Quote:
Originally Posted by neverending
Well, they "stay afloat" (thrive, actually) by fulfilling a public demand. Simple economics. Over here we've gone well past the old joke of Starbucks right across the street from each other; now there are office buildings with 2 or 3 Starbucks. At the mall I used to work in when someone asked me where the Starbucks was, I had to ask, "Which one?" Hell, our LIBRARIES have Starbucks in them.
I speak as an outsider of this phenomena, myself. I never picked up the habit, but it's a basic component of modern working life- if you need stimulants to make it through the day, coffee is a satisfying, socially acceptable way to get them, as opposed to, say, snorting coke. I don't draw the parallel lightly- they're both dangerous, highly addictive drugs.
A coffee shop is also a convenient, socially acceptable place to meet and socialize without having to imbibe alcohol. They're also a lot easier to carry on a conversation in, as opposed to bars, which can often be noisy.
Aside from the high blood pressure, heart problems and other medical conditions over-consumption of coffee can cause, "coffee culture" seems relatively harmless.
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Thanks for referencing the negative health effects of coffee. As an avid NPR listener, through the years I had never heard any research that found conclusive negative health effects. I'm beginning to think that's not the case, and we should also be looking at short term effects as opposed to narrow long term effects.
I found this article online just googling. I'm not vouch for any medical conclusions of this article, but it's makes an important case:
7 Negative Effects of Coffee
http://www.healthambition.com/negati...cts-of-coffee/