If you haven’t been in a coffee bar by now, you’re probably never going to visit one.  One big reason people don’t order coffee from the numerous coffee bars is because they say the shops charge high prices.  Maybe that’s correct, I don’t know.   I drop by only occasionally and always order Mocha.  Maybe it’s Café Mocha.  Regardless, it’s kind of a cross between hot chocolate and coffee, like it cannot make up its mind what it wants to be when it grows up.

Why don’t I get regular coffee?

I was in the Army, so I like all kinds of coffee and coffee from a diner or a coffee maker on the counter is good enough for me, but I can’t make Mocha at home.  I’ve tried.  I have different kinds of cocoa and different kinds of coffee (and I even have Starbuck’s mix at home), but I’m unwilling to have milk around because it tends to go sour and that steam thing?  Too much work.

It doesn’t taste the same.

I had to meet some people and one of them said (in an email), “Let’s meet at Peet’s.”  I responded, “There’s one on the north side of Broadway, on the corner, at 15^th I think.”  All three of us knew where it was.  “Across from Aztec Willie’s.”  The purpose of the meeting was to expand our critique group, which had only communicated by email up to that point.

I had never ever seen the two people I was supposed to meet and didn’t have a description.  I arrived early and waited until meeting time, then looked for someone as confused and lost as me.

I chose right.

The three of us acted like strange nerds for an hour, as all aspiring unpublished authors do.  One day, one of us will get published and no longer be a weirdo.  On that day, he or she will become an author.  Instant respect.

Peet’s must be near a popular place for coffee bars, because Starbuck’s is across the street (catty corner) and Café d’Arte is half a block away.  Technically, only Café d’Arte is in the Lloyd District, but…

…so what?