I'm not a cafe guy

One thing I really like about this website and blog is connecting with other coffee drinkers. Since I moved to Portland, OR a few months back, I've enjoyed some back and forth with a fellow coffee loving Portlander on Twitter.  He suggested I check out a certain cafe in Portland and today, I did just that.  I was in there just long enough to enjoy an excellent freshly-pressed coffee, eat the ginger cookie that the barista talked me into, and realize that I am just not a cafe guy.[ad#Google Adsense - use me]If you look back onto coffee's role in our civilization of North America, you'll see that the cafe played a significant role.  Prior to the coffeehouse, the place for people to congregate to discuss the issues of the day and calls to action was the tavern.  The great thing about the tavern was that a little alcohol loosened the tongue and got some stimulating conversation going.  The downside was that after so much alcohol, the quality of conversation deteriorated.  The tavern was also a place of petty violence, so the intellectuals looked for somewhere different to meet.They found it in the coffeehouse.  Coffee also started stimulated conversation but without the downside of intoxicating anybody.  Academics, writers, active citizens...they all found a forum in the coffeehouse where they could find common ground.  It's a little-known fact (Normy) that Lloyd's of London started as Lloyd's Coffee House, developing into a banking and insurance company based on the clientele that was meeting for coffee.But what I found today reminded me why I so enjoy sipping coffee at home, rather than sitting in a cafe.  There was no conversation.  Each other customer sat quietly with a laptop in front of them and buds in their ears.  I saw two ladies sitting at the back that I thought might be there as friends - and they may have been, but both were planted in front of their laptop without a word between them.  The barista that greeted me was friendly, which always prompts me to probably talk louder than I need to.  I was immediately self-conscious that besides the trance-like music that was playing, my conversation with the barista was the only other sound.  I didn't bring my laptop with me, it's pretty boring people-watching when everybody works silently, and there was nobody really walking outside except for the same two transients back and forth.  So I pulled out my Blackberry and passed the time until I finished my coffee and cookie.I'd like to see the coffeehouse of old.  I'd like to see like-minded people meet in a cafe to energize themselves on caffeine, discuss the matters of the day, and agree on the calls to action.  The place I went today was little more than a hip library that allows food and beverages.  If the coffeehouse of old is no more, then it was a nice experiment but I'll stick to brewing and drinking the same quality coffee in the comfort of my own home.