An espresso (machine) should be shared and enjoyed together

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When I am in Italy, I immediately indulge in the delicious coffee culture. An espresso in the morning to start the day well, a cappuccino with a sweet croissant for breakfast (no more cappuccino after 12 hours!) And a strong espresso after every meal to be able to cope with the rest of the day. What strikes me is that this is also a social event in Italy. The local coffee house is always open at 7 o'clock in the morning. Behind the bar there’s an impressive coffee machine two meters wide with a busy barista in front. Locals have a coffee - one euro on average –, have a chat with the man or woman next to them and mostly continue on their way after five minutes. It is a pity that my working day does not always start like this.

In the Netherlands we also drink coffee in the morning, but we do that in our own kitchen. Our coffee culture consists of drip coffee and is less appealing in terms of appearance. But the exotic espresso is advancing. A few years ago, Dutch espresso drinkers were still satisfied with a device of 200 euros or so, but nowadays I see espresso machines in the kitchens that cost ten times more and would make baristas in Italian villages drool. . The sad thing is: on average they brew about five cups a day. That's it. Too bad, I think.

Why do we want to possess such huge machines here in the cold north? To be the proud owner of it? If we admire the Italian coffee culture that much, why don't we adopt the whole model? We could enjoy the coffee together in a café. Or maybe such an extravagant device can also be shared with the neighbours who also love coffee.

In the pursuit of happiness, we in the West are focused on having things in our possession, and that is a pity. Nowhere has it been proven that owning stuff helps us to be happy. Wanting to "own" means chasing the symbols of affluence, not wealth itself, says Indian / American writer Deepak Chopra. Material consumption often creates a happy moment, but it always ebbs away quickly. You can only be structurally happy when you're with other people, sharing the good times together.

What applies to espresso machines also applies to concrete drills, leaf blowers, lawnmowers, biros, racing bikes, cars and much more. Owning those doesn’t make us happier; it only does something with our ego, while we might also be wondering: how often do we use that leaf blower? And if I share it with the neighbourhood now, my blower will be of use to everyone. I could put the blower in a shed with the espresso machine, accessible to the residents of my block, and we could agree to pay for the maintenance together.

We literally drown in the stuff we have, but as a society we are not really set up for "sharing" yet. The international loan platform Peerby is trying to make that more normal, more business as usual but there still is too little institutional support for sharing. Government policies could encourage sharing with subsidies that change our behaviour, supported by user apps and add campaigns that mark sharing as normal conduct. Governments could of course also take bolder initiatives and simply state that these types of goods are "public" property, limiting lawnmowers and espresso machines to one per ten inhabitants. But society is not ready for that, I believe, although we have recently learned that all behaviour becomes liquid in times of crisis.

And if that adds up to a nice start of the working day with the neighbours and an espresso in a local café, surrounded by our joint possessions, I’m all for it!

Let’s rebel with a cause!

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Sincerely,

Hans van Bommel, Founder