Contrasting Coffee Shops and Cafes

Café, also spelled cafe, small eating and drinking establishment, historically a coffeehouse, usually featuring a limited menu; originally these establishments served only coffee. The English term café, borrowed from the French, derives ultimately from the Turkish kahve, meaning coffee.

The first café is said to have opened in 1550 in Constantinople; during the 17th century cafés opened in Italy, France, Germany, and England. During the 200 years after the mid-17th century, the most famous coffeehouses of Europe flourished in London as ready points for news, discussion, and faction.

 Coffeehouse proprietors competed with each other for supplies of both Whig and Tory newspapers; during this time the business of buying and selling insurance, ships, stocks, commodities, and occasionally even slaves was disposed of in coffeehouses; a man of letters, an actor, or an artist might perform or declaim for his coterie in his favourite coffeehouse; and coffeehouses became informal stations for the collection and distribution of packets and letters. By the 19th century, the daily newspaper and the home post had displaced these functions.

From the simple definition, a cafe is a type of restaurant that mainly serves coffee and snacks. The word cafe is a French word which means coffee. A cafe is, therefore, a place where you can relax and take coffee as you read a magazine or chat with other customers or have a discussion with friends. It is a social interaction place and they mostly share some characteristics with bars and restaurants.

The Connection Between Coffee Shop and Cafe The greatest difference between a cafe and a coffee shop is how they are connected and how people tend to interpret the two. Despite being a French word, many business owners prefer not to translate the word cafe to English for various reasons, the major one being that it sounds classier. 

Most people know what a latte is without having to have café in front of it. Due to this, many coffee business owners tend to use the word cafe. Some argue that the name sounds stylish and sophisticated which may create some kind of imagination in the customer’s mind and give them a nice picture of where they are just about to enter or the beverage quality they are receiving. The good thing is that a cafe has nothing to do with the name of a coffee shop.Confusion enters in when these terms are used interchangeably. Another factor that might create a difference between the two is the environment.

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