Cafés: A rich blend of cultures

“Certain beverages have the peculiarity of losing their flavour, their taste, their reason for being, when drunk anywhere but in cafés.” These words by French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans never rang truer than during the successive lockdowns related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Deprived of these places of conviviality for months, we were collectively able to measure their necessity. And how much the absence of cafés made cities inhospitable.   

These “third places”, on the border between the public and the private spheres, provide vital breathing room in the urban frenzy. In contrast to the anonymity of large cities, they offer spaces of encounter and diversity, where time is less constrained and speech is freer. By encouraging debate and exchange, cafés contribute in their own way to the free flow of ideas and dialogue that UNESCO champions.

Many contracts have been concluded, ideas debated and books written over a cup of coffee. By their history and architecture, some establishments have become true institutions and a legacy that municipalities seek to protect. The most illustrious may still be haunted by the ghosts of the artists who patronized them, such as the Café A Brasileira in Lisbon, which Fernando Pessoa frequented; the London City in Buenos Aires, Julio Cortázar’s hangout; or Vienna’s Imperial Hotel, favoured by Sigmund Freud and Stefan Zweig. 

Since the discovery of its stimulating virtues in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), coffee has become a universal beverage, and its preparation has been the subject of two inscriptions on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Heritage. “Coffee houses” multiplied first in the Middle East and then in the Ottoman Empire before reaching Europe, America and now Asia, shaping a culture and a way of life. There is a certain indefinable pleasure that comes with the atmosphere of a place, the freedom of a moment away from daily obligations, and the encounters that happen there. Windows to the world, cafés are an invitation to travel.

Agnès Bardon, Editor-in-chief