How Coffee Houses Brewed Up Liberalism — and Still Do.

The article explores the historical and cultural connection between coffee culture and the development of liberalism, highlighting coffee houses as important social spaces for debate, education, and the exchange of ideas from the 17th century onward. It discusses how coffee houses fostered the emergence of the bourgeois public sphere and served as hubs for influential thinkers such as Adam Smith, Voltaire, and other Enlightenment figures. The piece also examines attempts by authoritarian regimes during the Axis powers and the Cold War to suppress coffee culture due to its association with cosmopolitanism and liberal values. Despite contemporary challenges, the global expansion and sophistication of coffee culture, especially in countries like China and South Korea, are presented as signs of the enduring vitality of liberal social interaction. [Extracted from the article]