From young professionals to pensioners, from mums meeting up to students nursing a latte for three hours just so they can use the free Wi-Fi, they're the new social hub for communities, as Julie Tinson explains.
Or rather, because I'm not one of those sad sacks who confuses an actor with their TV character (happens to soap stars all the time, I'm reliably informed), it's one cappuccino (for her) and one latte (for me) with Elizabeth McGovern, the LA-raised actress who plays the American heiress wife of Hugh Bonneville's the Earl of Grantham in ITV1's recent hit Sunday night costume drama.
Greenwald informs her readers that the couple, who have now been married for two years, served half-caf vanilla lattes at their wedding reception.
One dollar bought six Sweden kronor, meaning a café latte for 30 kronor set you back $5. Today, that same latte costs only $3.79, a drop of 32%.
"One of the sisters came in and asked for a latte with six sugars – six sugars!
The primary issue, in TDWP, is its narrator's resentment, as a lowly assistant, at having to pick up coats and being misused as a fetcher of endless snacks and coffees, "Starbucks only, tall latte, two raw sugars", for her impossibly scary boss.
Still, the illiterate customer persists, for about five minutes of complaining and loud talking, and is rewarded with a free iced latte for his efforts.
But what is it like to compete head-to-head, latte for latte, against Starbucks in the throne room itself?
So put down that venti latte, for heaven's sake.
I ordered my wife's tall caramel latte, a coffee size meant for children, while I ordered a man-size venti caramel latte for myself.
