Sign of the times: Why the board outside is as important to London's coffee shops as the brew inside

Coffee is served with a side of politics as the capital’s cafés spark debate through prescient posters, says Susannah Butter
Sounding board: Hannah Horvath helps Ray at his café in Girls

In all the best coffee shops the writing is, literally, on the wall. At barometer of caffeine culture trends Grumpy’s, the fictional café in Girls where Ray works, the ethos is expressed through posters. Particularly arresting messages include “No foam, no problem” next to “Pour over is poor and over”, and these have elicited as much post-show Twitter discussion as that plot featuring Welsh actor Matthew Rhys and a fake penis.

As any coffee connoisseur will know, where you get your caffeine fix from is as important as what you order. Since the 17th century, coffee shops have been places to discuss the news and brew up political movements, and that tradition has not gone away. It’s a sign of the times.

The Fuckoffee group of cafés is most proud of its blackboard signs, especially the ones that are deemed “controversial”. At the moment there’s one outside Jonestown Coffee in Bethnal Green that reads: “How many politicians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None, they’re all too busy screwing the country.”

Fuckoffee says the signs “provide exposure and free advertising, especially if people tweet about them. They add to the vibe of the shop. People expect us to be ‘edgy’.” They add that they don’t set out to upset: “Offence is taken, not given.”

Plain speaking: a sign at Jonestown Coffee in Bethnal Green

Over in New York, Greenpoint’s Champion Coffee provides a digest of the day’s events. It has a light touch — a recent bulletin read: “Florida teen shot. Alaska’s most active volcano has woken up. Charles Darwin’s bedroom now open to the public. A maple syrup tanker overturned on New Jersey highway — yum. Italian scientists say pasta isn’t fattening. Lol.”

Deli at 80 in Finsbury Park riffs on the news, with a recent sign reading “And the winner is…” with the word “sanity” crossed out and replaced with “Trump”.

Daily briefing: Champion Coffee’s news digest

Or you could take ready-made signs, as cafés in central London did after the Women’s March. You can think about whether the rise of women means the fall of men and how to make America great again as you savour your Americano.

Sometimes the signs are more random. Curator’s Coffee has a “Mostly useless fact of the day” chalkboard in its Cullum Street branch in the City. Founder Catherine Seay says: “It’s something extra and fun for the customers to read while they wait for their coffees. It can be a great icebreaker as well. Customers love checking the new fact when they come in — one customer even bought us a little book of facts for Christmas one year.”

At Cream in Shoreditch, signs are used to determine the atmosphere of the shop, boasting “There’s a man inside not on his phone, just drinking his coffee”. The medium is the message.

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