Your favorite coffee shop is something of a personal choice. It’s often down to what might be nearby you when you’re at home, or what might be on your journey to and from the office. This means that it can be quite hard to describe how you might select your favorite coffee shop, though we’re going to be talking about that today.
In this article, we’re going to run through some of the different things that you might bear in mind when considering whether or not a particular coffee shop is your favorite. With that in mind, let’s get started!
A good food menu
Any great cafe that you might find out there will surely have a food menu. It doesn’t have to be a huge, elaborate thing designed to compete with the finest restaurants in your city, but it can certainly be a menu designed to ensure that you’ve always got food options ready for you.
The first thing that we would consider is whether the food menu has sweet and savory options for different times of the day. For example, are there breakfast options that are cut off at 11 am, followed by lunch options until 3 pm, and evening options until closing time?
This might seem like too much food and too much choice, but it can work wonderfully well – having as few as three breakfast options to choose from can allow you to ensure that you can pick a different one every day, though still have a favorite. On top of that, very few options on a menu will allow you to choose which one your favorite is quite quickly, allowing a greater breakfast experience there over time.
Finally, a good food menu will allow for you to spend better quality time there throughout the day. One day, for example, you might not go in for breakfast but pop in for a short while after work. In that situation, you would need some non-breakfast food available. For this reason, we would certainly consider a good food menu a great thing to have in a cafe.
Non-coffee drinks
A range of tasty and inviting non-coffee drinks will mean that you can easily space out your caffeine intake while you’re sitting there and enjoying the coffee that you’re drinking. If you’re able to put down an empty mug of coffee and have a large lemonade that will refresh you on a hot summer’s day, you’re more likely to enjoy your time there.
We would also point out that there are simply times in the day when you’re less likely to want coffee. If you’re in the cafe later in the day, you might not want a steaming mug of coffee that might keep you up into the night. Instead, you might opt for a mug of hot cocoa or a similarly non-caffeinated drink that will enable you to actually get some sleep.
A wide range of non-coffee drinks will also allow you to understand that your coffee shop has a great palette that they can deploy to better understand unique flavors. For example, an in-house brewed ice tea that has a unique set of flavors could be a wonderful way to discover a new flavor combination that you really like. That type of flavor combination being available at your cafe would be a brilliant choice to have.
Friendly, inviting staff
Friendly and inviting staff make all the difference when it comes to a coffee shop. People don’t necessarily have to fall over themselves to give you great customer service, but even something as small as remembering your name and regular order, or even just a kind smile, will create a kind, sweet, happy environment that you keep on coming back for.
There are some people that would prefer a quieter, more straightforward coffee interaction. While this isn’t something that we can personally say we would love, we do see the appeal of a coffee shop that is calm and tranquil, with minimalist decor and staff that are friendly, but perhaps not chatty.
In a very real sense, it’s up to you to decide what kind of staff you might prefer your favorite coffee shop to have. We know that we would prefer a barista we recognize and chat with, but you might prefer a friendly, quiet interaction over the first coffee that you might have that day. The choice, of course, is yours.
Calm, welcoming environment
The environment of a coffee shop being as calm and welcoming as possible is perhaps the only thing that everyone in the world could agree on. Nobody wants to go to a coffee shop that is hectic and hostile.
Instead, friendly space is what’s preferred. The specific format of this space might depend upon the kind of decor that you prefer, but there are some classic archetypes out there.
For example, you might prefer a coffee shop that’s a little eclectic, like Central Perk (above), from Friends. A comfy sofa and a wide range of interesting tables, chairs, and wall art can create an interesting environment that feels engaging and exciting to sit in.
Conversely, a minimalist environment could be your thing. There’s a small chain of coffee shops in the UK called Grindsmith (above), and their decor is typically very dark coloring, with sharp geometric designs in gold or white to break up the overwhelming darkness of it all.
This might not be your cup of tea, but the simplicity and calmness of the space are undeniable. Being able to sit in such a straightforward space and enjoy a cup of coffee can be totally calming to some people, and that sense of darkness in the decor can actually be felt as something soothing and solid around you.
Conclusion
We hope that this article has given you an interesting set of ideas to consider when selecting a favorite coffee shop that you might prefer in the world around you. There is always something wonderful out there, and we hope that you find it soon!