It's Not About the Coffee

Three things I look for, and why a morning cup is a meditation, a ritual and an anchor when you're travelling.

Coffee it would be easiest to just buy cold at 7‑Eleven. But that’s not the point. Coffee in Asia is an experience. The shops and quality are always different. Coffee is now also a meditation; it is an important morning ritual in my day.
These are the three things I look for:

Comfortable atmosphere. Fancy is no good if the seats are hard.
Real, genuine warmth. A morning coffee served from someone is basically liquid in a cup, our intentions are inadvertently served and passed on to the customer. Bad energy? I feel it, and now I have to drink it too.
Good coffee.

To tick all the boxes can be tricky to find, but it is possible. My favourite example is Comma Reading Room Cafe in Vientiane, Laos, a place I can meditate and write from that also has interesting people.

I don’t drink alcohol or go to bars. Coffee interactions are much slower, but here I was able to slowly build connections and networks. It’s not about the coffee. It’s an experience, a meditation, a ritual, my work, and an anchor for someone travelling. What you do for me by ticking all the boxes is more important than you think.