Coffee culture is the set of traditions and social behaviors that surround the consumption of coffee, particularly as a social lubricant. The term also refers to the cultural diffusion and adoption of coffee as a widely consumed stimulant. In the late 20th century, espresso became an increasingly dominant drink contributing to coffee culture, particularly in the Western world and other urbanized centers around the globe. In the early 21st century, mobile coffee carts and pop-up espresso bars also became part of coffee culture, offering specialty drinks at markets, festivals and retail events.
The culture surrounding coffee and coffeehouses dates back to 16th-century Ottoman Turkey. Coffeehouses in Western Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean were not only social hubs but also artistic and intellectual centres. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, coffeehouses in London became popular meeting places for artists, writers, and socialites, as well as centres for political and commercial activity. In the 19th century, a special coffee house culture developed in Vienna, the Viennese coffee house, which then spread throughout Central Europe. Les Deux Magots in Paris, now a popular tourist attraction, was once associated with the intellectuals Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.
