Small Coffee Shops
I’m here, at Maria Bonita Café.
Brought my notebook, pen and phone. Of course my phone, how else would I call an Uber to come back home! Or keep up with messages, what if someone got into an emergency and needs me at this exact moment? Unbeknownst to the universe’s arrow of time, they might need me for some spectacular, unforeseen reason, right!?
Whatever, I’m using it far more than my notebook because I have to settle on a robust, future proof web architecture for present and beautiful future colleagues, partners, family, cats, and clients. To me, it’s fun. Tiring, but fun. As any job worth doing would be. The sort of stress that will make you smile when you go to sleep, akin to the effort muscles go through at the gym in order to grow.
Speaking of growing muscles, I’ve been having a blast for the last couple of months!
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Oh, Maria Bonita Café. Of course, this place, yes!
It’s a new one for me. This is my first time here. I stumbled upon it just walking by, which I found to be a pleasant surprise, as I’m always hopping my way around here. Sorry for taking so long to notice you, and thank you for being patient!
Allow me to elaborate, along with two more.
- Maria Bonita Café is handwritten typeface style. Does not lean into a particular type family. It just goes with the flow, as long as it smells like traditional arts and classic books. It’s simple, straightforward, and inclusive. Anyone can join! Except the corporate types. Not because they are not allowed, but rather they won’t give themselves to such genuine peace, as usual.
- Quite a bit to the north, there’s Nero. A coffee shop so grotesque it married Helvetica (please email/DM me if you got the reference). I’m pretty sure they’ll last a long, long time together and have beautiful kids. I’d love to think my website is a close relative of Nero, if only they had ever run into each other at a family gathering. Does anyone know why this hasn’t happened? Besides, there’s something about Nero that speaks a part of me out loud, it resonates deeply.
- And then, that friend who’s always in: Pipa. They also lean into the handwritten style, but share structures with Nero when it comes to building a brand, and, subsequently, a marriage. Because of it, they had to commit with a particular type family, with the addition of a cute dog! The only one out of the three who decided to have a living being as part of their ethos. Their love for good food can’t be understated. Such a reference when it comes to it. Tied with Nero in times I’ve enjoyed them this year.
I’m in love with these coffee shops. They have personality and a sense of familiarity. They don’t strive for perfection, and that’s why they feel so comforting: they do well at what truly matters, without needing to disguise their shortcomings. They are inspiring, so to speak.
Out of the three, Pipa has already started to depart from being small. They’re now a medium-sized business. This will inevitably mutate part of the charm from small coffee shops due to the nature of scale. As long as people at the top remain cool headed and don’t sell out, its heart will always be in the right place.
See, I’ve never gotten along with the corporate, spammy, fake-it-till-you-make-it crowd, be it in business or human form. The ones focused on filling their LinkedIn, Instagram, and CVs with nonsense while having zero actual skill. They’re always shouting ‘I’m a great lover!’ while maintaining a backlog of broken promises. Good marketing, poor execution. Well, not even good marketing to a moderately trained eye. They just look generic.
The world is filled with those. But there’s also a wave of people who actually care, and they deserve a break from all that noise.
And these places, they do offer that break. When I sit down in Maria Bonita, Nero, or Pipa, I smell skill. No one is faking it. They just have it. They worked really hard to offer that. And it shows.
If you’ve missed the forest for the trees, the skill they have is having something to say.