Bulgarian coffee-drinking habits are rooted in centuries of historic oppression.
A few months ago, I visited a coffee roastery in Sofia and met with a Peruvian gentleman who brewed me different coffees from around the world. While drinking our drinks, I asked him why he chose Bulgaria to base his business. His answer was simple but profound: “People in Bulgaria have the habit of drinking coffee, but they don’t have the culture of drinking coffee. I want to help change that.”
After observing how people talked about coffee, I realized he was correct. Most Bulgarians drink coffee with a horrible taste to simply get energy in the morning. The root of this is, surprisingly, the history of Bulgarian oppression by the Ottoman Empire and the Soviet Union, which has resulted in coffee-drinking habits that are utilitarian and outdated.
To support this claim, one must look at Bulgarian history over the past couple of centuries and the status of coffee during that time. Bulgaria was famously under Ottoman rule for around five centuries. The empire was actually one of the first nations to ever brew coffee, through a process which today is known as Turkish coffee. It is made by mixing ground beans with water and boiling the mixture, resulting in a very strong bitter taste. For this reason, the recipe for Turkish coffee also includes sugar, which was a luxury only the Ottoman elite could afford. The unsweetened version of the drink was the only way to consume coffee for Bulgarians, which is where the relationship of the nation with bitter coffee starts.
After the Bulgarian liberation from the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria was under communist rule, which was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union. In the 70s, all Soviet states started popularizing instant coffee and pre-ground coffee, originating from Brazil, with a big focus on quantity over quality. The available ground coffee was roasted very dark to stay in stores for a long time, which meant that the final coffee had a similar taste to Turkish coffee — bitter and unpleasant without sugar. Instant coffee, on the other hand, was so convenient that the subpar taste was not a big issue. These are the circumstances that solidified modern Bulgarian coffee habits.
When looking at the present, though, there have been some changes in the coffee landscape in Bulgaria, such as the rise of coffee pods and café chains like Starbucks. According to Euromonitor, coffee pods now make up 17% of the Bulgarian coffee market share (instant coffee still reigns supreme with 77%). However, these changes are not necessarily a step in the right direction.
Coffee culture as a whole is split into three distinct waves that define the habits and preferences of the drinkers. Up until the early 2010s, Bulgaria was stuck in the first coffee wave, which had a focus on utility. This includes all the bitter, easy-to-prepare coffee discussed above. Today, Bulgaria is in the second wave, where coffee is becoming a social movement. Pretty Starbucks coffees and Nespresso drinks are a way for drinkers to feel good about themselves on a social level.
So why isn’t this good news? Because the rest of Europe is on the third wave of coffee, which focuses on the coffee itself — beans sourced from small farms, roasted on the spot, and brewed by a professional barista are valued, with the aim to extract all flavors of the beans.
Because of its connection to the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria has a national habit of drinking lots of coffee, but because of its connection with the Soviet Union, it doesn’t have the culture of drinking tasty coffee. This leads to slower progress in the coffee culture for the whole nation, and big corporations take advantage of this to grow their businesses. Starbucks, Nespresso, and other second-wave coffee businesses present themselves as the “best new thing” while actually selling a low-quality drink.
There is an argument to let people enjoy what they enjoy. While for the majority of people, instant coffee and burnt moka or Turkish coffee might actually be delicious, it is essential to look at the bigger picture of the industry. Most mass-produced coffee is the product of human rights violations and abuse. It becomes increasingly important for people to shift away from this mentality and toward the third wave of coffee culture, which is focused on ethical sourcing and a better quality of coffee. This, however, inherently means leaving behind the habits built up throughout the centuries.
From a more philosophical point of view, the current coffee-drinking habits demonstrate that the influence of the powers who have abused Bulgaria is still flowing through the veins of the average person. But by changing our daily drinking habits, we might be able to reclaim one small part of the Bulgarian identity and build a coffee culture that is entirely our own.
