The Art of the Coffeeshop (Or Tea Room)

Day Two: Entry Two. I'm on a roll.

For those not in the know, I have recently pulled up my roots on the West Coast of Canada and am in the process of attempting to set down new ones on the East Coast of the United States. One of the most difficult things to leave behind was--aside from friends and family and my precious cat, of course--my community of coffee shops and tea rooms. I know, I know, you're saying "Grace, there's a Starbucks on every corner of every major town--sometimes even two across the street from each other!" (Or perhaps that's just in the city I left behind: the kitty-corner Starbucks phenomenon.)

Let me just put this out there to get it all cleared up straightaway: all coffee shops are not created equal. Heck, even all Starbucks are not created equal. Why, for example, do some have a plethora of comfy chairs and sofas, while others offer only two or three painfully hard wooden chairs? Why do some have electrical outlets, and others only a barren landscape of unbroken taupe-y walls?

I like coffee, and my husband, bless him, makes me my daily cup in the morning. Every now and again, when I feel the urge, I'll partake of a cappuccino or a latte. But for the most part, I am a tea girl. Black, green, white; oolong, rooibos, fruit tisane: I'll take it all. (Another thing left behind was my vast stockpile of teas. I think there were about fifty of them. Now I have one sad little box of Tetley Orange Pekoe teabags in my house. Blech.)

Back to the art of the shop, however. Not for me the clean, sparse, zen-type-shop, oh no. I like comfy couches; dark wood; electrical outlets (I'm a writer. The coffee shop is my office!); tea served in teacups and teapots; milk and honey; as wide a variety of teas as can be kept fresh; quiet, unobtrusive music; an attitude of stay-as-long-as-you-want, here-have-some-more-hot-water; good scones (wanting Devonshire cream and jam to go with is just a pipe-dream, I know); warm colours; free wifi.

What? It's not like I asked for the moon on a string, is it?

To be fair, even though I've had a few favourite haunts, I'm still looking for this elusive and perfect spot. The place I'm sitting in right now really only misses the mark in terms of music (too loud) and as it's only our second "date" so I haven't learned the ropes of good-scones-more-hot-water. It's looking good so far, though. There will definitely be a date number three.

I still miss my Italian-style, classically-beautiful, fabulous chai, wonderful music coffee shop though...but I couldn't have written this blog entry there: they definitely fell down in the wifi department!