A Burgeoning American Coffee Culture is Brewing

Originally Written May 5, 2025 as part of a news features class at Wilbur Wright College.

As you walk through October Cafe in Norwood Park, Renee Jablon is enjoying a conversation with her young adult daughter Kala. Both differ in their level of coffee obsession but share one belief in common: coffee keeps social ties grounded.

 “Going out to get coffee is an easy place to meet people and have conversations,” observed Renee, who said coffee is an “occasional treat” that she drinks no more than twice a week.

 Kala, who unlike her mother drinks coffee every day, agreed about coffee's social role. ”It’s tied into a lot of meeting with family and friends,” Jablon said.

  For October Cafe customer Mike Dellaquilla, coffee helps maintain social bonds. “I’ve got a group text with some buddies from college who are big coffee connoisseurs, so we text about coffee quite a bit, we plan ourselves outings, we all live in different places now but when we get together it’s always centered around getting coffee,” Dellaquilla said. 

Dellaquilla is one of many Americans immersed in a burgeoning coffee culture. According to a recent report by the National Coffee Association, two-thirds of adults drink coffee daily, an 8% increase from 2015. 

 A big aspect of coffee culture is the social role coffee plays. October Cafe's Co-owner Audrey Borden has seen this firsthand.  “A lot of our customers they’ll come in, start talking to other customers, this is a way for them to feel like they’re reaching out and getting to know people in their community,” Borden said.

  A few blocks southwest, coffee also plays a community role at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Norwood Park. The church hosts a monthly hospitality offering called Coffeehouse, where parishioners gather after mass once a month to socialize and drink coffee.

Mary Dosek, who is responsible for coordinating the event, explained why the church’s monthly get-together is centered around coffee. “We thought coffee was a wonderful way to bring people together with pastries and what have you,  Sunday morning early everyone enjoys a cup of coffee,” Dosek said.

Parishioner Robert Lohman agreed that Coffeehouse helps foster connections. “When we get new people down here it’s great to sit down with them at the table and talk, that way when they come back on Sunday there’s a familiar face. Then, they're more likely to be involved with something,” Lohman said.

 The Rev. Matthew Heinrich, the church’s pastor, sees how coffee gets people interacting with each other. “In our family, we do coffee after dinner, so it’s a chance to sit down and talk. If anything, the core of it is just the ability to sit down and talk with people,” Heinrich said.

 16th District Police Officer Angel Cintron, a customer at a Starbucks in Norwood Park, said,  “I've been having coffee since I was five years old.” He shared how coffee played a social role as bonding with his grandfather over a cup of coffee became one of his greatest memories.

 Yet for some, coffee plays a different role than socialization. Brenda Pedroza, who works for a non-profit that helps seniors, said she chose to get coffee at Perkolator in Portage Park to find a place to get some work done.

“Usually at the office, it just gets too crowded and it just gets noisy. It gets me to come out instead of being stuck at home doing work, because when I’m at home I feel like I’m distracted because I’m cleaning, so I come here to try to get as much work done as possible,” Pedroza said.  

Cristian Pina, who works for a software company, is another customer who treats the Perkolator like an alternative office space. “The food and the coffee are good, the vibes are good. I probably come two times a week. I work from home, so usually just to get out of the house,” Pina said as he took a break working from his laptop.

 Heinrich shared how coffee can be a work companion and a socialization agent at the same time. “As a group of friends, we would drink coffee together every morning, every evening while we were studying, so that’s kind of where it started in college,” Heinrich said.

  For Diego Guartan, coffee isn’t a substance he drinks while studying; rather it is what he studies. Guartan is a roaster from Chicago who works for Big Shoulders Coffee. Coffee roasters are responsible for turning green coffee beans into a finished product through a process of sorting, roasting, cooling and packaging beans.

 In February, Guartan won the 2025 U.S. Roaster Championship at the Coffee Championships in Houston, a national competition that recognizes excellence in coffee roasting. In the competition, Guartan had to submit a “Roast Plan”, a profile where he had to describe the process he used to achieve a desired coffee flavor. 

      “Winning the Roaster Championship was one of the most important things that happened in my life,” Guartan said.  It was Guartan’s first year competing. He said he was grateful for the opportunity to learn from people who had been competing for years. Guartan added, “I want to encourage my Latin people to come into the industry to the coffee side and start doing roasting or work as a barista. This is a way to go with the Hispanic people.” 

   A fusion of Hispanic culture and coffee can be seen at the Latino-owned Casa Cactus in Mayfair. As customers walk in the naturally lit cafe on a busy Saturday, the culture comes alive; Cacti inhabit every corner as people munch on conchas or cactus-shaped churros while they drink their coffee. A barista at Casa Cactus, who prefers to be called Amari, said,  “We try to make everyone comfortable here, this is a community-based business, so we’re really big on community and family.”  

       Vince Martinez, who likes to come to Casa Cactus to read, said there's more than just coffee that matters at a cafe, saying that he cares about the ambience and level of noise. “If it’s too loud or the music’s too loud, I'll probably hang out here,” Martinez said.  Another customer, who prefers to be called Pat, said about Casa Cactus, “There’s enough people where there's an ambient energy.” 

    Yet for some coffee drinkers, socialization or ambient energy does not matter as much as protecting their pocketbook. “If it’s too pricy, I make at home,” said Janute Casey in her Polish accent at a Starbucks in Park Ridge.

 Another customer at the same Starbucks, who prefers to be called Russ, is not happy with coffee prices at Starbucks. “I don't really go to Starbucks because it is too pricy, I think their prices are out of control, it's so much cheaper at home. I can’t believe the people that are buying these fancy drinks for six or seven bucks,” Russ said. 

  According to federal government data, coffee prices reached a record high of $7.38 per pound in March. And it’s not just big chains feeling the price increase. According to an article in Block Club Chicago, small business coffee shops are raising prices due to new tariffs on coffee-exporting nations by the Trump Administration. Will Americans' obsession with coffee triumph amid rising prices? What will become of the social, functional, and cultural roles that coffee plays? 

Parishioners of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church enjoy a conversation at Coffeehouse. Photo Credit: Kyle Chmielowski.