Writing + Coffee Shop = Love
For some reason I do my best writing in coffee shops. I have noticed that I am most productive and energetic in such spaces. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with the coffee and the sugar, but it just feels so good to be out in public, as opposed to cocooned in my office at home, while in my head at the same time.
I wasn’t a big coffee drinker until I fell in with a group of coffee-obsessed hippies in Eugene, OR. Every Friday from 4-7pm we would meet at a local coffee shop called The Wandering Goat for their free shots of espresso. Being a novice coffee drinker, I stuck to the basics: latte with cow milk, sweetened with raw sugar. It was delicious. And the company was energizing, intellectual, and comfortable. As soon as the gathering was over I would look forward to the next week. That’s how I got hooked on coffee…and coffee shops.
After that group of friends scattered to various corners of the world, coffee shops continued to be places of comfort and refuge for me. They reminded me of good times and good tastes. I started to frequent them solo and bring books, my laptop, and my writerly brain with me. I now write for myself and for my clients while sipping perfectly brewed coffee in coffee shops. I don’t have a favorite shop in Portland yet, but as long as the coffee is good, the atmosphere is welcoming, and I have a view of outside, I am absolutely content.
This song by Landon Pigg comes to mind when I think about the connection writing seems to have with coffee and coffee shops, the symbiotic relationship. There’s something inspiring about the peace and the bustle of a coffee shop…I don’t know how else to explain it…
Does any writer out there have an explanation for why coffee shops are so conducive to creating? I would love to have further insight on this. 
