Tea vs Coffee
There’s a new(ish?) outpost of local tea café chain Argo Tea just up the street1 from local coffee chain Intelligentsia2. Walking by both last night I noticed something that I present with no judgement, but purely in the spirit of (un)scientific inquiry:
| Café | Persons in Café | Conversations | Persons alone reading or on laptop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argo | 20 | 1 | 18 |
| Intelligentsia | 20 | 183 | 2 |
13135 N Broadway
23123 N Broadway
3Ten people were paired up playing Go.
I applaud the move by Argo to bring their delicious tea concoctions, (Chocolate Mint Tea for one), into the neighborhood. Coffee Shops/Cafes are great too, but there’s a reason why the chatty Cathy’s and Bobs are that way, the OVER-stimulating effect the caffeine in that product they’re drinking.
I’ve had my share of homework and study sessions at Itelligensia, Caribou and a few other shops in the ‘hood and I can tell you I don’t know how I managed to tune out all the chatter.
When you step into Argo, or other tea shops, there’s a certain peace and at ease with the environment, if only to allow students and persons needing a smaller dose of caffeine, their fix.. It’s nice, and I for one am gonna take advantage of that once in awhile.
I think some of that might be just because the Argos are set up really well for laptopping. I’ve been stopping in there a lot since I got my new Macbook this past winter. The Broadway/Lakeview location in particular has that nice desky sort of upstairs area. And the ability to get a pot of genmai tea just rounds out the deal really well.