imnitwit (u/imnitwit)

imnitwit commented on Why drinking coffee in Iran has become so complicated adelbordbari.github.io/et... · Posted by u/imnitwit

gwern · 4 months ago

Bingo. OP is obviously LLM-written and is nothing but clickbait. (Did anything but that tweet even happen? Is any of it true?) And HN is falling for it hook, line, and sinker exactly as calculated.

Look at the author's previous blog posts: low effort, not even correctly spelled or written, like https://adelbordbari.github.io/album/2025-1-25-the-horror-an... (as expected from an Iranian ESL) - and then this one is suddenly boom: perfectly spelled, em-dashes all over, and where did all these <br> come from? Who writes a Github Pages Markdown Jekyll post with a bunch of <br>s in it...? An LLM, obviously.

https://adelbordbari.github.io/about/

> I’m studying artificial intelligence at university...I’m busy with my storybook that’s supposed to be published by June 2024 as well.

imnitwit · 4 months ago

the <br>s come from Jekyll :) it turns the newline in md to <br>s in html.

imnitwit commented on Why drinking coffee in Iran has become so complicated adelbordbari.github.io/et... · Posted by u/imnitwit

canjobear · 4 months ago

Writing blog posts against people who are precious about their coffee is also a lifestyle signal.

imnitwit · 4 months ago

good one

imnitwit commented on Why drinking coffee in Iran has become so complicated adelbordbari.github.io/et... · Posted by u/imnitwit

maxander · 4 months ago

The interesting thing about this blog post isn’t the point it makes (which was endlessly made about cafes in all blue-state U.S. cities in the 00s) but that it’s an Iranian writing in English, and thus for an Western audience, about Iranian culture.

What is going on with that? I don’t even dare to speculate. But something more interesting than bougie coffeeshops, certainly.

imnitwit · 4 months ago

xD ask me.

imnitwit commented on Why drinking coffee in Iran has become so complicated adelbordbari.github.io/et... · Posted by u/imnitwit

shwin · 4 months ago

I think it’s actually a good thing that people are increasingly curious and informed about where the things they consume come from. Sure, some of it can be a front, but consumers get a choice to be more discriminating and demanding about where their consumption comes from, and that can (and has!) lead to better production practices; feels weird to complain about that.

imnitwit · 4 months ago

There aren't even proper recipes. You could go to 3 different cafes on the same street, order the same thing, and get 3 totally different results. Afogato? Every barista has their own "personal experience". The names they use aren't even "real" anymore. Not coffee-related but the first thing on top of my head: They sell bacon here in Iran, and for those unaware, pork is haram in Islam, thus illegal to sell, produce, or consume. It's just cuts of beef or lamb that they sell as bacon! And the catch? It's more expensive.

the same thing, but with a different price tag.

imnitwit commented on Why drinking coffee in Iran has become so complicated adelbordbari.github.io/et... · Posted by u/imnitwit

behnamoh · 4 months ago

> People are bored, insecure, or just looking for something to latch onto. So we pay more for a label that makes us feel seen. It’s not about taste—it’s about signaling. And cafés know that. They exploit it. Ruthlessly.

This is a poor take on what's actually a rich cultural shift towards variety seeking. What's wrong with that? The author could go to a regular cafe and have the regular coffee they want, but some people want trying new things.

imnitwit · 4 months ago

Oh, it is a cultural shift, but not simply towards variety. It feels like it's towards just making a scene of everything, and then selling the scene to you once you're deep in. You'd very commonly find items titled:

"deep loneliness", "caramel kiss", "essence of isolation", "burning blooms", "memories of early morning Paris", "rise of the Persian kingdom" "the battle of joys", "a millennium of bliss", "sausage party", "kiss of the dune", and my favorite: "call it whatever you want".

Yes, those are [roughly translated] titles in a cafe menu(!?) The point is to "have" a variety of options, not to be overwhelmed by the abundance of choices. I'm just ranting since I feel like I have no choice, other than to have too many choices. I want the simple, generic boring stuff, "too". Isn't the lack of that very "generic" option against variety itself? I'm a potential consumer too, but I'm deprived of my choice since I'm not planning to pay 3x for an unnecessarily weird name.