Having read the latest discussions of home baristas being compared to audiophiles and malachi's rant that began the threads I would share an idea that occurred to me recently. Many scholars studying popular American culture use the concept of civil religion to explain significant facets of life today.

Perhaps one can understand espresso in this context.

Here are some starting points.

Baseball as an American Civil Religion
http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mshute/term%20paper.pdf

Defining Religion in the Context of Sports
http://www.stadiummouse.com/religion/religionandsports2.html

Is HB in the center of an imagined community of shared beliefs, rituals and symbols?

KS

KarlSchneider wrote:Is HB in the center of an imagined community of shared beliefs, rituals and symbols?

Coffee-making is a sorry substitute for Awe-In-Face-Of-The-Universe. For those who regard espresso-making not as a "calling" but a keen culinary interest, HB is simply a good place to gain and to share practical, fact-based knowledge on the subject.

KarlSchneider wrote:Is HB in the center of an imagined community of shared beliefs, rituals and symbols

Are you imaginary?

KarlSchneider wrote:Is HB in the center of an imagined community of shared beliefs, rituals and symbols

I would say it's a real community of differing beliefs, rituals and symbols.

In analogy with sports, "espresso" may approach civil religiosity in barista competitions, and if certain competitors actually have "fans," but I don't think H-B approaches the subject in that way. If it did, there would be a lot more content in here about either how to train and win, or about so-and-so and their god-like dominance of the sport, or about speculation regarding the next big showdown and who would come out the victor.