DeRusha Eats: New Book 'Coffee Culture'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Visiting a fancy coffee shop is a lot more than just getting a jolt of caffeine: it's part rock concert with the sounds of the grind, part ballet as the barista's slow pour-over dances through the Chemex. And it's almost always a gallery, from the artwork on the wall to the beauty of your latte.
"I think design is becoming more important as more coffee shops continue to open up," said Robert Schneider, author of a new coffee table book on coffee shops, Coffee Culture. "It was really that love of coffee and design, even though I'm not an expert. It's always been a hobby."
Schneider's background is in capital markets and investment, but his work took him all over the world. His hobby of coffee led him to focus on 33 coffee shops all over the country, all innovative roasters who are doing cool things with design.
Toby's Estate Coffee in Brooklyn is one of those profiled, where the design lets you know who's the star of the show.
"The side walls slant inwards from front to back. So it is very much the design of a theatre. In this case the stage is the coffee bar," said Schneider.
Intelligentsia Coffee in Chicago puts the coffee onstage too, with a low coffee bar featuring a display of pour-over coffee stations.
FRONT in San Francisco explores the bean and the roasting process like a group of scientists, putting the beans in beakers and test tubes.
"How much of this design is tied into social media?" WCCO reporter Jason DeRusha asked.
"I think it's huge, you're seeing a lot of pictures of latte art or coffee shop design showing up on Instagram," Schneider said.
Schneider lives in Minneapolis, and the Minneapolis entry in the book was in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where Dogwood Coffee's short-lived shop was truly worthy of the museum.
"That shop got my attention because of how respectful the design was of the artwork, and how it flowed with the lobby and the overall museum," he said.
He points to Anelace Coffee in Northeast Minneapolis as a spot with solid design, and great coffee. And ultimately that combination is the point.
"I would say first and foremost it's the quality of the coffee. The design isn't going to improve the taste of the coffee," said Schneider.
Coffee Culture: Hot Coffee + Cool Spaces is $28.46 on Amazon.com.
