Classic hospitality owes its existence to ‘going for coffee’
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- oktober 7, 2019
- All Stories
- 2 mins read
There is hardly a word more Dutch than ‘koffiedrinken’ (going for coffee). According to the Van Dale dictionary, it means something like: ‘Being in a social setting where coffee or something else is consumed’. After tea, coffee is the only drink that forms a standalone verb when combined with the word ‘drinking’ in Dutch.
This word is about the habit, the ritual, not just the drink itself. In the hospitality industry, for a long time, it was mainly about ‘going for coffee’ (the custom to which a ‘café’ owes its name) and less about the coffee itself. It was only in the last twenty years that the coffee revolution took place, bringing us products like latte macchiato, cappuccino, and doppio. Since this coffee revolution, which saw the large-scale introduction of professional espresso machines, a second and even third category of coffee has emerged.
Category 1 coffee
The first, still very much alive category is the ‘Neighbor, fancy a quick cup of coffee?’ and the ‘Eleven o’clock, coffee break!’. In the hospitality industry, the trusted Bravilor serves to provide us with many liters of this (filter) coffee. When asked ‘Do you want anything in it?’, you can choose sugar, milk, and maybe a sweetener. This is not the time for a ‘decaf cortado with oat milk’. The ‘coffee drinking’ is no less for it; it creates a huge bond when everyone drinks the same thing.
Category 2
Category 2 is about coffee that ‘mouse-tails’ from a portafilter. (Jeroen Veldkamp taught me that espresso doesn’t drip but ‘mouse-tails’; thin lines filling the espresso cup).
Category 3
Do you see a barista working with a stopwatch and scales? You have arrived in category 3. Specialized espresso and coffee shops owe their existence to the coffee revolution and category 3. The focus is on the quality and preferences of the individual guest. In some places, 80% of them are sitting with a laptop enjoying a favorite barista masterpiece. These guests come for coffee, not for the social ritual of ‘going for coffee’.
You could say that classic hospitality owes its existence to ‘going for coffee’, although category 2 has now become the standard for them as well. Here, it is also—and perhaps primarily—about the social aspect with unique hospitality elements that their guests come for. That is their reason for being and where their chances of survival lie. These usually don’t lie in a shift toward the extreme categories of any product group.
SOURCE: Wouter Verkerk
