Three Coffee Shops

The worst Weird Al Yankovic cover of a Bob Marley song you've ever heard.

While you’re reading this piece, why don’t you enjoy the musical stylings of Steely Dan because you don’t hate Steely Dan, you’ve just not heard them recently.

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I believe everyone should have a rotation of at least three coffee shops in their life…

• One they go to for the coffee.

• One they go to for the pastries.

• And one they go to for the space to get some work done.

This isn’t an exact science; your coffee option may do a lovely pain au chocolat, and your option for pastries may have a very comfortable seat with a nicely positioned table and an atmospheric view out the window. There are many such cases, including the ones I will talk about below.

However, I feel that creating a definitive reason to visit a place adds a sense of ritual to an otherwise mundane task. It also adds a sense of purpose in a time where a lot of our lives are lacking it. I find this especially important for your third option.

And to those of you who may say, ‘Well, I have one that does all three…’ - Where is your whimsy? Where is your sense of wonder? Why would you confine yourself to the same four walls when there’s a whole world out there of caffeinated opportunities?

Three, as De la Soul once said, is a magic number.

Still not sold? Let me explain more.

My favourite shop for coffee in town is Fort Coffee on Deansgate. If I’m down that way or within a 15-minute walk, I will always go there to get a flat white, or if I’m feeling a little more boujee, a latte with a squirt of vanilla syrup.

It’s a real coffee lover’s spot, and one thing I enjoy is that you will often see baristas who are off shift choosing to spend their time in there.

Maybe it’s the staff discount, but my friend Aussie Tom, or to give him his full legal name, Australian Thomas, is also a barista at another establishment, and I feel like if I need to find him on any weekday, Fort would be the first place I’d check.

The vibe is friendly, and the people behind the counter are personable. This is a big plus wherever you go, but especially at a coffee shop. It’s important to see a friendly face at the start of your day; sets the tone and tempo.

It’s a small space that gets pretty busy, which is why it doesn’t really meet the requirements for my third shop. But even if there was a seat free, I think that by denying the possibility of working there, it naturally gives it a more relaxing vibe.

I’m removing myself from the stress of the outside world with a warm cup of joe.

I am calm.

I am zen.

Now, if I want a pastry, I will journey out to Companio in the Northern Quarter instead.

I admit, this is not a groundbreaking take; many of you will probably have Companio as your go-to spot in town, but let me tell you why I like it.

The variety of baked choices on display is excellent, and they have a regular roster of staples.

Yes, I say to some of the other options in town (who will remain nameless), you’ve brought out a Chocolate Orange Croissant that I might enjoy, but where is the Nduja and Cheddar Pain Suisse (the ingredients have been changed for anonymity purposes, but you probably know who I’m on about) that I fell in love with last month.

I pine for it, I need it. Bring it back now.

These absences are the things that keep me awake at night. I admit, I am strange, but I can’t be the only one who longs for something that was fleeting, even if in my case it’s food.

Companio keeps a large portion of the menu reasonably consistent, and my sleep pattern appreciates that.

It’s also a lovely place to go with a friend or significant other on the weekend (it is literally in the name), that doesn’t break the bank.

And I like their coffee, though their aversion to syrups irks me.

So why isn’t this my one and only go-to?

Well, as I mentioned before, Companio’s quality is not a secret, so it’s always busy. The queue ebbs and flows, but it is not uncommon for the end of it to find itself out of the door.

Furthermore, as much as I love the place, I begrudge paying a 20% VAT markup to eat in. Someone will probably tell me it’s a necessity, that’s fair, I’m not going to go full Karen about it, but I can also choose to take my coffee, pastry and broke ass elsewhere.

But mainly, I like having Companio as an occasion.

Suggesting eating out to someone when they weren’t expecting it, and them slyly replying ‘Mayhaps’ already thinking about what they’re going to order…

Your friend hitting you with a ‘Hell yeah brother’ when you drop it in the WhatsApp chat…

Or heading there yourself on a whim as a treat just because ‘you deserve it’…

Each of these provides bursts of euphoria straight into the bloodstream, and for me, Companio is a shortcut to experiencing that on a regular basis. However, you can’t have it all the time; otherwise, it loses its special quality.

And now we arrive at the third option, the workhorse coffee shop; it’s probably the one in the list that can change the easiest, because it does not have love nor emotion attached to it.

If the other two are Zeus and Poseidon, the coffee shop you choose to work in is Hades, dwelling down in the dark.

You don’t really recommend it to people because you don’t want to see them in there; they would distract you from your task. The coffee is good and the pastries tasty, but they are just the sustenance to fuel your work and also the keys to enter into the space.

You’re not there to have fun, you’re there to produce.

So with that in mind, no, you can’t know which coffee shop this is for me. It’s where I started writing this thing, and I don’t want you to disturb me.

I’m also worried that if the workers there do somehow read this, they may take it as an insult, which it really isn’t. It’s a lovely place that I genuinely enjoy visiting. It has a really pleasant atmosphere with a large number of seats for me to plonk down and get into the zone upon.

I am again, just a bit weird, I apologise.

There are three different mes that frequent three different coffee shops, and as insane as that sounds, I feel like that helps me stay sane in a world that wants to make everything into one amorphous blob.

Make things have a purpose, and they mean so much more; that’s the main message I’m getting across here.

Steely Dan know that, and that’s why you’re hopefully listening to some absolutely sick and unique guitar licks right about now.

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So, now that’s out of the way, and you’re either now on my side of the argument or wrong (kidding), let’s get real, shall we?

If you’ve got this far, you’re probably wondering when this is going to become an article about football and surprise, it’s not.

As you’ve probably noticed, my posting hasn’t really been existent, let alone consistent as of late on here and for that I can only apologise, I’ve not really been in a great place mentally this year.

The last thing I wanted to do was spend my free time writing about a team that causes me anguish on a weekly basis, or any other team if we’re being honest.

There is a graveyard of half-finished articles in my drafts where I tried to get back into this before, that I either gave up on within a few paragraphs or wasn’t happy with the direction I was taking much later in the process (got to love a bit of that Imposter Syndrome woo).

But I’m getting better, and that’s what matters.

Focusing on the things in my life I enjoy, like getting a coffee, has helped a lot, especially in the last few months, which is why I felt compelled to make it your problem.

So I can’t promise that this is a return to posting on Played on Paper, it might not be, but I’m intending to give it a go, and my rambling about coffee shops is my way of making a start.

If you don’t like it, then in the nicest way possible, I don’t care, and I say that because I’m writing for me, not for you. I think I lost sight of that in the past, and my work (and self-worth) suffered because of it.

That’s not your fault, it’s mine, just in case I have offended you. Unless Donny is reading this, then yes, it is your fault, and you need to take a long, hard look at yourself.

So that’s what I’m doing, I’m giving this newsletter a new purpose. It’s for me to rediscover my love of writing first and maybe educate you all on some football topics/entertain you second.

And if you see me in a coffee shop working on my next piece, stay away from me, ew. Were you not listening to what I just said?*

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*I am joking, please say hi.