| It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old water-proof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write. -Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
Cafe culture is a daily staple of contemporary life. The ability to enter any cafe, coffee or tea shop and order a caffeinated beverage is the expected. Many individuals cannot survive and function through a day effectively without their morning coffee or tea.
Historically coffees and teas have occupied a central position within culinary history. After 1492, both coffees and teas had a global scope as explorers, missionaries, traders and travellers extolled their "virtues" and spread their use to other parts of the world. These caffeinated beverages were more than simply thirst quenchers. They helped change dietary patterns and food customs. They cleaved new economic niches and new food economies. They helped fuel and maintain slavery. They were responsible for inspiring new innovations in art and architectural styles. They even played a role in the political realm by faciliating revolutions. As the popularity of caffeinated beverages increased, they were often reviled by religious figures for their addictive properties and associated non-conformist culture. Regardless of the objections against these caffeinated beverages, they have survived and entrenched themselves into the culinary culture of practically every nation on earth. | 
