Bryant Simon explains what your coffeehouse says about you

In a world where you can find a Starbucks on almost every block, taking the road less traveled with a non-Starbucks cup in hand says something about you. "Class used to be about wealth and name," says Temple historian Bryant Simon, author of Everything But the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks, while perched at a small table at La Colombe in Center City. "But now it's about experience, knowledge. And that can be shown by coffee." For example, there's no menu at La Colombe, he points out, "so you have to know a little something just to order."

March 2011 | Philadelphia Magazine