Hipsters, coffee and 'class warfare'

admin

Is coffee drinking a sign of a new aristocracy? ... read this article: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/footscrays-hipster-attacks-are-fault-lines-in-the-new-class-war-20170104-gtlmpo.html

It's slightly academic but implies that we coffee drinkers are snobs and appreciating single origins is a sign of a new 'class' distinction - thoughts please  8)

mycuppa

I doubt the problems are related to appreciation of single origin coffees - that was the authors carefully crafted choice words to appear sophisticated and on-trend for that demographic - after all, Fitzroy is like a coffee Epicenter. Juices and smoothies are twice the price of a coffee in most Melbourne Suburban cafes - the price of a coffee remains competitive relative to most other menu items. The linkages between certain areas being too expensive to live (and by extension.........enjoy), the unspoken class differences between contrasting neighboring suburbs are probably more symptomatic of the ridiculously uncontrolled Melbourne (and Sydney) real estate bubble. Truth is these class differences between suburbs have always existed. The backlash against hipster cafes is not really about hipsters or about cafes. It's the reactions against greedy developers overpricing property, snapping up every available site in Melbourne, knocking down a house and building 3 - 6 units, no street parking anywhere, no amenity, congested roads everywhere ringed in by expensive tolls. Almost every new apartment site within 7km of the CBD now has to have a new cafe underneath for reasons that totally escape me, putting further pressure on operators to make ends meet after their 6-month free rent period expires, driving up the prices of basics and creating this constant state of churn where places are only operational for 12 - 18 months at most. I have a terrible sense this dire housing affordability problem is ruining our society.....people are being stretched in ways that drive bad behaviors and we are seeing rapid transformations of areas that perhaps can't accustom to dramatic changes in such short time frames - hence the lash out (which I don't condone).  

Brett H

Why the media don't ask you for comment and then publish is beyond me.  Perhaps the truth isn't palatable!  Urbanisation is nothing new and neither is a sensation media.  What is new is our constant rolling news coverage/feed and the media's need for relevance.  Journalists are a dying breed and the art of creative writing, finding a story where there isn't one is the new normal!

mycuppa

Well....it seems the press think the current wave of hipster-shaming has legs..... What do you know.......there are a number of articles and an editorial devoted to this very subject all over The Age. I guess on a slow news days with only shark sightings and effluent in the bay, the media companies have to drum up a bit of division among the snoozy holidaymakers - nothing gets the blood boiling like a controversial class warfare. Now it's all about gentrification of suburbs and appealing to the hipster $$. News flash - hipsters don't really spend a lot actually. Most of them are poor and too self-absorbed and largely negative thinking (anti-establishment/anti-populism) to actually enjoy themselves - or at least they will never admit they enjoyed something. They buy their clothes from Op-Shops and shun the concept of owning a new SUV, or Australia's #1 selling car in 2016........a dual-cab Hilux. Unfortunately, the editors (maybe that's too kind....... obviously the real editors are sitting on a beach nervously peering out into the blue water for approaching sharks......it must be the cadets they inducted last month) are calling it so very wrong......confusing hipsters with yuppies.....which as we know have been around for 30+ years. It's actually yuppies that like to spend.....so they can show off....or at least try and go one-up on everyone else. Oh well, what's a simple mistake in definition - no big deal...maybe the cadet editors were born after the yuppy-bashing era. Everyone loves a bit of hipster-bashing......it comes around every 6 months in Melbourne.

Brett H

Unfortunately all you speak is truth!!  I've a friend who was a SMH Cadet and her story aligns with yours... only it was Western Sydney and Kings Cross Establishments getting a bashing.

Kevohere

on 1483613392:

Perhaps the truth isn't palatable! 

Yep, we now live in a generation of emotionally weak people. Everything has to be watered down because it's offensive, including the truth.

Brett H

I think we all hope that our kids have it easier than we did.  The problem becomes exactly as you've stated.  By lightening their burden and over-protecting them we deny them opportunities that build character and resilience.  I'm no different.  My kids are spoiled because they've got older parents but given they're so young I have a margin of error for improvement. 

admin

actually, another interesting link on the 'hipster' angle, this time from an overseas publication: http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/08/commentary-hipsters-manage-to-ruin-coffee/

askthecoffeeguy

coffee is perhaps the new egalitarian beer and the local cafe has replaced the pub as a gathering place and a melting pot for ideas and dear i say it cafe culture in my experience at least is far more inclusive that pub culture, plus there's a limit as to how many coffees, including single origins, that you can drink...