#4: "American-style" Coffee Shops
I don't really know the history of coffee shops, so I'm not sure if this is an accurate description of a solely American version of a coffee shop, but from my experience, this is what I consider it to be:
A cozy, warm, inviting place devoted entirely to the distribution of fairly affordable coffee, tea and other drinks, as well as desserts and snacks, such as cake, cookies, etc, and maybe a light meal. The staff is often extremely friendly, the furniture usually very comfortable with at least one couch and comfy chair. Most of time time, wireless internet access is not only free and available, but also easy to access without much fuss.
This is what I'm used to, but is extremely hard to find here. Most of the time the cafés here have a full menu as well, so the place takes on the air of a restaurant, rather than a coffee shop. And since they're aiming for a restaurant/café feel, the furniture is not that comfortable, as they probably don't want you hanging around very long. If there is internet access, you usually have to ask for the password, at which point they either look at you sideways (as if to say, yeah, you can have it, but don't use it very long), or they might even complain to you about it, which is what happened to us one time when I met my first rude American ex-pat. She went on about how expensive internet access is here, even though we were buying food from her we really didn't even want, just to use her internet.
Don't get me wrong, the coffee here is yummy, and sometimes it is nice to just sit at the cafés near the beach and just stare off into the ocean while sipping your coffee, but sometimes I just want to nerd out on my computer for a while in a comfy place and maybe meet some new people.
I actually did find such a place here in Mackay, strangely enough! It has a seven deadly sins theme and everything in the shop is either red or black. It's really cute and has a very friendly staff. Of course, it was created by someone not from here, so that probably helps explain things. So I know where I'll be hanging out...
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Obviously, unlike the BBQ, this is something we have a lot of here. :)
ReplyDeleteBut I think it has to do with climate. When you start living somewhere that's a bit warmer (like when Larry and I lived in Florida), it's REALLY hard to find any coffee shops. The reason we drink so much of the stuff here is the weather!
Is it the same in NZ?
Hmmm, maybe that's right! There were nice coffee shops there! The surprising thing is, though, that it seems like they drink MORE coffee here than in NZ... people here will literally get hot takaway coffee and take it to the sweltering beach to drink. It's pretty odd. So the weather doesn't curtail their drinking of it, but somehow affects the way they design coffee shops. Hmm, weird.
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