You and Your Coffee

I hate Coffee. I do not understand why people like it or use it to wake up. It tastes so bad. Perhaps the bitter taste keeps students from drifting off to dream land. All I know is, apparently, you are as cool as the coffee cup you are holding.

In Education City, an awesome and wonderful place full of weird social habits, I noticed an interesting pattern when it comes to students. Every morning, they spend riyals and riyals on different beverages to sooth their dropping eyelids. We do not have a lot of coffee shops and cafeterias, or a lot of food options for that matter, but even so, we managed to make distinctions based on our social class.

Most Qatari people, for example, get their coffee from Starbucks. Although this sounds very general, it is true. Starbucks is fairly expensive, especially in this region, so people from the elite class will tend to buy things from there, even though there is nothing special about it. I mean other than the fact that the cafeteria’s coffee sucks so bad, there might be another reason as to why people buy water from this place even though it is located in a faraway building.

It could be as simple as this. “I am rich and I want other people to know that.” Or, “I am rich and I must buy from this place because that is what other rich people do and I do not want to stand out.” Whatever the answer may be, it is clear that in Qatar, we practice the concept of conspicuous consumption.

Like everywhere else on this planet, everyone in Qatar belongs to a class system. A class system exists when people are ranked according to characteristics such a as income. The richer you are, the higher the rank you are in. Those who have the same rank belong into the same social class. A social class is a group of people who share a similar position in society based on wealth, education, and occupational prestige. For example, rich people with well-paying jobs and a good education belong to the same social class, the loaded class.

In any event, people like to show off their rank in society and do so by buying things that say that about them. Conspicuous consumption is an attempt to display class and status through the purchase or consumption of high culture and luxury goods or services. Starbucks is expensive. We are expensive. Therefore, we must buy Starbucks. 

Now that we think we understand what's going on with the Starbucks people, let's see what kind of coffee do others buy. The second group of people, the “regular people,” tend to buy from the more reasonably priced, Gloria Jeans. They are rational, with a hint of self-love. “I’m gonna spend some money on a Latte because it is delicious. Also, people still think I’m classy.”

Then there are the smart students, those are the ones who think a cup of coffee is neither worth the distance, nor the price for social distinction. They usually buy the ready-made coffee that the cafeteria provides, downstairs, near their classes.

Although this is might sound really general, but when you go to Starbucks most of what you see is black and white (if you know what I mean) and when you go to the other places, most of what you see is expats. There is always a connection between class and race/ethnicity. It is difficult to separate the two even when we try to not be racist and stereotypical about it. It’s just what it is and it happens for so many reasons that are beyond what we can comprehend. All I know is, it’s interesting.   

This morning, I went to three different coffee shops to document the coffee drinking patterns of the EC community. 

Even though this exists everywhere, it is important to note how ridiculous it is if we actually think in that manner before we buy things. We should not try to confine ourselves in those “norms” we are creating because they will eventually suffocate us and limit us. One day we are going wake up and realize it is not about the people. It is about the coffee.