(no subject)

[gothwalk]

(A comment from an older post, but so long it's worth posting in itself.)



cheerfulcynic writes:

>I'm inclined to disagree with this. I've at
>least a decade of memories of hanging out on the
>sofas in Bewleys, which while not a good-coffee
>house, definitely has something of a coffee
>house culture about it. Not quite as long a
>memory of Cafe Moka, especially the Rathmines
>branch when they had the board games in the
>back. And new shops along a similar line are
>starting up, like Tri D on Nassau St.

>From the frothy-coffee point of view, look at
>the proliferation of Cafe Sol's coffee bars,
>homegrown but definitely modelled on the
>Starbucks idea. (Lovely hot chocolate too). I
>don't think we need Starbucks - they're coming
>too late to the market here.

You see, none of those live up to what we've found Starbucks to be, in Leeds and in Edniburgh (at least three branches in Edi). Bewleys is too big, too noisy - it used to be comfortable, but doesn't seem to be any more. Moka was indeed good, when the staff spoke English and their baked goods were less than a week old. Tri D I've only been in once, and it was far too plastic-and-chrome for my tastes (maybe I should go back and look again). And the Cafe Sols are tiny.

There's also Cafe Irie, but much as I like the place, the queue of people looking for tables - or, indeed, looking for a table myself - is not comfortable.

There are several things I liked about Starbucks; let me try to list them off here, and if there's a cafe that matches, I'll certainly try it.

One: tables distant from doors and counters, so that people aren't constantly passing back and forth beside me.

Two: comfortable seats, either chairs or armchairs. Too many Dublin cafes have chairs that feel as though they're going to fold under me, and in some cases sofas that you can't get yourself out of.

Three: some room between tables. I don't want to hear the conversations from the next table, at least not so clearly that I can hear meant-to-be-confidential whispers (and my hearing isn't the best).

Four: decent sized servings of coffee (not looking for American-sized buckets, just a decent mug). I realise this doesn't apply to espresso. :) Fancy coffees are also good.

Now, there are a few places that actually come close to this. The Cental Hotel's Library Bar is rather nice, and meets three out of four calls, but the coffee is served in cups, and is a little bit pricy. The JCR in Trinity would almost meet all of them, were it ever open when I could get there, and if they served decent coffee.

There are actually a number of pubs that almost meet these too, and they're good in their own way - but they're not what I'm looking for.

Actually, I'm going to make this a post as well...



(Now behind cut tags, cos as inannajones observed, it's a bit big.)

Comments

Disagreeing with

[cheerfulcynic.livejournal.com]

The idea that there isn't a coffee culture in Dublin - for clarification.

Now to nitpick:)

The fact that those coffee places do not match your list of requirements does not imply a lack of coffee culture, just a different implementation. One of the things that annoys me about Starbucks is that it is somehow depressingly homogenous. Though having said that, regarding point one and three - this is not the case in all Starbucks. Near St. Pauls, in particular bugs me for those reasons. That kind of thing is a matter of real estate and a lot of London Starbucks seem smaller and more jammed in.

Where was I? Oh yeah - Starbucks culture is not the same as coffee culture - it is a subset of it. Take Paris - there's a coffee culture there but it is centred on whicker chairs and tables with parasols outside cafebars, with evilly small cups of black-coffee goodness.

Anyway - the useful bits. TriD, sit in the comfy chairs at the front. and watch the world. Big cups of coffee, Sorrento, Middle Abbey St. A larger Cafe Sol - Dawson St.

For the greatest chance at your particular mix, try the Coffee Society in Ranelagh. Plus they have a very cute garden area.