My Coffee Shop Culture

Since I am working on blogging for dollars, I need to spend a LOT of time online. This is hard to do with an old computer and living on a boat so I go every chance I get to the nearest cafe 3 Cups Coffee House here in Astoria, Oregon. It is just the right amount of independent quirky cool but comfy and clean enough to spend a whole day blogging. In this shop I have found my home away from home, but this isn't my first caffeine dispensary experience.

My very first coffee shop experience wasn't Starbucks. It was back in 2004 at a small spot in Mesa, Arizona called The Naked Bean where a man called Mr. Frip hosted a little low key artsy open mic called Beats, Poetry, Music.  I was not a coffee fan back then.  Coffee to me was something I drank out of necessity to get my early shift days started and that was usually convenience store fare. I think I usually ordered tea or some other drink because the event was in the evening. Just across the street (practically) was the second coffee shop I ever went to called Essenza which was the long time home of the Mesa Poetry Slam. In that same time frame I ventured further east to downtown Mesa to the Anthology Cafe which was run by the founder of Anthology.org Bob Nelson.  So for me coffee shops had all that beat poetry days vibe. The only thing missing was smoking!

Another experience was a semi-monthly poetry event hosted by Phoenix poets Jeremiah Blue and Arrian Wissel at a cute little place called Fair Trade Cafe in downtown Pheonix, AZ.  I used to work the door regularly because my finances at the time didn't allow even the $5 twice per month (I was doing good to have the gas money to get there).  At the time I was also  still performing at open mics at places like A Shot of Java in Glendale, AZ and the former Coffee Conspiracy in the Conspire vegan cafe in downtown Phoenix.

Although poetry was my introduction to the coffee shop scene, in 2009 I was introduced to the working aspect of the urban coffee jones.  I was working on a home based business and spent a lot of my time contacting clients via phone and email and somehow working from home was TOO relaxing so I would head to Fair Trade and use it as my office. This was the start of my all day cafe working habit that I am currently back on here at 3 Cups.

When I look up "coffee shop culture" in a Google Search I get a wide variety of links (including this blog post!).  It seems to be widely agreed that it's about not just the coffee drinks, but about the way that we sit around and talk, play chess, do art, read, etc.  It's about the idea of a coffee shop as a meeting place for social interaction (especially the little independent spots like I've listed in this post).  I have to say that for me, that is pretty much on point.  So thank you 3 Cups for being a part of my personal coffee shop cultural history!

Thanks for reading!
~ Niccolea

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I am preparing to sail around the world! Read all about it on the official website: http://emunaendeavor.org/