Fellow coffee lovers,

Welcome back to The Retired Barista Newsletter.

This week, I’ve been thinking about a question that sounds simple until you try to answer it: what makes a cafe great? Not just “good coffee,” but the kind of place you keep returning to without even needing a reason.

I’ll share the small details I notice (and the ones I used to obsess over behind the bar), then we’ll roll into a quick hit of coffee news and a reality check on one of the most common myths about coffee and climate.

Cheers,
Lars Miller

Trying a new cafe is a very personal & intimate experience. What makes a cafe great? Why do some cafe’s speak to you and others just miss the mark? I think we all know it’s not just the coffee. That is kind of the standard bearer, but it’s not what keeps you coming back. It’s not the instagrammable decor. No, the magic lies somewhere within the small details that you maybe miss but your subconscious is not.

So what some of those little details that speak to us and make the collective experience that much greater?

It’s such a small thing, but being acknowledged when you walk in the door immediately sparks a connection. I used to work in a small little market and during my training the first thing they taught me, before any of the food prep, stocking, or systems, was that if you see a guest walk in you say ‘hello, welcome in’ and if a guest is within 5ft from you and makes eye contact, you ask ‘is there anything I can help you with?’ These are small things but at the end of the day, a cafe is a hospitality business and great hospitality is about having that servant mentality and how can you spark joy through service. You only get 1 opportunity to make a first impression and on any given day that guest visiting for the first time, or the 100th, is coming to spend their hard earned money in your shop, they deserve to have an exceptional experience. Set that standard right off the bat.

When opening a cafe money is usually tight unless you are independently wealthy or venture backed. But that doesn’t mean that your shop should be bare. I have been in shops that the build out clearly wasn’t overly expensive, but the interior design was still extremely thoughtful. They thrifted furniture. They partner with local artist to fill the space with beautiful art, on consignment typically. They fill the space with natural light and plants. You don’t need to have this overly designed and crazy expensive buildout. But you do need to be extremely intentional with your decor. Layout and flow also factors into this as well. Does the flow of the shop just make sense? This is intentional usually.

This is your first time in the shop, but you can usually spot regulars in a shop fairly easily. Are they chatting with the baristas? They walk to the counter and the barista already has their order ready. They get called out by name, either when they walk in or when they walk to the counter. Perhaps that regular is bussing a table that’s not theirs when there’s a massive morning rush and someone called out so there’s only one barista. Regulars come in and treat the shop like home. This is a beautiful thing and something that makes me want to come back even more often. The regulars care about the shop and it’s because the owner has fostered a community that value the shop.

Coffee and a coffee shop is basically just a day time bar for me. I want to sit at a bar, I want to talk with the baristas, I want to hang out and people watch, and I want to watch the magic they are creating behind the bar. The shops that foster this third place are the ones I find myself coming back to regularly.

I think this is obvious but it’s something I don’t always see. The steam wand is dirty with the last dozen latte’s milk caked on to the wand. There’s jugs of milk sitting out and they have been sitting out for the last 40 minutes. The floors are sticky. The tables are not bussed. These are the egregious ones but the small things? A dirty hopper. The espresso machine is disheveled. Having a single wash clothe and not 3 different ones for the portafilter, steam wand, and then the machine itself. These small details matter. Because if they don’t get these things right, where else are they cutting corners?

This may just be a me thing, but man I am a sucker for custom ceramics. I don’t mean custom branded, though that’s a nice touch. I mean handmade ceramics from a local artisan. It’s a small detail but for me it goes back to the community aspect of the shop which I love. But also aesthetically there’s just something about drinking coffee out of ceramic. And bonus points when those ceramics are pre-heated and perfectly warm when I get them. Chef’s kiss.

Hit me back and let me know what makes you come back to a coffee shop? Or what makes you fall in love with one?

The Myth: As temperatures rise, coffee will simply move higher up mountains and further from the equator. Problem solved.

The Numbers: 2024 became the first year global temperatures exceeded 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, making it the hottest on record.¹ Heat spikes in Vietnam and Brazil drove coffee price volatility throughout the year, proving that extremes, not averages, determine market reality.

The Geometry Problem: Mountains don't provide infinite new land as you climb, they provide less. Every meter higher means steeper terrain, higher labor costs, and more fragmented plots. The "upslope trap" means suitable land shrinks even as suitability zones theoretically expand.²

The Labor Reality: Climate change doesn't just stress plants; it stresses people. Heat reduces labor capacity and compresses safe working hours into narrower windows. You can't mechanize steep slopes, and coffee is being pushed to steeper slopes.²

The Hidden Truth: The genus Coffea contains roughly 124 species, but the global industry relies overwhelmingly on just two (Arabica and Canephora). Recent research on Coffea stenophylla shows it can tolerate higher temperatures while offering Arabica-like flavor quality, suggesting the future might be more genetically diverse than our current duopoly.³

The Bottom Line: Coffee's climate future is about redesigning farms as managed ecosystems: multi-strata shade for temperature buffering, soil systems for water storage, and genetic portfolios that can handle volatility. The winners won't be those who move higher, they'll be those who engineer resilience where they stand.

Sources:

April 11-14 | Chicago, IL
Registration opens this month. This year's program includes expanded sessions on coffee genetics, climate adaptation, and breeding programs. Essential for anyone serious about coffee's future.

If you made it this far, thanks for spending part of your day with me.

Two asks before you go:

Happy brewing,
The Retired Barista

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