You’re shocked I know. The me of 20 years ago would be too. Sure, I’ve always liked the little things. Like a tolerable wait-time, a newspaper (today’s preferably), passable cleanliness, and the décor.  And the hubbub. I’ve also liked, and continue to like, cafes that try to be different. Like the Mt Eden one I was at early this morning. They have a wall devoted to pictures of their patrons with pooches. Finn and I are up there, somewhere. I also like that, despite not being there for at least seven months, the two lead baristas knew my name. Maybe the picture wall serves as a memory prompt?

Maybe I should clarify what I mean by ‘hubbub’. For morning café creatures (‘morning’ being before 9 am) don’t like loud raucous conversation or music at that volume. They are creatures who are awakening, doing a little thinking, a little planning, a little reading, all while the smell of the brew wafts over them and their hands are warmed by the cup. But they like a little hubbub. A ‘good morning’ here and there. A pat of the dog. A greeting to a neighbour. A comment on a game played last night. The sound of the coffee machine and the clearing of cups. You don’t get this conviviality if you have your coffee at home.

Sometimes people come as twosomes or threesomes, though they also don’t do a lot of talking. No one has business meetings in the early café hours, thank God. Those types tend to descend later when the need to escape the office quickens. A successful early morning coffee-hole will realize that valuing convivial community is as important as being politely welcomed, having interesting coffee cups, or the quality of food. By the way, at 7 am there’s not a lot of food eaten. This isn’t America. More like Italy; though not many of us indulge in pastries.

You may wonder about ‘interesting coffee cups.’ I just think white, uniform, bought at a supermarket, is boring. Or the trendy glass equivalents. I understand the ‘no handle’ thing – wrapping your hands around it - but usually I choose a cup with one. Yes, you read right, when ordering a coffee I look over and choose the cup I want it in. Aesthetics you understand. Why not start your day with a cup you like? Aesthetics are becoming increasingly important to me. I like how things look, how they feel in the hand, and the feelings and memories they give rise to. I care about what adds to those feelings, and what subtracts from them. Beauty comes in many ways and guises. It comes as an object, like a cup. As a substance, like hot water and coffee. As a smell, a touch, a taste. It comes as hubbub shaped by conviviality. It comes in the combination of all these. And its changing, being added to and subtracted from. And I, by my presence, actions, or conversation, participate in that change.

Maybe that’s another way of describing what we individually or as a community do each day: we add to or subtract from the making and appreciation of beauty in the world.