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Coffee, coffee, coffee!” Anyone familiar with Lorelai Gilmore, from the Netflix series Gilmore Girls, would remember her saying this. Well, this is her usual order when she walks into a diner, early morning. All of us post-millennials, exposed to Western culture in our teens, have had a thing for coffee, but what we’d get here (in Pakistan) was a coffee brewed in noisy percolators in restaurants and cafés, with vendors beckoning you amidst gusts of steam, and this sole brand of ground coffee beans that has become oh-so-common.
In the mid-2000s, if I can recall correctly, we saw international chains coming to Pakistan, bringing in the likes of Mocha and Freppe, and enlightening us with so many different types of coffee. A new Pandora’s Box, with our desire to stay with-it, was opened.
Cut to the present. We have coffee houses everywhere. With the advent of social media, new flavours in coffee, new brewing styles, aesthetic locations and hang-outs, I see our café culture in a major transition already.
If we go back a decade, there were only a few such places. Back then the chai dhabas were quite a fad. The obsession that our nation has with tea, which is not our own, to begin with, is ridiculous. A staggering $468.248 million was spent in FY 2024-2025 just so we could have tea. A financially challenged tech grad like me is unable to wrap his head around this number. Can you imagine, this is all import bill which we consume at a whim?
Coming back to the point, you can see that I am not a fan of tea, but I can see new coffee shops everywhere that are mostly attracting young crowds. These places are turning out to be quite a ‘cult,’ in my opinion. Cult, because I know of people who will go to the same place every time, after work or on weekends, sit there for hours and — here is the best part — play board games, socialise, interact (read gossip), exchange ideas or simply ‘co-exist’ (which is very important in itself, especially given our societal dynamics).
With the advent of social media, new flavours in coffee, new brewing styles, aesthetic locations and hang-outs, I see our café culture in a major transition already.
The games part is quite refreshing. This is a good way to unwind and spend some fun time with friends.
As a beverage coffee is still not a ‘popular’ taste in Pakistan. Not everyone seems to enjoy its flavour(s) and the aftertaste. Some even complain that coffee gives them allergies, or that it’s not meant to be had in summers. Besides, it is quite expensive (compared to tea).
So far, coffee culture is specific only to a certain class based in our urban centres. And don’t get me started on Matcha. Is that even a thing? It is only as useful as Chahat Fateh Ali Khan is to Pakistan’s music scene.
All said and done, coffee culture is on the rise. Proof: the growing number of coffee houses in Lahore alone. These places, quite like the old-fashioned chai dhabas, are community spaces that serve to recharge our batteries.
Daniyal Raza is a project manager in a technology company. He loves to hang out andtry new food