Maybe it is just because in entering college I have become increasingly dependent on coffee, but in my quest to find a satisfying caffeine jolt, it seems that recently there has been an enormous increase in the number of coffee shops in the area. Of course, we live in a college town and the businesses here cater to the interests of the community, hence an abundance of coffee shops, but I mean it feels that recently coffee shop culture has spread and flourished on a national scale.

I, along with many others I am sure, am enchanted by places like The Roost and Haymarket. They each have a very particular atmosphere. I could not quite pinpoint why cafes such as these are so charming, so, I researched the origins of the coffee shop. I found that while coffee has been served in public places since the 15th century (in Turkey), the coffee shop as we know it has its origins in 17th century Britain. They called coffee shops "penny universities" -- to give you a general description, they were usually filled with businessmen, academics, and other upper-class professionals. When America was colonized, coffee shop culture followed, and coffee shops were frequented by the same kinds of professionals. In fact, the New York Stock Exchange was founded in 1792 in a coffee shop, called the Tontine Coffee House, by the regulars, a group of businessmen. So it is interesting that the coffee shop culture has its roots in academia as any coffee houses still reflect the same academic atmosphere. And whether the cafes springing up across the nation have this in mind or not, sitting in a cafe in Northampton does seem to bring you back through time, and perhaps that romantic nostalgia is where the allure of the cafe lies.