Howdy y'all!
I'm Melanie and a traveling coffee blogger based in the South. This space is about more than coffee though - it's about the people who serve it, the spaces you drink it and the convos that bloom around it. Won't you join me?
I'm Melanie and a traveling coffee blogger based in the South. This space is about more than coffee though - it's about the people who serve it, the spaces you drink it and the convos that bloom around it. Won't you join me?
What's up with the name?
During a visit to Galveston, my Mom and I breaked from antiquing and stopped in Mod Coffee House for a cuppa coffee. This Gilmore Girl loving duo hadn't seen each other in a year! At a little table in the middle of the shop, we were engrossed in conversation, playing catch up, and likely not using using our inside voices... A fellow studying close-by playfully interrupted us and observed, 'I don't think you two could be any closer!' We looked at each other, our faces about 12 inches apart, and busted up laughing. We, quite literally, could not be any closer. We decided we needed a name for this phenomenon. Thus:
The coffee hunch
It's that indistinguishable lean-in. You know, the one where you eagerly hang onto the stories spilling out of the person across from you, only breaking to take a sip of the cupped black goodness in-between words? Whether it's two old friends, two new friends, or two unknowing lovers on a date for the first time, where there is a hunch, there is excitement, eagerness, or curiosity.
I love it. This is why I could hang out in coffee shops forever. They're the ones that host the hunch. Coffee shops are not just about the coffee, though we all love this magical liquid dearly. Coffee shops are about all the that's going on inside.
The real beginning
London Borough of Southwark
Let's be straight though, my coffee hunching did not start in Galveston. I'd really gauge it's 'start' about two years earlier during my time at grad school in London. Unsurprisingly, I found myself in coffee shops often. To make reading less mundane, I'd hunt down independent coffee shops across all six zones of London (okay, maybe just the first two). I did this so often with a friend of mine, that we gave it a name: coffee shop office, or coffice for short. After about two dozen shops, I began to get a pretty good hunch about where coffee shops tended to live.
When I left London, this odd hobby stuck. I'd take long coffee detours during road trips. With every visit to a new city or a new country, I'd look up independent coffee shops before I'd even book the hotel.
This blog is something I've been wanting to do for awhile, but for a long time, I felt silly about it. It's been about three years, but I'm now at a point where I feel silly about feeling silly in the first place. Fear of opinion or judgment should never hold you back from sharing what brings you joy and joy is exactly what I have for this!
So here it is, friends. Here's to your next coffee-fueled adventure!