Sipping Latte - cultural associations?
July 12, 2005 – 12:18 pm | by Duncan
Someone posted a humorous comment last week about addictions to “travelling interstate and sipping lattes”. It reminded me of an ABC Radio interview with a guy who used to work in PR with the Democrats USA. He talked about the stereotype used by Republicans to instil fear - elitist, latte-drinking, philosophy-reading residents of both East and West coast United States who will deny the freedoms of everyday Republican supporting citizens of middle USA. As I heard this guy talking I realised that I’d probably fit neatly into the ‘latte set’!
So what is it about sipping lattes? Is it the amount of milk being drunk? Is it different to drinking cappucinos? Or short blacks? Is it the equivalent of Guiness drinkers in comparison to lager and bitter drinkers?
Is there a connection between ’sipping lattes’ and voting patterns in Australia? I wonder. Does ’sipping lattes’ go together with thinking without acting, planning without results? Is it the fact that someone can afford the time to sit in a cafe for conversation during the day, as opposed to sitting in a bar for idle conversation at night?
Hillary of Antidisingenuousmentarianism addresses this issue by looking at the popular use of ‘latte’ in the USA over a number of years. (Tuesday November 9, 2004)
Tags: coffee
3 Responses to “Sipping Latte - cultural associations?”
By fernando on Jul 12, 2005 | Reply
so have latte-sippers replaced chardonnay-drinkers?
By Duncan on Jul 12, 2005 | Reply
Hmm. Perhaps its to do with drinking and eating products that have French and Italian names. Eating brie, gruyere, edam instead of good old vintage tasty cheddar cheese. And drinking lattes, cappucinos, espressos instead of just white or black coffee. It goes with being able to speak a bit of French, Italian or Spanish, not to mention Japanese or Mandarin.
By fernando on Jul 12, 2005 | Reply
It has to do with being cosmopitan for sure. I’ve blogged some further thoughts here