Thread: Coffee Cafe - Shops - Houses around the world

As I mentioned in my thread about North Carolina, my girls like to study in Coffee shops/houses/cafes... oddly enough none of us actually drink coffee. We go there as it is an away place where they can study without the distractions of other friends or home and they can get great chai tea, tisane, or hot chocolate and of course some pastries. I can relax and if I have a migraine, it is usually tranquil enough for me as well.

The place we used to go to for the past three years has closed down and we are now on the search for a new location. In our neighborhood there are only Starbucks and Paneras so we have to travel out and about to other locations.

We went to Washington, DC, to Adams Morgan to a great place called Tryst. As you look at the front of the place, they have the glass doors all across the front open in this photo.



They have lots of mix matches tables, chairs and sofas. You just sit where ever.



They also have a bar and counter service



They have a waiter/waitress staff that comes to you and brings you your drinks and food. At night they have a three piece bands or something.

They are open ridiculous hours!
Open daily, from 6:30am until 12:00am Mon-Thurs,
6:30am until 3:00am Fri-Sat.
7am until 12:00am Sundays

They make all their own pastries as well and they are very good. The tisane that I had there was fantastic and came in a little tea pot with a cup and saucer so I got about 3 cups of tea out of the pot. My dad had a decaf latte and said it was the best he has ever had. They also give you two little animal crackers on the spoons which is a nice and cute touch. One other thing, unlike at say Starbucks, the temperature of the drinks are not scalding, you can actually drink them right away. That was refreshing.

The only down side is the parking. They have street parking and it is $2.00 an hour for the meter if you can find a spot or in the public garage, it is $9 an hour!


Another place we tried was in Silver Spring, not far from Washington, was Zed's Cafe. Zed's is a much smaller place but on the same track as Tryst with the mix match furniture and the "living room" feel to it.




So, what about places where you live? Are there any great coffee houses?

Here it comes from Novosibirsk: Traveler's Coffee
and the story: how a guy from San Francisco started it all in Siberia

Success for Tara-Browne was harder won. He first travelled to Novosibirsk in 1994 as a member of the Baha’i faith.

Never heard there were Baha'i faith followers in Novosibirsk.

Glad to see the coffee culture growing in Russia. I'll never forget paying $5 for about two mouthfuls of watery brown gook in a plastic cup at Domodedevo airport.

Originally Posted by sperk

Glad to see the coffee culture growing in Russia. I'll never forget paying $5 for about two mouthfuls of watery brown gook in a plastic cup at Domodedevo airport.

В российских аэропортах своя, особенная культура кофе. Она никуда не развивается — давно уже достигла своей высшей точки развития.

How is it possible to study in such crowded space? I would run away at once.
I am only feeling comfortable at home

Another paradox with coffee in the US and Russia
It is practically impossible to buy decent coffee in American coffee shop but most of the Russian coffee places sell very decent coffee
It is also almost impossible to buy decent coffee in grocery stores in the US, so I end up buying coffee beans online

Originally Posted by Doomer

Another paradox with coffee in the US and Russia
It is practically impossible to buy decent coffee in American coffee shop but most of the Russian coffee places sell very decent coffee
It is also almost impossible to buy decent coffee in grocery stores in the US, so I end up buying coffee beans online

А можешь поделиться названием и адресом?
Кстати, нормальный чёрный чай тоже не найти.

PM sent

California's gem of coffee shops: "Peet's Coffee and Tea"



This one is located in San Francisco at Fillmore street. Actually Peet's is quite a big Californian net of coffee shops-houses. They can be found in different formats from a big coffee shop with a lot of tables to a small desk in a supermarket. They also sell good tea leaves and decent chocolate under the Peet's trademark.

To Doomer and Lampada, google map believes that there is a Peet's point in Chicago, you can try their tea.

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

How is it possible toin herstudy in such crowded space? I would run away at once.
I am only feeling comfortable at home

That is an excellent question! Each coffee shop has its own vibe and that is the first thing we have to feel out. Is it comfortable? Is the music too loud and what type of music? We went to another one yesterday and the music really annoyed me so much so that I had to put ear buds in and play my music to block out their music so I could concentrate. The second part is the vibe of the wait staff and the other customers, are they relaxed and easy going or are they rushing and tense or using the cafe as a hook up place? The third thing is of all things, the smell. I know this sounds odd as it is a coffee shop but when I get migraines my sense of smell goes into over drive and coffee that sits around too long I can smell and it smells awful to me. Also certain roasts of coffee will begin to bother me.

Now, one thing that my daughter has learned in her psychology class is that if she can study and do well in a setting like a coffee shop that has the odd distractions, in a test setting like for her AP and SAT or college exams, she should do better as she has learned to filter out those noises and distractions. Example: You are sitting for your college exam and this person next to you has this annoying cough due to a cold that they caught cause it is winter, no fault of their own, but they are coughing away and oh my you just want to kill them cause they won' t stop and the rest of the room is silent and you cannot concentrate and have read the same sentence six times. If you had been studying in a loud coffee shop with all sorts of noises and had been practicing tuning those noises out, that cough you would not even notice.

In Russian it's called:
Мы не ищем лёгких путей!

Originally Posted by maxmixiv

In Russian it's called:
Мы не ищем лёгких путей!

Additionally, trying to study at home has its own unique distractions such as... parents or siblings or even pets disturbing you. Say, "Susie, can you come here and fold the laundry?" or "Tommy, can you help me with this?" or "Johnny, let's go to the store," and of course the temptation of the T.V. and toggling to Tumblr or Facebook or something.

We started going to the coffee shop when the older one was in 9th grade and we made it a routine thing, every Sunday morning, as she had to read around 20-30 pages for her AP History class for an exam on Monday morning. There was also a library near by if we needed to use it for any reason and in our area, only certain libraries are open on Sundays. Then as her school work became increasingly more difficult, we went more frequently and the younger one came as well as now she was in 9th grade and needed to study too. It really seems to help as they know that this is a place to focus and study and no games on the computer or texting with friends. Their friends know as well that when they say they are going to the coffee shop, they stop texting them until they get the all clear.

Originally Posted by CoffeeCup

Here it comes from Novosibirsk: Traveler's Coffee
and the story: how a guy from San Francisco started it all in Siberia

CoffeeCup, I think you might have found your next job... a roastmaster!

"You need to be able to discern shades of flavour, colour and aroma. A few minutes or degrees too many can turn a subtle drink into murky swill. In this respect it is a lot like wine; it’s all about the nuances. And as with wine, the terroir greatly influences the flavour of coffee. The soil, the height above sea level, the number of sunny days, each of these elements is reflected in the taste of coffee as well.”

And this is exactly the same as how the girls and I feel about the coffee houses here...

“drinking coffee in Russia is still much more than just a caffeine fix. It is about lingering in cafes, spending time with friends and eating copious amounts."

Originally Posted by rockzmom

CoffeeCup, I think you might have found your next job... a roastmaster!

That's funny. Actually, some other day I had a thought that if I earned enough money that I would not need to go to work I would open a coffee shop which would be specialized on drawing pictures on latte. This tradition seems to decay in Russian coffee shops these days.