Here's Why Gen Z Is Making These Cafés Their 'Third Space'
· Free Press Journal
In a modern Indian urbanscape, the phenomenon of hanging out with friends at a café is ubiquitous. This bustling metropolitan culture, although an already widespread trend, is further burgeoning with each passing day. With the cacophony and frantic space of a commodified world, hanging out at cafés after a tiring day is not just a luxury now but a necessity that many people find indispensable. The cafes too don’t just serve as joints for vacuous chatter; many brilliant ideas have germinated from informal discussions at a modern café.
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Geetika Anand, Owner, Kitabi Chai Bookcafe, says, “Cafes are no longer just about coffee - they’re about conversations, creativity, safe spaces for emotional bonding, and community building. Gen Z don’t just sip caffeine; they take time and select places to pause and reflect”.
Why youth love cafes
The modern era has seen the F&B sector rapidly proliferating with its various setups in India and the world. But the youth seem to prefer cafes more than other formats. A simple piece of evidence can be the massive springing up of this format in various Indian cities. This is something that is visibly apparent. One of the major reasons is that cafes more than anything else, give a sense of freedom to the youth. In the words of Hrithik Nath, a Gen Z engineer whose father is also in the hospitality trade, “For us, cafes not only allow us the affordability, but also give us the space and atmosphere to hangout without the time pressure of winding up our conversations once the food is consumed”.
Also, one can check out the cafes in any major Indian city; they all come in numerous patterns, designs, and layouts, encouraging creativity and emancipation. There are book cafes, comics cafes, cafes with live bands, and various other setups. The crux is to create an atmosphere where young people can unwind without a care in the world.
Sanjay Ramola, Owner, Hillans Resort, Uttarakhand, says, "Gen Z café culture is less about just coffee and more about the experience. Cafés have become modern 'third spaces' where aesthetics and comfort matter as much as the menu. They’re places to work, socialize, and curate moments."
Suryasiksha Ray, a Gen Z judicial officer, conveys the same sentiment, “Most of the modern cafes provide comfortable seating in an aesthetic ambience, and one is allowed to sit as long as one wants.”
Shifting Paradigms
Today, many people from other businesses are coming to this field. Many business establishments or professionals from a completely non-F&B sector have now ventured into this trade. It is not only for pure business, but looking at the happiness of the youth in such spaces also gives a completely holistic dimension to a commercial venture. Mahua Bhattacharya, once a film-maker & now owner of ‘It’s My Life Café’, says, "Where hearts pause, conversations breathe, and thoughts find a voice - a warm corner where people meet, share feelings, and turn moments into memories. A cafe does it all."
The Lexicon
The origin of the word ‘café’ (or even ‘coffee’) probably came from the Arabic ‘qahwa’, which likely meant a dark drink, and then ‘Qahve Khanehs’ spread all across the Islamic world for such a drink, giving us the modern equivalent when the word gradually entered French and then English.
Origins
We all love the aroma that coffee beans emanate upon brewing. The beans are actually the seeds that we find inside the coffee tree cherries. Legend has it that in the 9th century CE in Ethiopia, a goatherd called Kaldi accidentally discovered coffee when his animals chewed those plant cherries, and that in turn gave them stupendous energy. Kaldi immediately reported this to a local monk, who subsequently produced a drink by grinding those cherries that rejuvenated him upon drinking.
The spreading habit
The organized cultivation of coffee with its habit of regular drinking probably started in Yemen around the 15th century CE, and then spread through the Islamic pilgrims. (Although, something akin to coffee beans did occur in the written accounts of some 10th and 11th century treatises.) The subsequent years saw it reaching Europe, and once Pope Clement VIII stamped his authority behind it, there was no stopping coffee drinking. The subsequent years saw cafes springing up all across the Western World.
Coffee and Cafes in India
The introduction of coffee to India had been enabled by a 17th century Islamic saint called Baba Budan. The saint, while returning from Mecca, smuggled a few coffee beans out of Yemen, where it was illegal to take them out. He brought those beans to Karnataka and planted them in its hills. Thus began the journey of coffee in this country.
When we talk about cafes in modern India, one iconic name that permeates every sphere is the Indian Coffee House, now run by a chain of workers’ co-operatives across the nation. In Kolkata, the Indian Coffee House has always played the role of a cultural harbinger by acting as a melting pot for intellectuals and thinkers.
The 21st century also saw other global café chains finding their foothold in this country. Poulami Basu, GM, Uflex Limited, Gurgaon, states about her vicinity’s café culture, “Delhi NCR’s book-and-coffee culture is where caffeine fuels plot twists and bookmarks arrive accidentally as coffee stains. In this city, stories don’t end - they just ask for another refill.”
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Looking at the current trend, we can safely say that cafes and coffee drinking are here to stay. We can even call his an Epicureanism with coffee. And this is only going to increase with time. Shall we all go out now for a cup of strongly brewed coffee?