Città del Caffè

A Café Travelogue Link 

When I searched "Coffee Town" on Google to create a catchy title for this post, Trieste appeared -- rather than the phrase città del caffè. This suggests that the only error in Susan Van Allen's article on Trieste for BBC Travel is the use of the word "surprising" in the title.

Photo: Michael Brooks via BBC

I try to learn something new about coffee every day, and it is often thanks to students past and present that I do so. On this, the first day of my spring-semester coffee seminar, a former sent me a link to Van Allen's article Trieste: Italy's surprising capital of coffee.

Italy is the only European country to have grown coffee, long ago on the island of Sicily. Trieste is a center for the aspects of coffee for which Italy is better known -- importing, roasting, brewing, and most relevant to this blog: sipping at outdoor cafés. The BBC article provides a lot of insight to all of this, and to the relevance of coffee culture to the broader cultural geography of the city.

The article mentions the importance of the city's location but does not provide a map. To my discredit, I had never looked for Trieste on a map, even though it figures prominently in Black Gold, a coffee movie I have seen dozens of times.

This screenshot from the GeoCafes map highlights a specific café that Van Allen highlights in her article: the Cafè San Marco. It also shows the position of Trieste in the extreme northeast of Italy; the article explains the significance of this location.

Favorite Coffee Question

 A Coffee Maven Dental Encounter

In our relatively small college town, I know that I might get asked a coffee question at any time. I always welcome it!

The coffee mentioned in this video is Byron's Maracaturra from Thanksgiving Coffee. Since our first meeting in 2007, I have brought almost 100 people to Byron's farm Los Pinos, named for the pine trees he planted as part of a holistic approach to cultivating an entire ecosystem around the coffee fruit. Byron is, for us, the Poet of Coffee.

In the video, I also mention my Nighthawks post elsewhere in this blog, where I use the Edward Hopper painting to introduce a discussion of the placeness of cafés.

Demise of a Coffee Shop

A January 2021 Remote Review

It is unclear who said it first, but geographers and others know that the value of a property -- and the potential of a business -- depends on three factors: location, location location.

Detail from GeoCafes Map

This would suggest great things for The Kitchen Café, which opened in 2017 in a cozy thicket of streets just a few steps from South Station in Boston. And for several years, great things were happening for this family business as it grew to employ 20 people. Sadly, however, I learned of the Café only because of its closure because of the Covid19-related changes in dining, especially downtown dining. 

Photo: Robin Lubbock WBUR

I include the radio story Time to Cut Losses here in part because it is representative of the difficulties many independent businesses -- which all of the cafés featured on this blog are -- in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic. A general contraction of the economy combined with restrictions on indoor dining have forced several thousand small restaurants to close just in Massachusetts. 

Some have managed to remain open by reconfiguring on-site dining in various ways and by shifting to a focus on carry-out, delivery, or catering. This is where the location of The Kitchen Café may have limited its options: a very large proportion of its patrons could walk to the café from their offices until they shifted to working from home, in many cases at the far end of one of the train lines that brought them to the neighborhood. This raises the question of how businesses that serve office workers in such locations will fare post-pandemic. Polling of employers and employees alike suggests that after work-at-home is not longer required, some people will move back to their offices as before, some will never come back, and the average might be a reduction of about 1/3 in office usage. If this prediction holds true, maintaining and launching cafés in such locations will be even more challenging in the future.

The trajectory of launching a café is another reason I include this story. Jayme Valdez and his wife represent the thousands of people who start new cafés and restaurants each year. The story gives listeners a bit more insight into the kinds of stories behind most of the small shops that are described elsewhere on this blog. None of them succeed by accident, and despite the opening paragraph above, location only favors those who have the rest of what it takes to grow and sustain a business with notoriously small profit margins. My students and I have found scores of independent shops whose owners could probably tell similar stories. 

As we continue the blog project with a new group of students in the 2021 spring semester, we will be learning -- mostly at a distance -- about how they have fared in this most difficult time for small business. 

Cool Beans Coffee House - Toms River, NJ

A May 2020 Remote Review

While researching through the hundreds of coffee shops that reside in the great state of New Jersey, I came across a pretty "cool" place called the Cool Beans Coffee House. This cute cafe is located in Toms River New Jersey. Due to Covid-19 I was unable to visit this coffee shop in person so instead I will be giving an online review.

https://www.coolbeanstr.com/

Through extensive online research I have gathered some solid information about Cool Beans. According to their website Cool Beans is "More than just coffee". They serve breakfast lunch and dinner and even have their own catering business. Cool Beans is said to "put wraps on the map" with over 30 custom wraps. 

https://www.coolbeanstr.com/about

Although cool beans serves delicious food, it is mostly known for its delicious coffee. They serve many types of coffees, from a hot cup of joe to those really scrumptious specialty coffees. It is said to be that their candy bar specialty coffees are a big hit. I would not doubt if they are specialty coffees are right up my alley, I am just salivating thinking about a Milky Way iced coffee!

A Milky Way Latte

Cool Beans is known for being your cozy neighborhood restaurant where friendly people come to share and enjoy their love for coffee. It is known for being a "family atmosphere".  After researching Cool Beans Coffee House it is apparent why people love this coffee shop! They are more than a coffee shop bringing more to the table and going above and beyond. From staff down to the espresso beans it is an over all hit. I will add this to my bucket list in hopes of visiting one day. With my love of coffee I will be sure to try out the signature “milky way” latte.

- Zak Labonte

Anastasia and Katie’s Coffee Shop & Cafe - Livonia, MI

A May 2020 Remote Review

My online café visit was to a coffee shop in Livonia, Michigan called “Anastasia and Katie’s Coffee Shop and Café” with the slogan “We Are Good and Strong”. The reason I have chosen this coffee shop is for the entire reason why they are open, and that is to help those with developmental disabilities find jobs and grow skills so that they may find better jobs in the future. The shop works with the employment program Mi Works Matters to assist in the hiring individuals with developmental disabilities and the first thing that you see on their website is pictures of those who they have helped though this program.

The main focus of this coffee shop is not being a coffee shop, and that is apparent in the fact that they have limited options of drinks and meals, their focus is on making a statement and helping those who are left on the wayside in many other jobs or occupations. The prices for all their drinks and food are reasonably priced and there is nothing that catches the eye because all of the options are your typical drinks and foods. Their hours are not competitive in the coffee shop market like with Dunkin or Starbucks but again they are not a coffee shop who is aspiring to be competitive or to give the most options to blow away the competition. No, they aspire to touch the hearts of anyone that comes in contact with the store because seeing those who are typically in the background in the front, talking with you, learning new things through your patronage, now that is what they do, and it is by far the most underappreciated work that can be done. They have received many reviews by news articles and televised news and rightfully so.

I wish that I could visit this store, not only to experience the rare style customer service but also to pledge my support for the work these wonderful people are doing. Few things compare to the work of lifting others for the betterment of the whole, this shop does exactly that.

- Nathan Irwin

Otherlands Coffee Bar - Memphis

A May 2020 Remote Review

Otherlands Coffee Bar prides itself on its real food and coffee. Their products are in no way processed and are all made in-house. To add to this, they have many vegan and gluten-free options. There are very little complaints on their food quality, and the prices are very affordable as well. This café offers a multitude of espresso drinks, brewed and iced coffee, and frozen drinks. There is a total of 9 flavor shots to be chosen from if wanted, but sweet, desert-like drinks do not seem to be their most popular. Rather, it is their stronger espresso beverages that get the most demand. Their coffee is described as “one of the best in the city”, and is loved by its locals. They also offer a variety of breakfast and lunch options that are widely liked. It is described as having a hippie-like atmosphere that attracts both locals and tourists.

Otherlands is not your average in-and-out coffee shop. Although you can get your coffee to go, it is decorated with multiple rooms in a way that it can be a hangout spot as well. It is perfect for studying, getting work done, or just relaxing. The employees redecorate often and there are also always magazines and other things to read available. The many couches and big, comfortable looking chairs are perfect for sitting down with a cup of coffee and getting some work done. My favorite part of Otherlands Coffee Bar is that it completely contradicts the coffee places we are used to. Dunkin Donuts for example has all processed products, is fast, and just about everything is extremely sugary with a lot of calories. Otherlands is a hangout spot, loved by its locals and tourists, has real food and drink with healthy options, and has an atmosphere unlike most coffee shops. Its originality is what draws in so many people and keeps business running. It is very busy a lot of the time but the spacious way in which it is set up still makes it a perfect place to do some work. This is a coffee shop that I would love to visit if I am ever in the area, and I believe more coffee shops should strive to have the authentic nature that Otherlands Coffee Bar does.

-- Alexa Shearns

Giant Leap Coffee - Houston

A May 2020 Remote Review

The coffee shop that I chose for my state in Texas is Giant Leap Coffee. This coffee shop is located on the East End of Houston. With the research that I have done I’ve found that it is the only shop that they have based, they do have an upcoming location they plan to have in Uptown Park. This is a fairly new coffee business that started up in 2018.

The concept behind their name is to give you the idea of outer space and the fact that their coffee gives you that leap you need to start your day. Hence the quote on their site that says, “At Giant Leap, we understand that an awesome cup of coffee is one small step toward a better morning, a more productive meeting and a more relatable universe. Come lauch your day with us!”

The feel of the website is more of a space then considering the name and logo of the company. The website is pretty straightforward and easy to grasp the concept of, and it's not overly complicated and too compact with words to understand. It gives a brief description of their company, an overall map of their menu and what they provide, a map of their location as well as times when they open their social media, and they give people the chance to make an online order on their site.

With their overall menu, they provide hot and cold beverages as well as alcohol like beer and wine. They also have a “Food for Flight” section which has things like pastries, salads, and tacos. It’s not a wide range of food, but it definitely seems like a very diverse and different menu. In terms of prices they seem to have reasonable prices on their menu. For example, you can get an Espresso for $3 which seems to be a very reasonable and affordable price to me.

Overall, Giant Leap Coffee seems to be a very reasonable and special place that people should go to to start their day and get great local drinks from. Their prices don’t have any indication of being outrageous. I would definitely stop in and try something from their menu if I ever get a chance to be in Texas.

Link To Website: giantleapcoffee.com

-Ariana Bishop

Coffee Maven Note: The cafe is part of Headquarters, a collaborative creative work space -- known sometimes as an incubator, but tailored to the arts. The "location" map on its web site shows that they are very proud to be part of HQ.

The name and astronaut motif are examples of what geographers call sense of place. The proprietors are using many playful images to convey -- and celebrate -- Houston's affiliation with the NASA space program. I have chosen to highlight this on the Google map:

The name of the Space Center in turn recognizes another important connection: Lyndon Johnson of Texas was Vice President at the time President Kennedy initiated the space program.