Hello, coffee lovers around the world!
Coffee shops are very special places. No two are alike, no matter how much you try to make them similar. Regardless of their design or menu, it's the people, the customers, who give them that special touch that sets them apart. People are the essence that determines the final atmosphere of each coffee shop. Of course, everything depends on what the coffee shop owner is trying to achieve with the design. Will they have been able to attract their desired clientele?
I'm giving all this preamble to answer this week's prompt. In my opinion, people go to coffee shops looking for solitude or for company. It's amazing that you can find both in the same place designed to attract customers.
I know this because I've gone in search of both things and found them.
I know of cafes where I can go to meet up with friends who are either already there or will arrive at any moment. I can sit at a table with my coffee and feel like I'm not alone. It's because we, the regular customers, eventually start greeting each other and getting to know one another.
I also know which cafes to go to when I need solitude, privacy, whether to think or to work. Sometimes I sit in that cafe to write when I want no one to bother me. I only look up to order another coffee, which the bartender knows to leave on the table without disturbing me.
What's amazing is that I'm never completely alone, actually. However, it's those people around me who create that kind of bubble of murmurs, the clinking of cups, and the whirring of espresso machines, creating that space where I can be alone, unseen and undisturbed.
It's a strange feeling I hadn't thought about before.