missing coffee shops

salt lake roasting company, la spiaza, starbucks -- all places i miss. coffee shops. american coffee shops. places where i understand what's on the menu and what size it is, atmospheres i know and feel comfortable in, cultures that are familiar. until a few weeks ago, i had forgotten how important coffee shops are to me. were to me? places to get good things to drink, listen to (mostly) nice music, have good conversations with friends, journal, have my own space.

coffee is different here in romania. portions are much smaller (and often stronger, of course). to go is very rare (unless it's espresso, which sometimes comes in little plastic cups from which the contents are rapidly drained and then the cup is disposed of quickly as well). and people always go with friends to drink coffee, tea, etc. together and talk. which i like. i enjoy talking. but, i also enjoy the coffee shop as a place to be alone. if that makes sense.

last year, i lived about 5 minutes from a starbucks. when i needed to journal or get away from the apartment, i usually went to starbucks. would grab something caffeinated (no matter the hour) and a comfortable seat. you knows the soft cushy ones that are in all starbucks? much better than a straight-backed chair, especially for curling up to read or journal. sometimes i'd just be there for 45 minutes, and sometimes for a few hours. just knowing i could go anytime -- marvelous. and knowing that nobody would stare at me for being there alone -- marvelous. and being able to get a grande (medium) coffee that actually fills me up -- also marvelous.

but .. in the last ten days, i've been to 'sage' three times. with three different friends. one (who spent six months in america) said it's the closest thing to starbucks around. which made me smile. they have pages and pages of different varieties of coffees and teas -- lots to try! the sad thing about sage is that it's rather small and there's always somebody smoking. so the whole time i'm inside, i'm smelling smoke and my clothes smell like smoke when i leave. but that's a fairly small price to pay. and the company's good! and it might even be a place i can wander into with my journal. we'll see about that ..