“Coffee smells like
freshly ground heaven.”
Jessi Lane Adams

I don’t drink coffee. I don’t like the taste. I do, however, love the smell of freshly-brewed coffee. It reminds me of my childhood when, after a number of hospital stays, my paternal grandmother would stay in our home for a few weeks before returning to her own home. 

Since getting married forty years ago, the smell of fresh-brewed coffee has been part of my daily experience. Kathy is a coffee drinker, as are our three sons. Despite the fact that I never developed a taste for coffee, I thoroughly enjoy the aroma.

This might be one reason I enjoy hanging out at coffee shops. Of course, there are other reasons, too.

Clinical psychologist Laurie Helgoe pointed out, “One of the best places for a shy person to meet people is in a coffee shop. If you are a reader, bring a book and read it there. That gives a guy something to ask you about. Same goes for sketching, writing, or any hobby you can take with you.” Well, I wouldn’t describe myself as “shy,” but the rest of Helgoe’s statement rings true. Coffee shops are a great place to meet people.

I had the pleasure of hearing Canadian author Malcom Gladwell speak in Seattle a few years ago. He sees a tremendous value in coffee shops. He said, “People who are busy doing things — as opposed to people who are busy sitting around, like me, reading and having coffee in coffee shops — don’t have the opportunity to kind of collect and organize their experiences and make sense of them.” It’s true. The coffee shop atmosphere is quite conducive to making sense out of life.

Author Mark Driscoll has a very different opinion of coffee shops. He explained that the coffee shop is “the place where socially isolated, lonely, needy people gather together to ignore one another.” Yeah, I guess there’s that, too. 

For the most part, though, I have experienced the coffee shop to be a healthy environment which offers myriad opportunities to interact with friends and strangers alike. 

My favorite coffee shops are Java Beach Café on Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco, and the original Java Beach Café at the corner of Judah & LaPlaya Streets in The City. I have spent a considerable amount of time in these establishments through the years, and I cannot say that I prefer one over the other. Both venues offer excellent breakfast, lunch, and beverage options to satisfy the eclectic community of customers. 

Back in 1993, when owner Patrick Maguire had a vision of opening a coffee shop on Judah Street, he dreamed of a place where people could gather, get to know each other, enjoy each other’s company, and get the best cup of coffee in The City. The “lower Sunset” (some refer to it as the “outer Sunset”) was in need of renewal at that time. Maguire envisioned a coffee shop which would bring the community back to life. And that’s exactly what has happened with Java Beach Café. 

With the Great Highway recently being converted into a recreation area for walking, running, and biking, the two Java Beach locations offer a respite for those looking for a place to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee at either end of the park.