Professor Jakub Grygiel of the Department of Politics at The Catholic University of America wrote an opinion piece published in The Washington Post on Mar. 12, exploring what modern coffee culture reveals about society today.
Grygiel’s column uses the trend of highly customized coffee drinks to reflect on broader cultural changes. He draws from the political philosophy of Edmund Burke to argue that a focus on personal preference and individual expression—seen in elaborate coffee orders—may signal a weakening of shared social habits and communal norms. Grygiel contrasts this with traditions in countries like Italy, where coffee is simpler and more communal.
The essay links everyday consumer choices to larger political questions about community, social cohesion, and how societies balance individual choice with shared traditions. Grygiel suggests that these trends in consumer behavior can have implications for how communities function and maintain their sense of unity.
Jakub Grygiel is a professor specializing in international relations and grand strategy at The Catholic University of America. He served as a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Policy Planning from 2017 to 2018, previously taught at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and has written extensively on geopolitics, security, and foreign policy.
He is also the author of several books including “Return of the Barbarians,” “Great Powers and Geopolitical Change,” and “The Unquiet Frontier” (with Wess Mitchell). Readers can find his full article titled “Your salted caramel mocha latte is destroying society” in The Washington Post.
