Caffe Tazza, sign of this famous little coffee shop in Taos, NM, March 21, 2010, photo © 2010 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
You know the place. A quiet buzz about it, like the buzz you get when you drink what it sells. Café latte. Cappuccino. Chai. Espresso.
You go there because that’s where you like to go best when you have a free moment to write. The sound of people talking, milk being steamed, the coffee grinder — it’s white noise. Not so loud as to distract yet not so quiet as to hear your voice inside your head.
Unless you live in a truly rural area, your city or town probably has such a spot where people gather, maybe talk politics or business deals or religion. Maybe it’s more diner than coffee shop, but no matter, it’s a place you can depend on for a good cuppa Joe and a little peace of mind.
Some coffee shops are as old and famous as monuments. Heck, they are monuments.
According to the Kona Joe website, coffee houses are part of the foundation of modern financial and shipping centers, not to mention cultural ones.
The New York Stock Exchange started as a coffee house, as did Lloyd’s of London—previously Lloyd’s Coffeehouse. The Baltic Coffeehouse became the London Shipping Exchange, and the Jerusalem Cafe became the East India Company.
Up until recently the runners at the British Stock Exchange were still called waiters due to fact it too started as a coffee house.
Other cafes evolved into centers for both the arts and sciences. Sir Isaac Newton hung out at the Grecian Coffeehouse. Jonathon Swift and Alexander Pope hung out at Old Slaughter’s Cafe.
The French and American Revolution were fomented in the coffee house. On July 12, 1789, Camille Desmoulins leaped on a table at the cafes of the Palais Royal and urged the mob to take up arms against the French aristocracy.
Due to the fact that much discussion of political intrigue and gossip occurred over a cup of Joe at these famous coffee houses it was only a matter of time before someone started writing these things down.
A man named Richard Steele decided to publish a weekly magazine on the most interesting gossip collected from the coffee houses. Correspondents were sent out to these coffee houses and wrote what they heard as narratives. This collection went on the become “Tatler,” the first modern magazine. London’s second oldest newspaper, “Lloyd’s News,” started as a bulletin board in Lloyd’s Coffeehouse.
There are famous coffee shops all around the world and a heckuva lot of not-so-famous ones, too.
Coffee shops come and go. Coffee shop owners are, I imagine, a lot like bookstore owners. They go into the business because they love the product, and not just the coffee or the book but the whole experience. But independent coffee shops can be as rare as independent bookstores. When you find one, hold on tight. Tell your friends about it, and make sure to frequent it often.
I don’t know about you, but when I get to a new city somewhere, the first place I seek out is a coffee shop. It makes me feel settled. It gives me a place to go, to sit alone quietly and know that even though I’m hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away from everything familiar to me, I am home.
Do you have a favorite coffee shop, at home or in the cities you visit most? What is your special place like? Think about it. Why do you love it so? Is it a soothing place to be? Is it dingy yet homey? Do you love it for the dependable java or the people who work there and/or go there?
How often do you go and how long do you stay? Where do you sit and what do you do while you’re there? Do you order yours skinny, decaf, double, with foam?
Write about your favorite coffee shop. Hey, go to your favorite coffee shop and then write about it.
My favorite coffee shop. Fifteen minutes. Go.
The oasis that is Oasis, ybonesy’s favorite coffee shop, March
2010, photo © 2010 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
Truly rural. We even lost our Starbucks, though honestly, I never set foot in the door in it’s two years of existence.
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There’s a coffee shop in Austin — Austin Java — it’s always busy with coffee drinkers and wifi surfers. Coffee’s great, atmosphere awesome. And they also have beer. Great place to write or meet a friend. I love Austin. Maybe someday I’ll live there.
In my neighborhood Panera is the place to be for coffee, wifi, and all the other stuff.
Coffee, wifi. They go together now.
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My writing practice group met at Austin Java a couple of Saturdays ago. Great place, although our reading may have disturbed the wifi-ers.
My local is Ruta Maya, a barn of a place, children’s corner, yoga and other classes going on in the morning, little concern for decor, but plenty of space and quiet (when music isn’t playing). One afternoon a couple of years ago I suddenly found myself in the middle of a poetry festival. Delightful.
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For me, it’s the Blue Moon in Minneapolis. I know all the baristas, including the one I call Audrey because she’s the spitting image of Audrey Hepburn. I have coffee shop friends who I only see when I’m at the Blue–Kate, Jerry, Rick, Katie. We help settle each other. I can start writing when we’re all in our corners.
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My favorite is Oasis, although it’s new enough that in the many times I’ve gone, I’ve only ever hung out with friends and talked. Hope to be able to test it out for writing soon.
Recently did some doodling in Caffe Tazza while in Taos, and I used to love writing in Milagro cafe, which unfortunately went under. (It was such a shame, as it was also the spot for Poetry Slam.)
Gunnar, the photo of the Espresso sign I shot in a Starbucks while waiting for my 5th grader’s tutoring session one day recently. Wrote there, although the music was almost too loud for writing. (Loved what they were playing, btw.)
Austin! I love that city. Sharon, my brother-in-law is a Panera manager. Love that place!
Teri, what do you know about any famous writers and their writing habits–did coffee shops figure in at all?
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This Writing Topic looks fun to me. So much happens in coffee shops. In Minneapolis, I’m a fan of the Blue Moon and Diamonds. As far as I know, they are both women-owned which makes me love them even more. Great spaces to write and hang out. Relaxed. And the owners of Diamonds also ride motorcycles. I like their yearly calendars. Got there too late this year, they had sold out of them.
Glad you got to visit Tazza ybonesy. We did a lot of writing there during the Intensive and the workshops in Taos over the years. I like it there. Met some off the wall people, too. I think I was once there for Open Mic or something. Trying to remember who I was with. I sure have run into some characters in Taos (they probably thought the same about me).
I always wanted to visit some of the coffee shops in Europe, maybe Paris where a ton of writers hung out in the 1920s and 1930s. Is it really easier to write in coffee shops? I don’t know. But rich material. Details, details, details. After a while, I can block out the noise. But if I have to do research or something quieter, it’s harder around the noise.
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When I was in college I could only study in this place called The Frontier, which is shaped like a big barn and serves the best local food. It’s across the street from the university. Anyway, the quiet of the library was so distracting to me. Every time someone walked in, I had to look up and see who it was. I’ve always done better with some amount of noise.
But I also remember back when we had our Bones-style writing group, for a while we met at the Satellite Coffee, which is another coffee shop, and they played the music too loud such that it often invaded our Writing Practice. Plus, one time I was there the counter person came up to me and said that I had to order something if I wanted to stay. I had ordered and finished my food and drink but had taken my dirty plates to the bin, and when I went up to the counter to ask for water, she thought I was only hanging there and drinking tap water. That made me mad enough to stop going there for a while. Haven’t really been back since.
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I love me a coffee shop. Unfortunately, most of the ones in China a plush monster coffee chains from Japan, with a few Starbucks thrown in for good measure.
There is one locally, Momo Bar, a store front with plastic chairs. They have fairly good coffee, milk tea, and pleasant staff. When the weather is fine it’s a great place to sit and watch the world go by.
Now that I think about it, I think I like Momo Bar more than many of the Canadian coffee shops I used to frequent.
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[…] -related to Topic post: WRITING TOPIC — MY FAVORITE COFFEE SHOP […]
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[…] Hard to imagine any of these Mom & Pop places competing with this Starbucks, though, the steady stream of jogging-suit-clad men and women. I swear at least 40 coffee drinks have been sold in the 40 minutes we’ve been here. –related to Topic post: WRITING TOPIC — MY FAVORITE COFFEE SHOP […]
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http://oakwoodlife.blogspot.com/2010/04/elbow-room.html
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[…] will be long nights under Mabel’s lights and slow walks into Taos. Some will walk the morada, visit the graves of Mabel and Frieda, soak up places that Georgia […]
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A link to a cute story about a Malibu coffee shop. http://www.stevenameche.com/starbucks.html
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Thanks for stopping by and sharing, Steve. Coffee shops. Microworlds away.
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