The post goes for #TheCoffeeShopPrompt challenge, week #67.
Did someone say the most important thing is the coffee taste? the place where you get your cup and its interior does matter too! Otherwise, I may drink coffee without leaving my comfortable home 🙃
So, what should a cafe design be like to please and attract people? A good question that invites to an endless discussion. (For my post I selected images from five coffee shops I find remarkable. Of course, my city has much more intresting places which I havent checked yet thus I have no images to share).
1 .:. 'Aurora' cinema theatre cafe
Here you can immerse yourself in the assumed atmosphere of the 19th century... gilding, luxury, Art Nouveau curves ... imagine for half an hour that you were transported to Vienna - the cultural capital of Europe! And the chairs you see in the photo are the Viennese chairs, thats for sure! they are very comfortable and stylish.
2 .:. Buter-Brodsky bar
Since my wife discovered this place we come here to celebrate memorable events. Unfortunately, its location is inconvenient, this is significant 'contra', also one cannot consider the menu cheap. But the other pros made us fall in love with it.
Bar's name utilizes the pun between words 'sandwich' (in Russian: 'buterbrod') and 'Brodsky' - the surname of the great Russian underground poet of Soviet era; one's subconscious mind promises you will eat sandwiches and drink a cup of coffee (or vodka) in the company of Brodsky, or in the same atmosphere where he ate and drank himself once upon a time. That is a fantasy - but a unique one, and its worth it.
I'm going to present this spot in separate blog, just a quick summary for now: they cook unusual snacks, food and drinks are served in attractive dishes. Sufficient bonus for me is that this place has a thought-out lighting which benefits photography in a nice best way. It is difficult to single out the most important reason, but all above we experienced on the visits, while the reason to come and stay was the smart interior design and the atmosphere it induced.
Bar has several rooms of different decor...
Even each corner looks different (like arranged at pro-photostudios). Unique tables, chairs, different vintage furniture, chipped mirrors - as if everything was collected from garbage dumps. I love such textures, they give rest to my eyes, tired of smooth, clean plastic. Perhaps you are in the same boat with me?..
I dont insist that chipped-amalgam-mirror is a must that will benefit to any coffeeshop, no-no-no... but it definitely added its touch to the atmosphere of this bar. I took a whole series of creative space photos...
Another important thing for me is a solid wooden table that doesn't wobble. Lots of nice textured wood is what I prefer; this single line in my wishlist may cancel out all other advantages. Sounds quite simple, isnt it? nevertheless, a lot of coffee bars LACK THIS.
And the last moment to round up with this beautiful place: audio design. You won't hear any music here; no TV screens on the walls, no lounge or easy-listening, no loud rock that prevents a company from calm talk. This is one of few things that REPULSES AND PISSES ME OFF the most.
They often say, a water closet is 'a face of the place' - well, theres some truth to this joke; now look at this 'face' - it was quite difficult to capture due to its tiny size and dim light. And this spot does have some music! well, not exactly music, but rather a sound design - but I won’t reveal the secret, let it remain an intrigue until I share more detailed story about this bar. 😎
3 .:. Coffee 3
A spacious industrial building converted into a loft, has this real coffee gem. Putting aside the question of coffee taste itself (it is great), this is a very pleasant quiet place, ideal for a meeting and a long conversation, or for a few hours of working on your laptop. The tables are located at a great distance from each other, there are two floors and several rooms, one of which (in the photo) - 'flat zone' - suggests you to take off shoes, stretch out tired legs and enjoy coffee while lying down. Nice!
4 .:. Duck cafe at Alexandrovsky park
Now let's go to the third place. This coffeeshop is tiny and has poor lighting... but theres an outdoors area with splendid look at the part (with wobbly tables are included too :) Still, this place has a luxurious location considering direction of our walks around the city. The pricetags are considerably low... but most importantly, they brew very tasty coffee! For the owners, coffee is a labor of love, and this certainly outweighs a lot of the downsides. This is one of the best spots on the city’s coffee map. Design is not what we came here after.
...books and booklovers are also welcomed here: theres a special bookcase with books for free exchange and reading!
Did I forget to mention something?.. well, some places sound too dull to my picky taste - with their cleanly washed sterile plain plastic and infantile pink plush, not to mention coffee / cocktails are standard, same as everywhere...
Of course you can come in and rest your feet, but this is not a place you will remember and want to return. Would be handy to insert a photo here, but I don’t photograph such places... ok, here’s one (lended for comparison purposes - fair use!). In my opinion its 'low efforts', more easy, simple way to design less unique cafeshops, assembling them from ready-made standard units.
Rounding up my post on a pleasurable note -- have a great cup of coffee, with or without cinnamon!
All images taken by me, copyright (c) 