Holy Mountain: A Blog about Our Common Life: Coffee feelings

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Coffee feelings

At 787 Coffee in Greenwich Village, the coffee is pricey but the epiphanies are free

Coffeehouses are more than places to buy coffee. The best ones are places to linger, to encounter both friends and strangers, supports for the local community as well as the local economy. In chapter 10 of his landmark The Great Good Place [DaCapo, 2^nd ed, 1999], which popularized the concept of "third places," Ray Oldenburg describes the origins of democratic coffeehouse culture in London and Vienna:

In the coffeehouse, men from all parties and stations could mingle in innocence of the old traditions. In the absence of an established press, face-to-face discussion in the permissive atmosphere of these second-story halls represented a single and vital mode of democratic participation. In the process of this unprecedented mingling, people became sensitive to one anothers’ situations and found common interests and sympathies. They soon discovered, as well, the strength of their numbers and their mutual stake in individual freedom. (1999: 189)

London coffeehouses were also centers of business entrepreneurship, and headquarters for literary lions like John Dryden, Joseph Addison, and Daniel Defoe. At the same time, those coffeehouses, like pubs and bistros, could be oases for their customers, “correctives” from “whatever mental and emotional states the daily struggle induces” (1999: 184).

The splendid courtyard at Topolska 18, Belgrade

At their best, coffeehouses are places to be, not just places to do. Achieving this in America, however, is hindered by our car-centered design, which makes life in public into a series of errands, and/or the cost of real estate in major cities, where proprietors can’t afford the space or the time for customers to hang out.

I was visiting coffeehouses in New York City last month when I had a flash of clarity about what it feels like to be in a coffeehouse. The first two places I went had very little seating relative to the stream of customers, clearly designed for grabbing and going rather than lingering. We did stay awhile, but I was always conscious of the preciousness of the seat I occupied. The third had plenty of seating but was messy and aesthetically unappealing. Only in the fourth was I able to linger un-self-consciously, to watch and listen to the stream of people coming in, and to write most of the blog post on Greenwich Village. Maybe it was because it was Monday as opposed to Saturday or Sunday? The counterman did describe business as “slow,” though it seemed steady to me.

interior coffeehouse with seated customers

Sunday morning at Brewhemia, Cedar Rapids
(truth in blogging: 15 minutes later the line was out the door)

I know some people are in a hurry, and I’m certainly not one to tell anyone how to run a business or survive in the city, but the coffeehouse experience requires enough space and the right ambience to relax, enough other customers to provide interest (and income for the proprietor), as well as good things to eat and drink.


Selection of baked goods at Cafe St. Pio

Ideally the place also should be in a walkable area, with its own footprint adding at most a small parking lot. (Come to think of it, my list resembles Jeff Speck’s criteria for walking that should be purposeful, comfortable, interesting and safe.)

Friendliness and whimsy are bonuses.

Men's room at the Early Bird downtown,
which space is now occupied by the equally amusing Craftd

Although we at Coe College lament the 2020 closing of our beloved Brewed Awakenings Coffeehouse, expanding our horizons just a bit to the core of Cedar Rapids gets us by my count eleven local coffee places. I patronize all eleven, because research, and am here to tell you each has its distinctive features that enhance a guest's experience. The four best of them feature:

· Enough Space: not so big that you feel like an atom, but not so small that you can’t relax, with a warm ambience. Two of my faves are located on street corners; all have large front windows none of which face east, so there’s the right amount of natural light in the morning.

shop exterior with large windows and door

Facing northwest and southwest, Cafe St. Pio anchors a key block in Czech Village

· Customer traffic: I don’t have data, but my hunch is that my two favorites do somewhat less business than the other two. As with the previous category, I’m groping for a sweet spot, enough to be interesting but not so much that the space can’t handle the crowd.

· Closing time: I like my coffee breaks mid-morning, but sometimes you want to meet someone in the afternoon. 2:00 p.m. seems early to close, but it’s pretty typical of Cedar Rapids. One of my favorite four is open til 4:00, and the other, bless it, til 6:00. Three are open Saturdays, three Sundays, with earlier weekend closing times.

Craftd downtown is closed Saturdays, but open Sundays

· Moderately priced coffee: Cheap is for c-stores, but by big city standards prices at our coffeehouses are eminently reasonable, about $3-3.50 for a 16-ounce drip coffee. (Your humble blogger likes his coffee humble as well.) Most places offer free or discounted refills as well, which encourages hanging out.