A new food craze among young Russian mothers has become known

They have become the most active coffee consumers

A universal recipe: if you want to scold young people or modern Moscow for something, tell them about the bad habit of going for a walk with a glass of coffee. What a ridiculous fashion! And there is a reason: over the past year, the number of coffee shops where you can get the coveted cappuccino to go in Moscow has grown by 11.38% – this is evidenced by data from a recent study of one of the online map services. Now there are almost 6,000 coffee shops in Moscow—about the same number as hairdressers. Moreover, they are located not only in the oases of the restaurant-glamorous Central Administrative District, no: there are only 20% there. Coffee is sold near every metro station in every area. And they buy it!

There is a demand for coffee – who would doubt it. There are also plenty of offers. But fashion?..

Only the authors of the theses “All young people wear miniskirts” or “Today children only read Harry Potter” can seriously talk about the fact that in Moscow, they say, it is “fashionable” to walk around with a glass of coffee at the ready. Well, yes, it was the case: all the children really only read “Harry Potter”… about fifteen, if not twenty years ago (I remember hearing such a reproach from a nurse at a children’s hospital in the spring of 2003 – therefore, twenty-one years ago ). And young people really wore miniskirts – the normal young people who were young in the glamorous 2000s. Now these “youth” are trying with all their might to get their children out of oversized hoodies and into heels. Usually in vain.

In real modern Moscow – and not in the Moscow of fifteen years ago – truly fashionable coffee is considered “specialty”. Is this your first time hearing this? Well, well, they are behind the times! This means, sir, specialty is coffee that relies on the quality of the bean, and not a ton of flavor enhancers based on milk and sugar. Specialty culture is built on different tactics for making coffee – Aeropress, cold brew, filter, funnel… oh well, and a banal espresso from a coffee machine, if you’re really running out of imagination. Here it is customary to choose the terroir of the grain – Ethiopia, Brazil, Colombia or something Asian in general – and in no case run headlong with a glass of coffee, but sit and savor it in a coffee shop, talking with the barista. Admitting that you prefer a double latte with vanilla syrup and cream is in the modern world about the same as admitting your love for a salad covered in mayonnaise or semi-sweet wine. Like, of course, everyone has their own weaknesses… but still, taste needs to be developed, dear citizen, otherwise it’s somehow awkward… I should at least go to some kind of tasting, try to understand what’s different washed Kenya from natural Colombia medium roast…

All this is usually called the “third coffee wave”: they say, people have finally tasted the taste of good coffee, hurray! Well, the previous wave, the second – that same culture of running around with coffee cups – was, of course, a product of its era. And we have American films and TV series to thank for it. They turned “coffee to go” into a real marker of a successful progressive yuppie at the end of the 2000s – say, in 2010, a glass from Starbucks (of blessed memory), filled with cappuccino with Irish cream syrup and an additional shot of espresso, really served as a pretty good indicator of social status. Every girl student considered it obligatory to take a photo with a cup, and the question to recognize the green mermaid on the Starbucks logo was included in the test “Are you middle class?” in some magazine.

What about today? Well, today everything is quite prosaic: “to-go” coffee has become a normal everyday part of our lives. What kind of glamor or, excuse the expression, “fashion” can we talk about if there are coffee stalls in any subway passage? Fashion – especially in the primitive understanding that most people have of this word! — still should be at least a little elitist. Here, the Starbucks of the early 2010s with a glass of cappuccino for 350 rubles (in case anyone forgot: our little green friend W.E. then cost thirty) was quite show-off. Today, latte, cappuccino, and almond milk half and half with raspberry syrup are a normal mass market.

Do you know among whom coffee in cups is most in demand? You won’t guess – not at all among young progressive students. It is very popular among young mothers with strollers! Which is quite logical – this public has to walk kilometers along the street with a stroller for 2-3 hours every day and in any weather. This is where the 400ml cup comes in handy! And it doesn’t matter what kind of coffee it is – Brazil or Ethiopia – the main thing is that it is hot. It’s not for nothing, by the way, that several years ago urbanists conducted a whole study of the accessibility of neighborhood coffee shops for these same mothers with strollers – well, is it possible to go inside with a stroller, is there a ramp, or can you even go up to the window on the street? And on the handles of modern strollers, by the way, even special holders-stands for coffee cups are often provided – everything for people!

Although any idea, of course, can be taken to the point of absurdity – and humanity copes with this successfully! The best illustration of this is the same coffee from coffee shops that people loved (during the pandemic) to order for home delivery. This is where I really want to ask: why? Okay, outdoors is understandable, but can you cook it at home? Be it in capsules, or in a French press, or even in a Turk… The simplest cappuccino maker (that little thing that makes “Vzh-zh-zh!” and whips up the milk foam) costs a little more than a large glass of cappuccino in chain coffee shop. But the coffee will be guaranteed hot.