The days of Europeans relaxing in the cafe with a newspaper and a seemingly endless cup of coffee appear to be numbered.A new English expression is popular in Europe these days:"coffee to go." "Five or ten years ago it was much more normal to sit in a cafe for several hours than it is nowadays,"says Joann,who works in a central Berlin coffee bar owned by the Canadian coffee and bakery chain Tim's. "There is a trend towards a more fast-paced life.But people still act surprised  when you ask if the coffee is'to go'.You mean I can take it with me? they ask.." "Europe is often five or eight years behind trends in America,"says Joann."In the States.'coffee to go'is part of everyday life." Owing in part to Starbucks,it appears to be very much part of everyday life in many other countries too. The Seattle-based group compete with a growing number of global chains in attempting to reshape coffee drinking cultures in regions including Asia and the Middle East. The US is the model for continental Europe's new"coffee to go"culture:Each of the new cafe bars offers bagels,muffins,brownies and cookies to go with the coffee. But then,"coffee to go''might sound a little odd to English ears used to the words "takeaway"or take one. It does sum up the brisker pace of life since the city resumed its status as the German capital following the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. As one more sign of the changing times,one of Berlin's most venerable coffee houses,cafe Einstein,has followed the trend by opening a small chain of coffee shops across the city. Taking coffee,slowly and in decorous surroundings,has been a feature of European coffee houses,particularly in German speaking countries,for decades. For the elderly citzens of Vienna it amounts to a ritual when they gather in coffee houses around the city for a cup of their favovrite drink and a piece of rich,creamy cake. Every new cafe bar offers some_to go with the coffee
food newspaper drink music