The Entrepreneur's Guide to Coffee Shop Etiquette

The Entrepreneur's Guide to Coffee Shop Etiquette

an awesome, awesome well-researched and thoughtful guide to cafe etiquette. by surveying many actually **IN** the industry, this mashable article really digs into the nitty-gritty of how to be a good, respectful, well-liked patron of coffee houses.

just one juicy except to wet your appetite and convince you to read the whole article:

"

We asked each of our entrepreneurs and coffee shop vets to give some final tips of advice for others hoping to master the coffee-shop-as-office lifestyle. Isaf says that in most cases, the trick is to follow the Golden Rule: “Don’t be ‘that guy.’ Everyone knows who ‘that guy’ is … don’t be him.” Here’s a bit of insight to exactly what that means:

• Don’t bring your own food.” — Phillips
• “Enjoy the space provided for common usage, but don’t freeload. It sucks for everyone and will mean losing access in the future.” — Isaf
• “Try not to have anything super offensive up on your screen — think of that as equivalent to cursing loudly throughout the coffee shop.” — Pelsinger
• “The staff works hard making your drink, getting your food, cleaning up after you and even keeping the Wi-Fi up. Remember to tip. I suggest using the same percentages as at a casual dining restaurant.” — Dustman
• “Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Baristas know a lot about their shops and will be happy to tell you, for example, when the best time to bring in a large group or the most power-outlet-adjacent location is. Finally, this is probably very obvious and applies far beyond coffee shops, but as long as you pay a small amount of attention to the people around you (both employees and fellow guests), you’ll be fine. A little empathy goes a long way.” — Kasperowicz
• “It’s so very not cool to not bus your own dishes if there’s a visible bus tub. Sure, eventually the café employees will get around to it, but in the meantime you’ve just left the rest of us staring at your garbage, and you’ve messed up your spot so it can’t be filled by someone else immediately. That’s just rude.” — Shipley
• “Frequently, power outlets are at a premium in cafés. Just as you shouldn’t hog all the prime seating locations when the store is busy, you shouldn’t hog the power outlets. Belkin makes a fantastic small, easy-to-stick-in-a-computer-bag power strip that has three outlets and two USB slots. There have been several times when I’ve been out either at the airport or the cafe and have been a hero for everyone there because I had that power strip. Great way to make some friends!” — Dunning"

i promise for a more personalized update soon. my personal life is in family-crisis/anxiety mode right now.

sass and cappuccinos

there exists a fine line between friendly banter and outright rudeness. i tend to straddle the two worlds fairly seamlessly, reserving the bitching for behind closed doors. however, i would love to be able to tell jerks-asses to their faces just how awful they are.

the real sticky-wicket, however, is what i call "taming the shrew" (a.k.a. taming down my personality to better relate to more difficult customers). why do i find this problematic? well, first of all, i hate feeling like i have to stifle myself/hide my true colours just to appease others. second, i tend to come across then, as a push-over. third, repressing my personality tends to quickly become a major bad-mood inducer. which then turns me into a buzzkill bitch.

also, i believe i may have mentioned this before ( in fact--i have! see : quandry/ conuundrum of same-aged "regulars") but it's become a more technologically intertwined world since march 2009 and i am finding that more and more regulars are "friending" me on facebook. and i'm friends with my employers. and my co-workers. and trying to keep it all straight and neat and tidy and unoffensive is really fucking difficult. the solution i've come up with so far is aside from one or two exceptions, most have landed on a separate, stream-lined feed that prevents such tangles. but what about those few i truly like? and wish to get to know better?and find intelligent and intriguing and beguiling, amusing, etc.???

on single origin coffee and brewing methods

There is nothing I enjoy more than a well-rounded, fully nuanced cup of joe. When I first began imbibing coffee back in my teens, I was rather in particular- vanilla iced CAPPUCCINOS (yes, people still made those back then) were my drink of choice. Fortunately, I got better as I got older.

While I have enjoyed my fair share of shoddy blends and poorly roasted origin coffee, I have come to realize that my palette leans toward certain locations: Yemen, Ethiopian, Panamanian, Kenyan and Sumatran- in that order. Not that I can't find interesting notes and appreciate other origins for what they are- but all in all- I am mainly an African coffee lover, with the 2 exceptions.

As for methods of preparation, it varies from bean to bean. Old school drip (porcelain drippers) works well for a variety of origins, bringing out the full body and flavour...even including imperfections (I find it tends to "muddy" a lot of Kenyan coffees) but it's definitely a quick, and economical solution for those who can't afford/don't have access to, a Clover machine. (Which, coincidentally, has been bought out by the corporate S chain bastards!)

French Press, while preferred by many, is not my choice unless I'm making coffee for more than one person. Maybe it;s just me and I cant properly prepare it.

When I'm enjoying coffee solo, my top choice for brewing is that syringe-like Aeropress. It's compact, quick and delivers a solid cup of deliciously delightful coffee with no-fuss clean up to boot. Plus, they are very affordable, easy to take on trips/camping/ backpacking/ what-have-you AND easy to manipulate the outcome by what the "shot" ends up in: PRESTO! Into hot H2O- coffee, into hot milk/soy/etc.- Latte, into icy H2O- iced coffee.

quandry/ conuundrum of same-aged "regulars"

there exists, a fine line, between being friendly with customers and being friends.  i often wonder when/if it's okay to become friends with customers of the same age. seeing as that work is all i do (not in school, haven't embraced any pastimes of social relevance) the most i interact with people in my age group is...well...at work. making their coffee, grabbing a pastry. maybe chatting up some new album or movie or asking about what they are working on. but can it ever be more than that? or is that awkward?

how does one go about befriending a "regular"? does it come off as stalker-esque? do they even WANT to be my friend? does it seem like i'm flirting? desperate? lame???

i think the worst aspect though, are the regulars still in school or working real jobs. then i just feel inadequate in comparison--"look at me! i work at a cafe for a living! wanna hang out?"

argh! is it simpler than that? or is it just a sad consequence of working a service job that friendships with customers are just plain out of the question???

sage advice

unless you are buying over $50 of coffee and pastries, never never NEVER pay with a hundred dollar bill before 2 pm!!!