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Inside the Cat Cafe phenomenon
Why coffee and kitties are such a good blend
Stressed out from work? Need a purrfect pick-me-up during your lunch break? Look no further than your local cat cafe. This brilliant blend of cozy coffee shop and adoptable cuddly kitties has taken the world by storm.
The first cat cafe originated in Taiwan in the late 1990s, but the trend didn’t go viral until Tokyo got its first feline-filled cafe in 2004. People lined up for hours just to sip coffee surrounded by dozens of adorable resident rescue cats.
From Japan, the cat cafe craze spread internationally. Paris opened its first in 2013. London’s Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium launched in 2014 to huge hype. New York jumped on board in 2016 with Brooklyn’s The Cat Cafe.
So what’s behind the cat cafe phenomenon? These specialty hangouts appeal to our basic human need for connection. For many apartment dwellers or folks who can’t have pets, cat cafes offer the perfect dose of animal therapy. And the cats benefit too — with greater visibility and more potential forever homes.
Beyond providing animal interactions, cat cafes serve an important mission —…
