Many other coffee shops have sprung up in Iran’s major cities where, until recently, tea was the beverage of choice.“People drink more coffee these days and we try to provide them (with) more facilities,” said Reza Ghafari, the manager of one of the branches of Raees. When the revolution finally erupted, many of those cafes and bars were destroyed or closed. Some were seized by the new regime; others simply faded away.
But their legacy endured. They had been the first forums of democracy, the first classrooms of rebellion, and the first stages of a new social consciousness. Long after the barricades fell silent, people would remember them not just as places to drink or think, but as the cradles of a revolution — where the future began around a table, over a cup, and in the quiet courage of conversation.
