Café Culture

And

The Preference

of Different

Types of Coffee

TABLE OF CONTENTIntroduction

BACKGROUND.........................................................1

RATIONALE..........................................................2SCOPE..............................................................2

MATERIALS..........................................................3METHODS............................................................3

SAMPLE POPULATION..................................................3Data...............................................................4

Figure 1.........................................................4Figure 2.........................................................4

Figure 3.........................................................5Figure 4.........................................................5

Figure 5.........................................................6Figure 6.........................................................6

MAJOR FINDING......................................................7DISCUSSION.........................................................8

Preference of Coffee.............................................8Preference of Café...............................................8

The effect of coffee on health...................................8The reason for drinking coffee...................................9

CONCLUSION........................................................10Questionnaire.....................................................11

Café culture and the preference of different types of coffee......11

BACKGROUND

Coffee culture is also known as a social atmosphere or

series of associated social behaviours that depends heavily

upon coffee, particularly as a social lubricant. It is also

refers to the adoption of coffee as a widely consumed

stimulant by a culture. Formation of coffee and café culture

dates back to 14th century in Turkey. (Wikipedia, 2013)

Coffee was introduced to Australia by Italian migrants in

the post-World War II period which is on the First Fleet in

1788 but it was not until the 1950s that good espresso was

introduced to Australians and 1990s that Australians obsession

of coffee began. (Fashion Network, 2014)

Melbourne remains as the capital of coffee culture in

Australia. (Tiedgen, 2013) One of the reasons why Melbourne

took the early lead is it comprehends European culture earlier

than other capitals.

Australians are one of the world’s great lovers of

coffee. Australians’ passion toward coffee is proved as they

created a style of espresso coffee which is known as the ‘flat

white’ in the 1980s. (Prepare For Australia) The name ‘Flat

white’ meaning milk with espresso is originated from Sydney,

Australia. This magnificent coffee has caused a huge uproar in

other European nation.

Café is also known as coffeehouse which is a constitution

in the main serves up coffee or other hot drinks but some café

also serve up light refreshments. Café also serve as social

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interaction point. In modern days, many café is equipped with

free Wi-Fi, comfortable, fashionable interior to satisfy the

new age consumers. (Yuan, 2012)

Today, coffee drinking has become such an integral part

of the Australian lifestyle that it has led to the explosion

of many specialized café further fuelling the growth of the

coffee sector in Australia.

RATIONALE

Coffee which has spread worldwide in the last centuries is one

of the most popular drinks even in this modern era. The topic

has been selected because café culture and preference of

coffee tend to symbolize a traditional culture and deposition

of history. The purposes of this report are to illustrate the

analysis of local Australians’ habits of having coffee,

effects of coffee and features of café culture.

SCOPE

Australians’ habits of having coffee, coffee and café

preferences

Australians’attitude of coffee concerning its effect on

health

2

The reasons why Australians consume coffee

MATERIALS

All of the data and information included in this report are carefully extracted from questionnaires prepared.

METHODS

The data and information is gathered from questionnaire hand

3

out to university students. The questionnaire is distributed at University of New South Wales, High St, Kensington NSW 2052from 3 o’clock to 5 o’clock in the evening on 21st of May 2014.This location is selected because there are several café located in University of New South Wales. Therefore, both interviewees who like and dislike coffee can be easily found in campus.

SAMPLE POPULATION

Randomize interviewees were targeted regardless of age group. Nevertheless, specific gender group was selected equally to establish diverse information and data.

Table 1: Gender of interviewees

Gender Number Percentage (%)Male 16 50Female 16 50

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DATA

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the preference of coffee by interviewees.

According to the chart, the majority of interviewees prefer

Cappuccino (56%). Also, exactly one quarter (25%) of

interviewees prefer Caffé Latte. Flat white (22%) which

originally from Australia itself follow closely behind Caffé

Latte. Macchiato, Turkish coffee and Long Black are the least

preferable coffee among the interviewees which share the same

proportion of 3%.

Figure 2

5

Figure 2 which has 6 components indicates the frequency of

interviewees having coffee at café. From the chart, the

highest proportion is frequency of 2-3 times a week at which

41% of interviewees drink coffee at café is. The frequency of

interviewees having coffee at café more than once a day, never

and only socially shares approximately the same proportion of

15%. Just tiny percentage of interviewees seldom spent time on

cafe.

Figure 3

Figure 3 shows the percentage of the features of café

consideration by interviewees has 7 components. As can be seen

from the figure, the location of café is the primary

consideration (28%) by the interviewees. Quality of coffee

(26%) is the feature of café that comes next after café’s

location which score 2% more. Reading materials (0%) is the

least considered features of a café.

6

Figure 4

Figure 4 shows interviewees’ opinions on the effect of coffee

on health. It can be seen from the graph that there is almost

the same proportion of interviewees who think that coffee have

positive effect (37%) on health so do negative effect (41%).

According to the pie chart, equal number of interviewees

believes that effect of coffee on health is either very

positive (3%) or very negative (3%). More Interviewees has the

opinion that coffee has negative effects on health.

Figure 5

Figure 5 shows the 5 major reasons for drinking coffee of

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interviewees. Highest percentage of interviewees having coffee

because they just like it (30%). However, Almost the same

percentage of interviewees consuming coffee for work (21%),

study (19%) and socializing purposes(23%). Small percentage

(7%) of interviewees is addicted to coffee .

MAJOR FINDING

The most popular coffee among Australians is cappuccino and the

locals usually go to café which determined by the location

and the quality of coffee in the essential places 1-3 times

a week.

Australians do not hold an extreme view about coffee effect

on health. Positive and negative attitude account for all

most the same proportion. The negative just excess the

positive by 4 %.

The main reason for consumption of coffee is enjoyment.

However, others cannot neglected because of no much

difference between each items.

8

DISCUSSION

Preference of Coffee

Figure 1 indicates cappuccino (41%) is the most preferable

coffee among the interviewees and consecutively followed by

caffé Mocha and Flat White. Espresso is then rank 4th of all

the coffees.

This data collection shows an unexpected result yet a

surprising one too. Espresso was expected to be one of the

most favourable coffees yet it turns out to be cappuccino. To

think of it, cappuccino rank 1st in interviewees’ coffee

preferences is not as surprising because cappuccino itself is

considered a healthier type of coffee as it has lower sugar

content compared to others. It also has a creamy and foamy

texture which gives a unique combination. Cappuccino best

feature is it satisfies both strong and mild coffee drinkers

as it does not have overpowered coffee essence. Therefore, it

is a quite reasonable result that cappuccino outweighs other

coffee. Surprisingly, Flat White only manage to rank 3rd in

overall interviewees’ coffee preferences. Flat White is an

Australian-born coffee, it could have scored higher.

Preference of Café

Figure 2 shows the features of café that take into

consideration. From the data, location of café (28%) is

considered as the most important feature of a café. Quality of

coffee followed closely behind location with 26%. Wi-Fi

9

connection and reading materials come last in consideration of

café features by interviewees.

It was not expected that café location outweighs quality of

coffee. This is

because convenience appear to come before quality and

favours. Surprisingly, Wi-Fi connection is redeemed one of the

least important features of a café. The reasons given for that

is most interviewees have mobile data. Many mobile companies

provide affordable and worthy mobile data packages for smart

phone customers which seem to be why Wi-Fi connection in a

café is considered in least important.

The effect of coffee on health

Figure 4 shows the attitudes of the effect of coffee on

health. The highest percentage of the choices is the Negative

(41%). The Positive is 4% lower than the Negative. Both the

Very negative and the Very positive are the lowest (3%). The

remaining percentage is the No effect (16%).

The result of the interview is different from expecting. In

Café, it is full of customers all the time. Many families have

coffee machines. It seems that coffee drinking has become such

an integral part of the Australian lifestyle. However, they

consider that coffee has negative effect on their health,

though most of the interviewees are found of enjoying coffee.

Probably, coffee brings some negative effect such as sleep

disturbance, increasing blood pressure and increasing

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cardiovascular. Also, it can be seen from the open question of

the questionnaires, some interviewees believe that there are a

great deal of milk and sugar in coffee, which makes coffee

unhealthy, which perhaps lead to the result.

The reason for drinking coffee

Figure 5 shows the reasons for drink coffee. The highest

percentage (31%) of the reason is enjoyment. The lowest

percentage (7%) of the reason is addiction of coffee . Other

percentages are close, which are 23% for socialising, 21% for

keeping alert at work and 19% for keeping awake for study.

It is an excepted result that the data are quite similar. It

seems could be referred to figure 4 that some interviewees

support that coffee has negative effect on their health but

they still drink coffee for enjoyment and addiction. As to

socialising, the reason could be the café culture in

Australia. Besides, the third reason may be positive effects

brought from coffee like energy boosting, to be happy as it

regulates stress level and preventing constipation.

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CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the results from data collection indicate more

interviewees view coffee has negative impact on health.

Regardless of the negative impacts on health, most

interviewees still drink coffee for their own specific

reasons. It could be for work, study, socialising or even for

a simple reason of just like it. Despite the negative impacts

of coffee, there is also healthier coffee such as cappuccino.

Therefore, cappuccino has become interviewees’ favourite

coffee. Furthermore, café location is the first feature to be

considered by interviewees rather than quality of coffee

because convenience could always come before quality.

Finally, there are somehow several restrictions in this report

as there were only a small number of interviewees being

interviewed. Also, there were only a fixed number of survey

question included in the questionnaire to collect limited

information and opinion from interviewees. More detail

investigation can be carried out with retired citizen or

pensioner and busy working citizen to analyse their different

view, opinion and preferences.

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QUESTIONNAIRE

Café culture and the preference of different types ofcoffee

This survey aims to investigate café culture and preference ofdifferent types of coffee among Australians.

Questionnaires are anonymous and confidential. They will only be used for the purpose of this survey.

1. Gender:

□Male □Female

2. Age group:

□Under 18 □18-30 □31-50 □50-65 □66+

3. Do you like coffee?

□Yes □No

4. Where do you usually have coffee? (You can choose more thanone.)

□Café □Home □Office □Friend’s house □Others:___________

5. What types of coffee do you usually prefer? (Tick as many as you wish)

□Espresso □Cappuccino □Caffé Mocha □Caffé Latte

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□Macchiato □Flat White □Americano □Caffé Breve

□Espresso Con Panna □Others:_________________

6. How often do you drink coffee in a café?

□More than once a day □Once a day □2-3 times a week

□4-6 times a week □Seldom □Only socially □Never

7. Do you have a favourite café that you go to most of the time?

□Yes □No

8. How do you usually take your coffee? (Tick as much as you wish.)

□Iced □Hot □Room temperature

□black □with milk □with sugar □no sugar

9. How would you rate the effect of coffee on health? (Circle the number)

1 2 3 45

Very Negative Negative No effect Positive Very Positive

10. What do you believe are the effects of coffee? (Tick as much as you wish)

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Positive:

□Energy boosting □Makes you smarter □Makes you live longer

□Lowers risk from cardiovascular disease □Helps weight loss

□Reduces risks of some types of cancer

□Makes you happy as it regulates stress level

□Has a laxative effect; prevents constipation

□Protects you from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease

□Lowers the risk of Type 2 Diabetes

□Others:_________________________

Negative:

□Increases cardiovascular/heart disease □Increases blood pressure

□ Loss of bone mineral density □ Causes sleep disturbance

□ Increases level of cholesterol □Risk of skin

cancer and other diseases □Promotes the release of the stress

hormones □ Coffee can kill you!

□Others: __________________________

11. Why do you drink coffee?

□To keep me alert at work □To keep me awake for study

□I am addicted □I just like it! □I drink it when socialising

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□Other: ___________________

12. What do you consider when it comes to the quality of coffee?

(Tick as many as you wish)

□The types of the coffee bean □The distillation of the coffee

□The age of the coffee bean □The brand of the coffee bean

□Country where coffee is produced □Others: _________________

13. What features would you consider about a café that you go?

Please rank your TOP 3 choices in order of importance.

(1 = Most important 2 = Important 3 = Least important)

__The quality of coffee

__Location

__Café environment (Theme, music, furniture,etc)

__Desserts or food

__Wi-Fi availability

__Hospitality and services in the café

__Reading materials(Newspaper, magazine, etc)

Optional: What is the best feature of a café that may not be

stated above?

______________________________________________________________

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______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

_____________________

Thank you for your time! ☺

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Prepare for Australia . (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.prepareforaustralia.com.au/living-australia/fo

od-eating/coffee-cafe.aspx

Tiedgen, N. (2013 , January 18). Tourism Australia. Retrieved from

http://www.tourism.australia.com/story-ideas/food-and-

wine-3311.aspx

Yuan, M. (2012, September 2). Radio Australia. Retrieved from

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