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.
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.
