Loving Coffee

Aka What I like about having a Coffee

I like to go out for coffee, a lot.

Scratch that, I love going out for Coffee. I love going somewhere on my own, armed with my phone or a sketchpad, and sitting down with a coffee for a while and thinking. I love going out with friends to coffee shops and just chatting. I love old coffee shops, with interesting decor and masters of the art working behind the counter. I love new coffee shops with unique art pieces on the wall, and friendly people behind the counter.

Are you getting the hint yet?

I love Coffee. I am pretty sure I have said this before too.

I went to do a comparison on the weekend, I had coffee at a coffee shop and then I had coffee at a pub two doors down from the coffee shop. The pub won, for me hands down. The food was better, and the coffee was definitely better.

But why?

Aside from the person making it made it better.

What is it about this simple act that I enjoy so much.

It may surprise you, but it isn’t the quality of the coffee. It plays a smaller part than you’d think.

Venue

The experience starts with the venue. Regardless of where it is, and I doubt I am alone in this, I want to go into a coffee shop and feel like I could sit in there for a while if a chose to. I don’t want to feel like I am there to get in have my coffee and leave again as soon as I was done. There are coffee vans and stalls for that. I want to go in and sit at a table in a corner, where I can watch people go about their lives, draw or write until I am done, and potentially leave because I have to do something else, rather than feel like I am going to be forced out when I am done. Fortunately, most coffee shops I go to feel like this to me.

I am pretty sure I judge the decor too. I look at statuettes and paintings and wonder if they are going for a theme. My all time favourite theme is “We have no idea either but it looked good to us”. I love stuffed birds perched on old fans, paintings by local people (nothing funny about it, I genuinely love any art done by people local to the area), little bizarre statues that people found in a creepy antique centre and old posters made in an era where, as long as you didn’t swear, you could write what you liked.

What I don’t like in a venue are deliberately uncomfortable seats, art that looks like it was placed by someone who said “2 paintings there, 2 there and 1 over there doesn’t matter what just paintings”, tables that you can’t merge together if needed and plants that look like they want to leave, even the plastic ones, because they are bored (to be honest I only have one memory of plants like this and they were plastic and all pointing to the door like they were warning us to leave).

Staff

Staff greet you as you come in, this is good, they make you feel welcome, or attempt to ( I love the ones who suck at this), and they know what they have in the store. The really good ones can sometimes pick the sort of coffee you want, to a degree, before you get there.

I love any place where the staff make you feel like an old friend, even on your first visit. Where they aren’t happy to see so much as welcoming.

Staff don’t have to be happy, they just have to make sure you don’t feel like you are the problem, even if you are. I don’t mean if you have done something disruptive, then you are a problem and should bugger off, but more that by being a customer you are a problem. I have seen a few people who have been in a very stressful situation at their place of work, who have still successfully made customers feel welcome regardless. They also shouldn’t be made to feel like they need to accomodate your every whim.

I say this as someone who often likes to alter things on the menu.

There are many people who work in coffee shops who are amazing to me, because they have let me put chili in weird things…actually that is predominantly it. When they do this I am happy to be a repeat customer.

Customers

I thought about this for a few seconds before I started writing, but I realised it makes up part of the experience. I don’t necessarily mean that the place is packed. I mean that the place looks like it has a few people who are regulars. People the staff no by name and have a friendly chat to when they’re not busy. I am this person at a few places.

I don’t want to go somewhere where all of the customers are just racing in, getting coffee and not even thinking about it. Most is fine, as long as there are a few sitting down. There are some people who sit down in coffee shops because they could sit there for ages and work, these people are a good sign too. A sign the coffee at least is bearable (I’ll get to that later).

In some places the customers make you feel welcome too, and these places are extra special and should be treasured.

Food

This is simple. If I can buy it at a convenience store, for less, than I am probably not going to eat it there (unless I am really hungry). The food doesn’t need to be great. You don’t have to have been the ones to make it. I am fully aware there are places that have to make the food off premises, and I am also a big fan of local bakeries and kitchens making things for coffee shops. They too have sausage rolls, pies and brownies. But they don’t make me think I am eating the same thing I bought when I bought my two dollar slurpee and my pre coffee shop snack.

I think I feel a little ripped off by places that do this.

Weird is always good for me, experimental cakes, fusions of food, etc are always going to attract my attention, but most of you already know/thought that.

Coffee

As I said before, coffee is not the most important part. It does play a big part though. I don’t know that I can explain what makes a great coffee to me. I don’t think about it when I am having it, and if I retreat to that place in my mind all I do is make myself want more coffee.

Coffee needs to be good though. It needs to not taste so bitter you can’t taste anything in it. It doesn’t have to have a hint of anything, though this is sometimes nice, just smooth. I need to be able to sip it. If it is too bitter, I will sip it once and then ignore it until it is cold enough to skull.

This section was short due to me not having the inclination to write what I like about coffee, it would take me too long.

In short.

In short I like unique places, that have friendly staff, regular customers and good coffee and food. There are quite a few out there.

Ok, now I need a coffee. Night.