Remembering CC's Coffee Shops

The coffee shop experience is shared by many. I've seen students pile books on tables and engage in group study sessions; I've seen architects assemble around drawings with clients at the coffee shop. For me I started going to coffee shops back during my university days -- I was one of those students hitting the books with a cappuccino. Small tables, wooden and uncomfortable, but I would spend hours reading some history or doing calculus. But now days when I am at a coffee shop, it's to do computer programming.

When I do programming it really doesn't matter where I am: thoughts flow regardless I'm in an office, at home, library, or coffee shop. But when it comes to enjoying code, having the most free thought, it's in a coffee shop. There's probably a link from those university days. Instead of books it's a laptop and instead of paper, it's something like Microsoft Visual Studio.

Today, for example, I'm in a Starbucks in South Florida. Not my preferred location. For that I would recommend the chain from Community Coffee called "CC's." For years -- university days -- I could be found at the CC's in Baton Rouge, Louisiana near the LSU campus. It was a small store crowded with tables and chairs. Not very comfortable on purpose -- to discourage long staying students, and secondly to handle the large number of students. Several other CC's locations opened in Baton Rouge, students could be found crowding all of them. They hand more comfortable seating as well -- sofas, lounge chairs, desk lamps for a secluded corner.

But today I am at Starbucks, working on code for my web site, diowarriors.com. The focus today is handling the way Internet Explorer misbehaves with the new Microsoft ASP.NET buttons. Not a lot of fun, and I would much rather be at a CC's. Back then CC's had a drink called a Mochassippi -- similar to a Starbucks Frappuccino. An ice blended drink that was basically four shots espresso (for the large size) mixed with 50% milk and 50% ice cream base. CC's offered a wide selection of flavors, and my favorite was chocolate. Sometimes I would go for hazelnut. The taste was sharp and powerful as the espresso was freshly brewed for each drink. By contrast Starbucks Frappuccino is brewed the previous day, or elsewhere, so the baristas save time from having to make the espresso shots. Unfortunate, really, since coffee taste starts to degrade something like twelve minutes after going through the espresso machine.

The last time I visited CC's (as of this writing) was around 2012, December, when I drove through Louisiana. The New Orleans French Quarter CC's (pictured above) was a pleasant experience. There was a bit of atmosphere captured. Rough and worn wooden floors and equally rough brick walls transformed the small coffee shop into an ambient getaway. Too small to ensure always a table at every visit. But the setting caused me to wish I could have more time to stay at that shop and visit more often. If you are ever in New Orleans, that would be the CC's to go to. It does capture the mood of the city well -- historic, rough and old. And in a way, it's perfect because coffee itself is an old world drink with centuries of history.