Rajesh Jain has some observations on coffeehouses as the internet of the Enlightenment area. All I can say is that I'm glad that I live now and not then. After almost four years of living in Seattle, I'm still not a regular coffee drinker, much less an avid one. Truth be told, I can't really tell the difference between expensive Starbucks coffee and cheap no name coffee. Couple that with being lactose intolerant (yes, I know, soy or rice milk), and coffeehouses have little to no appeal for me. I'll go for coffee if someone wants to go, because I like to be social, but it's not something I'd choose to do just by myself.

As far as combining coffehouses with today's internet, most of the coffeehouses in the Seattle area are on one of the big (expensive) wireless networks. So the coffee capital hasn't figured out that information wants to be free.