not just for drinking coffee. It’s a great place to socialize. Cafes are full of regular customers.”

There are many coffee shops in the urban area of ​​Cambridge, and there is also a Starbucks.It is said that the British who opposed the invasion of American culture once set fire outside its gate, but I have no way of verifying this incident.But as things stand, there's always a queue, mostly for takeout.No way, Europeans just don't have Americans who can play tricks.There are only a few choices in traditional European coffee shops: espresso, cappuccino, latte, mocha.Starbucks’ choices are dizzying: there are regular and decaffeinated coffees, large, medium and small cups, full-fat milk, semi-skimmed milk, skimmed milk and soy milk, as well as nut chocolate chips and cream. embellishment.To order a cup of coffee at Starbucks, you must precede the simple word "coffee" with a series of attributives, such as: "Please give me a medium cup of decaf coffee of the day with no sugar, oh, with skim milk." .”

To really taste coffee requires at least three elements: good people, beautiful environment, and good coffee.It's just that such a great leisure is really a luxury.Here, most of the time to enjoy corner coffee is on weekends.There is a coffee shop on the corner of the street in the city center. The strong aroma of coffee is overflowing, and people are always queuing up to buy coffee.On weekend mornings, before the opening hours, there is already a queue waiting to open the door, all casually dressed, regulars living in the city, and some of them are leisurely hooking their own cups on their fingers.Some people simply hold a cup of hot and fragrant coffee, sit on the long stone steps in front of King's College, enjoy the gentle breeze, and look at the street view, unaware that the shadow of the sun has transferred to them.That naturalness is a bit more leisurely than the romance created in the cafe.This kind of good style of drinking coffee is really enviable. For classic European coffee, the biggest cost is not the price but the time.The busy and stressful lives of students can't bear such a luxury, so they can only pick up a cup of vulgar paper cup coffee on the way to the classroom or library.

I don't want to drink American coffee like a cup of water, and the family happiness awakened by the strong aroma of coffee in the morning does not belong to me.I've been taking two cups of espresso a day for the past week because I'm running out of papers.The life-saving thing is to make up for the poor sleep of the previous night and stimulate the energy needed today.However, this is not counted, it is not really drinking coffee.