I’ve never met anyone who loves Starbucks coffee. It’s true! Some may love the intense aroma of pure caffeinated sludge and some may just like the convenience (there are three stores in my small little neighborhood!), but I’ve never met anyone who actually enjoys the taste of a Starbucks cup. This phenomenon is a lesson in pure marketing genius. What’s in the cup may be crap, but you’re assured that crap will be made the exact same way wherever you go in the world; the corporate coffeehouse experience is dependable. Still, there’s a reason why Starbucks doesn’t exist in Italy. For the Italian, coffee isn’t a drink - it’s a culture. Culture moves and changes with the people who create it. Culture isn’t corporate and this is the point we are completely missing. Here are 4 reasons to stop living life drinking coffee you hate and start visiting Chicago’s local coffee shops instead (right now this second!!).
- Where everybody knows your name
- Say this next sentence like an annoying younger sister: My barista knows my name and the way I like my coffee and he has it made before I even get there and when I get there it’s perfect every single time and sometimes he even gives me a cookie cause he likes me so much better than your barista likes you! Seriously though, my neighborhood café has me convinced that I’m their favorite customer.
- Teenagers stress me out
- So, I avoid them when I can. The local corporate café always looks like a high school cafeteria between the hours 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and then again somewhere between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Why would I want to spend my morning in a high school cafeteria? I couldn’t care less who Serena kissed at Chuck’s party last night and I don’t want to hear about it. I got bills!
- My thoughts are louder than the Muzak
- I once read that the Age of Enlightenment began in the 17th century not because of Isaac Newton or Voltaire, but because that’s when the first coffeehouse opened (HA!). For sure we can better picture Isaac Newton forming his idea of gravity while sipping some joe near an apple tree in Cambridge better than one can imagine him forming any original idea to Beyonce’s ‘Crazy in Love’. Repeat after me: ‘If I can’t hear myself think, from here I will not drink.’
- So fresh and so clean
- My raspberry rugelach was made in the kitchen an hour ago. I can see the kitchen. I know it’s clean. I can smell the baking. I know it’s fresh. Your butter croissant may be hot and so you think it’s fresh - but it’s not. That croissant was put together by a machine a day (or three) ago, packed onto a truck, and delivered to your coffeehouse sometime this week. That’s not fresh. I love walking into a place like Sugar Fixé (Oak Park) and seeing all the delicious treats prepared in their very own kitchen that same day. Heavenly!
Why do you love your local coffee shop?
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Kari Herrera (Chicagoings)
I love Oak Park’s Sugar Fixe and Prairie Bread down the street! Great places to get pastries and baked goods, not to mention the coffee!
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