Utopia Magazine

It’s easier to get out of bed in the morning when you know there’s a fresh cup of coffee waiting for you and friendly people to meet at the coffee shop. Big chains like Starbucks offer convenience, but small, independent coffee shops have something else: personality.

For some, local coffee shops are more than just a place to grab a quick caffeine fix. They’re more like a second home, a comfortable place to spend hours studying, working, or talking with friends. Listen to Beren and Mason discuss coffee shops.

Beren

Mason

Mason: You know what I miss the most now that I am a 9 to 5-er?

Beren: What? What’s that?

Mason: Getting to hang out at coffee shops all the time.

Beren: Ooh, yeah. Did you used to do that a lot?

Mason: Yeah, I mean when I was in my crazy swinging freelance days, I had my couple favorite shops and that was just where I’d go get all my work done. And you kind of become part of a scene there, you know. You get to know the baristas and the regulars. It’s awesome.

Beren: Yeah. I get coffee. I need my caffeine fix and everything in the morning. But I don’t know, ever since I worked at a coffee shop I just have not been able to like hang out there. Just because I feel too bad for the people behind the counter.

Mason: What kind of place did you work at? Was it like an independent shop?

Beren: Um, it started out as like a locally owned independent coffee shop. Then it kind of got slowly taken over by a big corporation.

Mason: Really? That doesn’t happen all that often.

Beren: No, not too often. But, yeah, I don’t know. It’s just…Once you work in a coffee shop, you’re drinking so much coffee all the time, you get totally wired. You can’t handle…anything. Simple conversation. That’s why people that work at coffee shops are so jittery and angry. They’re just like, “Ahhh!” It’s all the caffeine.

Mason: Okay. I’m going decaf.

Mason recently started working a 9 to 5 job so he can’t spend all his time at coffee shops any more. He misses being a regular at his favorite coffee shop and belonging to a local scene.

Beren used to be a barista at an independent coffee shop that got bought out by a large chain. Beren’s experience working at a coffee shop has turned her against them. She says all baristas are wired and angry from drinking too much caffeine and dealing with difficult customers.

Are coffee shops popular in your country? Do you like going to coffee shops to get your caffeine fix or hang out with friends?

Verb Tenses: Present Continuous

Beren says people who work in coffee shops “are drinking so much coffee all the time.” This is an example of using the present continuous tense to describe an action that’s continually repeated.

Baristas drink coffee morning, noon, and night. It’s an action that doesn’t just happen once or twice. They are doing it a lot.

The present continuous is formed with the present tense of the verb to be + another verb + -ing, as in, “He is constantly calling me,” or, “My parents are always complaining about how I never do the dishes.”