But today? What do the baby boomer’s kids think of as a coffee shop? They most assuredly know of Starbucks and those establishments brave enough to compete with them who serve gourmet coffee, cappuccino, espresso and tea at slightly elevated prices. They usually have computer terminals in them, and sometimes are equipped with couches and easy chairs. They are magnets for writers, students, and musicians.

Be aware that while coffee shops often thrive, 50% of all Americans do not drink coffee. So, if you are considering opening a coffee shop, do not call it a coffee shop. Call it a diner which is really very similar to a coffee shop.

Seattle in particular is also known to be of a substantially rainy climate, which can only help the many coffee shops that are in the city attain good business numbers. The prospect of ducking out of the rain to enjoy a nice mocha or latte is something that people are easily drawn to.

One of the most popular coffee shops in Seattle is Caffe Umbria, located in Pioneer Square, which offers coffee drinks and gelato, among other confectionaries. Many sites exist on the Internet that have extensive lists of a ‘best of’ Seattle coffee shops, and judging by the number of different shops that show up on these lists, the city has more than its fair share. Its status as many people’s favorite coffee location in the United States seems to be shown in the sheer abundance of the number of shops that you can find in the city.

The allure of dodging the droplets of rain cascading down the streets by curling up in a low-lit, quiet coffee shop while enjoying free Wi-Fi internet is a pretty welcoming thought, and probably appeals to many of Seattle’s tourists, eager to experience some of the smaller, independent coffee shops in Seattle have to offer. In a sense, it is somewhat ironic that Seattle is the birthplace of Starbucks, yet the city has a lot of much smaller, independent coffee houses that offer up unique experiences of ambience as well as mochas.

Some may be reading the newspaper, some may be reading a book, and some may just be enjoying the company of a friend or acquaintance.
A coffee shop is no longer just a place to go buy a cup of coffee. Even the word ‘coffee’ has changed, into a blanket term for a wide array of different beverages of varying flavors, varieties, sugar contents, calorie contents, and sizes.

Whereas once a ‘cup of coffee’ was just that, a cup of brown liquid in which you could add sugar or cream, now ‘coffee’ can mean a Double Venti Chocolate Mocha, or a White Chocolate Caramel Frappuccino with whipped cream.

The more health-conscious person can seek out a low-calorie, sugar-free drink; the hyper-caffeinated high school student can order a chocolate-flavored sugar-soaked milkshake, essentially, with a coffee twist; ‘coffee’ has been adapted to suit a wide variety of desires and tastes.

Sure, one of these big expensive specialty drinks is fattening and not a good idea to put into one’s system, but every now and then, our nagging sweet tooth must be appeased, lest we get driven insane by desire. Chains such as Starbucks have capitalized on this inherent desire, and have become very successful and marketable because of our needs and wants as consumers.

For some, a coffeehouse is a good place to go on a date, with its low-key lighting and gentle jazz music playing on the PA system. Some such coffee shops, like Starbucks, take advantage of the environment felt in these stores by packaging together collections of the music that customarily plays in the shops and selling them as CD’s, or iTunes albums to customers who have taken a liking to the experience. That way, customers can essentially take home the experience of being at a coffee house and enjoy it in the privacy of his or her own home.

A specific music genre has even emerged out of this type of coffee retailer, known as ‘coffeehouse rock’. Various radio stations on XM radio and other such outlets have channels devoted to this type of music, which is generally low-key, easy listening acoustic folk rock such as Donovan Frankenreiter or Jack Johnson-esque artists, with gentle melodies and easy rhythms that complement the ambience of being in a coffeehouse.

This sense of ambience is probably a reason that a lot of coffeehouses stay open much later than people usually drink coffee, if solely for the purpose of being somewhere to relax and socialize with friends in a much less abrasive environment than a bar would provide.

Like any business endeavor, starting a coffee shop can be a lot of work, but it can also be very rewarding. Here are a few steps that can help get a new shop up and running:

First, pick the perfect location. A coffee shop should be in a busy area with a lot of foot traffic. After a location is picked, you can negotiate a good lease.

Next, figure out how much it will cost to run the shop. The cost of operating the shop includes: lease payments, insurance payments, employee salaries, advertising, and utilities. Once the cost of running the shop per day has been calculated, it is time to figure out how much business needs to be done in order to cover that cost. For instance, if it is going to cost $500 dollars per day to run the shop, and there is an estimated $5 profit per sale, 100 transactions must occur every day to cover the cost. (Remember this is just the cost to break even, making profits would require more transactions).

Next, obtain necessary funding. It is recommended that individuals acquire 25% more money than they initially believe they will need. This protects them from running into unexpected expenses that are quite common.

Now it is time to make some major purchases for your shop. The proper brewing equipment needs to be purchased, along with things like paint, flooring, lighting and furniture to fix up the shop just right.

The next step is hiring a knowledgeable, well-trained staff that can improve business from the get-go. One of the last, but most important steps is advertising the new shop. Good places to consider advertising would be nearby college campuses or businesses neighbors.

The very last step of course is enjoying the first of many cups of coffee!

Amsterdam is an infamous city, and for good reason.

Marijuana use is allowed, many other illicit activities are tolerated, and for that reason many tourists enjoy vacationing there.

You can do things there that you cannot legally do in other countries. That said, Amsterdam’s 150 coffee shops have specialized products for sale, such as marijuana and hashish.

Many of these shops allow customers to smoke the marijuana on the premises, perhaps with a nice mocha.

Many of the coffee shops in Amsterdam also sell ‘space cakes’, which are variations of marijuana brownies, very popular with tourists as well.

There are a lot of these coffee shops by Centraal Station and the Red Light District. However, not all of the coffee shops in Amsterdam sell marijuana.

‘Brown cafes’ do not sell marijuana, and it would probably not go over well if you asked someone there for some; brown cafes generally are situated like corner pubs on the street.

One highly rated coffee shop in the city is Baba, which pumps trance music through its speakers all day, closing at 1 am.

The shop sells space cakes, marijuana, and coffee products. Another popular one is Hill Street Blues, located next to a police station.

Its right next to the Baba café, and it also sells a lot of space cakes and other products of the like. These are just a couple of the highly rated Amsterdam coffee shops; there are many more from which to choose, and all of them help make the experience something unique to Amsterdam.