Wednesday 4 September 2013

Das problem mit kaffee

Over the last twenty four hours or so, I've started to come to a worrying realisation.
I could quite easily spend entire days sitting in Berlin coffee shops, reading or taking advantage of free Wifi, drinking coffee and eating kuken.
Considering this is primarily intended as a research trip, during which I'm supposed to review more than just cafes, I'm slightly worried by just how easy it is to settle down in one of Berlin's many cafes and lose track of the hours. As I have today.
"Cafe-culture"is one aspect of European life that I could very happily become accustomed to. In most Western European cities there are more coffee shops than you could ever hope to visit, standing out on the main drag, curling themselves around cross-roads or hiding away in the back streets under a layer of ivy or fading paintwork. It's almost certain that each one will serve coffee as good as any gourmet coffee shop in England, if not better.
In Berlin many cafes offer free Wifi, attracting in lots of people like me: students, postgraduates or young tourists wanting a place to soak up the atmosphere, get a caffeine fix and surf the net. In this city you are spoilt for choice, but a favourite of the people on the CTR project is St Oberholz on Rosenthaler Platz. High-ceilinged, simply-decorated and with plenty of seating, it attracts a flood of customers all day every day, the majority of whom are under 30 and using laptops. It's open until midnight, and it also serves beer, wine and cocktails; when you've been slaving away all day and work has to continue into the evening, the prospect of staying where you are and swapping one sociable drink for another is a very attractive prospect.
At the moment, my choice of a west-facing window seat in St. Oberholz is seeming a little silly. For the first time in three days the sun has come out and I'm being blinded. Screen glare is just about manageable, but my super-serious/pained squint must be quite a sight for passers-by.
The atmosphere in Berlin's coffee shops is great because it facilitates a variety of uses. Whether there's a group of you chatting over coffee or wine, or you're on your own getting on with your own thing, you feel completely welcome to sit and do whatever you need or want, for as long as you need or want.
I'm pretty sure I'd never spend time anywhere else if I lived in Berlin. For this reason alone my bank balance is probably glad that I don't.

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