Somewhere along the way during its development and expansion, America temporarily lost its sense of life as an experience. Our society put too much effort into speed, convenience and familiarity while ignoring the less concrete but still very important aspects of everyday living. Cozy grocery stores became supermarkets, boutiques became department stores and family restaurants became brand name chains. Thankfully, all was not lost for experiential business in America. The trend to speed up, dumb down and commoditize every shop and product arguably reached its peak in the 1990's and has since given way to the growing market for the local and personal. This is welcome perhaps nowhere more than the corner cafe.
I think the temporary loss of the quiet, welcoming coffee house in America has mostly to do with our skewed perspective on work and luxury. Americans work a lot, too much even, and this has amplified the appeal of fast, ubiquitous products and services. Our overworked and under-rested populace long ago forgot that coffee is a luxury, not an irreplaceable fuel for laborers. We wanted soldier's coffee, the freeze-dried instant stuff that sacrificed taste and aroma for an economy of haste and bulk-purchase. If people weren't going to enjoy their coffee they certainly weren't going to sit in a comfortable space where they could savor it leisurely. Thus came the fast-food coffee shop and its even more disturbing (yet more appropriate) counterpart the “java hut”, little booths usually located at gas stations and in parking lots that dispense sweetened human rocket fuel.
These franchise shops and java huts aren't exactly going extinct. There will likely always be a place for them in our culture, but they'll have to coexist with local cafes that service the coffee gourmands of the city. These true cafes, the warm hideaways good for reading, relaxing and chatting with friends, aren't even really competition for the quik-coffees of the world. They aim for a completely different demographic and offer what is essentially a different product.
As America embraces leisure and sophistication in all things, Americans can enjoy the simple pleasures of good, strong espresso, of flavorful Arabica beans and careful, gentle roasting. They can rediscover the soul-soothing experience of an iron table in a busy plaza in Springtime, the way biscotti softens ever just so in a perfectly spiced cappuccino, the way a coffee date is supposed to be relaxing and slow rather than quick and corporate. A real cafe serving proper coffee isn't just a quaint import from the Old World, it's an important supplement to one of the world's most distinct flavors.