Café society

Battle has been joined in the wars of the coffee shop, according to the managing director of Costa, a fast-expanding chain of espresso bars. The problem is that the supply of shops offering tall, skinny cappuccinos and chilled confections of coffee and cream is expanding even faster than the startlingly high demand for extravagant alternatives to a decent cup of tea.

Battle has been joined in the wars of the coffee shop, according to the managing director of Costa, a fast-expanding chain of espresso bars. The problem is that the supply of shops offering tall, skinny cappuccinos and chilled confections of coffee and cream is expanding even faster than the startlingly high demand for extravagant alternatives to a decent cup of tea.

Still, Costa vs Starbucks doesn't have quite the ring of the ancient rivalry between Quadri's and Florian's in Venice's Piazza San Marco. The very name "coffee shop" conjures up a host of historic associations, from the famous 17th- and 18th-century establishments in London, where a gentleman could read his favourite newspaper and perhaps place an order for stocks with the proprietor, to San Francisco's post-war espresso bars, where hip patrons could listen to the latest Beat poetry.

The modern coffee shop, however, is less a place for creative expression and more an occasion to order an absurdly titled, over-flavoured and too milky shot of coffee, then to pay an absurd price for the privilege of burning one's fingers. Yet more proof that when it comes to the art of living, the passage of time does not guarantee progress.