The coffee shop, the public place par excellence, with the greatest human interaction, derives its origins from the `Thermopolion` of Greek antiquity. In the heart of every ancient Greek city, Agora (market place), where citizens gathered for their most important activities, there were the hospitable `thermopolia`. In these, `drinking, they met for conversation` on a daily basis, communicated with one another, and enjoyed hot drinks in the winter months and soft drinks in the heat of the summer. With the passage of time, in the difficult times of enslavement, but above all after liberation, the coffee shop became closely bound up with the life of the modern Greek and played an important role in Greece’s more modern social and cultural history. The study which follows attempts to take a fresh look at the enchanting idea of the coffee shop and the magic of coffee through a historical and folkloristic review of the `circle of the lost` coffee shops of old Athens. (...)

[Απόσπασμα από κείμενο παρουσίασης εκδότη ή έκδοσης]