Who knew there was such a thing as International Coffee Day? Who, like me, simply couldn’t do without their morning beverage? Plus how do some cafes create a sense of community? Enter, the third place.
If you haven’t had a flat white, a long black, a latte or your usual order already today, go grab one now, or get a second one. Tell your boss it’s your duty, because today is International Coffee Day! The first one was on October 1st 2015, as agreed by the International Coffee Organization, and launched in Milan. Now New Zealand is one of the 15 countries that celebrate International Coffee Day on October 1 (other countries participate on other dates).
It makes sense that New Zealand participates, given we have quite the relationship with coffee. We invented the flat white (yes there’s a Trans-Tasman disagreement, but we’re totally claiming it like we did the pavlova). A whopping two-thirds of NZ adults drink coffee. In fact New Zealand ranks among the top coffee-consuming countries per capita, with Kiwis drinking an estimated 3.7kg of coffee per person every year. There would be CHAOS if there was a coffee-bean shortage.
So let’s pay homage to the brew that gets many of our days started! Listening to Eye Of The Tiger propels me out the door, but my coffee readies my brain for a day’s work. I only have one single-shot flat white in the morning because I’m one of those people whose caffeine hit lasts til late afternoon. Perfect for #workingschoolhours!
A big deal
It turns out International Coffee Day is a way, way bigger thing than I thought. The 77 Member States of the International Coffee Association and dozens of coffee associations globally celebrate the day as “a celebration of the coffee sector’s diversity, quality and passion. It is an opportunity for coffee lovers to share their love of the beverage and support the millions of farmers whose livelihoods depend on the aromatic crop”. This year the theme is ‘collaboration’, highlighting partnerships across the chain from farmers and roasters to baristas.
Oh and this year, the United Nations General Assembly officially designated 1 October as International Coffee Day, recognising both coffee’s global importance and the people behind it, particularly the up to 25 million farming households, largely in developing countries, that produce around 80 per cent of the world’s coffee.
Fair Trade Australia and New Zealand says “this year for International Coffee Day we’re especially celebrating coffee farmers just across the way in PNG [Papua New Guinea]. PNG coffee is special because the climate and landscape is so well suited to coffee that it grows wild! Fairtrade coffee farmers in PNG don’t use the wild stuff though – theirs is lovingly grown in small coffee gardens to be organic and pure.” To find coffees that use PNG beans, or fair-trade beans in general, check them out here.
In any event
In many countries, some cafés and coffee roasters host events, and offer discounts and promotions on International Coffee Day. Does much happen in New Zealand on the day? Jessica MacDonald from the NZ Specialty Coffee Association says that International Coffee Day is celebrated differently by different companies. “I definably see some companies who give away free or discounted coffee, and it’s often a chance to shout out people in the industry.”
Megan Wyper, managing director and co-owner of Acme Cupco, is a barista-turned-coffee cup designer, and a big champion for New Zealand’s specialty coffee industry. She says “International Coffee Day is an interesting one for sure. We haven’t really leaned into it much. Mostly it happens and then we realise it was International Coffee Day! Every day is international coffee day for me/us!”
“But,” Megan adds, “I could talk until the cows come home about the cafe and its place in society as our ‘third space’. The cafe is often under-appreciated and only given attention regarding coffee prices.” Also, she says, there’s often this narrative that coffee is a luxury item you could give up. “As in ‘for the price of a coffee you could do X’ instead. And the café is never given the spotlight it deserves.”
Well, let’s do that, briefly.
The third place
Sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term ‘third place’ in the 1980s to describe spaces that aren’t home (first place) or work (second place), but somewhere in between. As in, a space where people feel comfortable, relaxed and socially connected.
Looking back through history, incarnations of a ‘third place’ include the agoras (gathering places/assemblies) of ancient Greece, the public baths of ancient Rome, and all the town squares in Europe (ah, Venice).
How did the café become a third place? An article in coffeestudies.com states that the very first coffeehouses arose in the Middle East. “The coffee house was arguably as important an invention as coffee itself. Before Ottoman Istanbul in the 1550s, there was no place in the world quite like it: a public commercial space where anyone with a few coins could sit for hours, discuss the news of the day, read the latest pamphlets, and consume a beverage that stimulated conversation rather than dulling it.”
The idea spread. “Cafes started to thrive in England in the 17th century, when people would often engage in political debates long into the night inside them. The cheap price of admission to these spaces – usually nothing more than a cup of coffee – allowed large cross-sections of people to gather and simply talk, debate, and meet each other. At this time, coffeehouses were sometimes referred to as ‘penny universities,’ as cups of coffee typically only cost a penny.”
Then there were the 18th– and 19th-century Parisian salons where intellectuals, writers and artists met informally to discuss philosophy, politics etc.
And today?
Nowadays, cafes have become the third place to many, or even our second place if we don’t have an office.
Many people work from their laptops in cafes, particularly if they usually work from home but need a public environment for their sanity. I did this when I didn’t have an office, as I HATED working from home.
I now work alone in a rented office (I’m the only Capsule-ite in Wellington), so my favourite cafe is my third place for sure. If I’m not doing an interview that day, my face-to-face interactions (apart from my family) may only be at the cafe.
‘My’ barista and I have exchanged chit-chat many dozens of times. I like that our interactions aren’t always a polite script. One day he said ‘how are you?’ and I said ‘pretty shit actually’ without thinking, and he goes ‘oh yeah I had a shit day yesterday’. It was a lovely moment of authentic human communication.
I used to go to the cafe lots when my son was a baby because I needed not a third place, but a second place. I’d pop him in the high chair and he’d suck all the plastic toys (I washed them before we left). I’d order a coffee and open the paper. It was the highlight of my day, but as a new mum I was craving adult company.
Often I saw at another table a man of maybe 65. He commented on how cute my baby was, and we got to talking. John was a builder, divorced, and I think a bit lonely. The café was his third place – well, his second place now he’d just retired. He liked talking to a journalist. We would often share a table and talk about economics, philosophy and politics (with diverging views on that last one). It was cool.
John also started chatting to Janice*, a blind woman from the nearby council flats whose only non-essential expense, and the highlight of her day, was coming in for a coffee. John would pay for her coffee if he strode to the counter quickly enough. I would chat to her when I got the feeling she’d like a chat. For a while she didn’t come in and John, who only knew her from the café, said she’d just had an operation and that he had gone to visit her at the hospital. I found this moving.
As I, John and Janice show, cafes acting as a ‘third place’ can bring people from all walks of life together. (That ties into the 2026 theme of ‘belonging’ of the upcoming Mental Health Awareness Week.)
Coffee can also build bonds with friends. My husband and I often invite friends around for coffee (and some baking) on weekend mornings, because our place is too small to host people for dinner and my husband makes a great flat white. Also, if I catch up with a friend in town, it’s usually over a coffee in a cafe.
So, happy International Coffee Day! If it’s too late to swing by a café today to get a coffee, we reckon the weekend counts too.