Coffee

 

Coffee Shops

Back in the day, because the East India Company had a monopoly over the tea industry in Britain, tea became more popular than coffee, chocolate, and alcohol. Tea was seen as inherently British, and its consumption was encouraged by the British government because of the tax revenue.

Times have changed. Coffee is now in the lead. 63% of people in the UK drink coffee regularly, compared to just 59% of people who drink tea. And this suits Beth just fine. She holds our Stockbridge neighborhood in especially high regard because of all of the coffee shops. We are not talking about one or two, or even five or ten. In our neighborhood, which is rather compact, Beth has counted, there are almost 20 coffee shops. Virtually all of them are locally independently owned. One coffee shop also sells books, another plants, and another sells doggie items. Many have outside seating as well as inside. It is a social coffee culture.