Nobly Drinking Tea OR Sippin' The Noble Coffee

Indie Indy Coffee Shops Series #4

I've been saving this place for awhile, but the time has come to share its awesomeness.

Why now? Because some time in the next week or so I will finish the rough draft of my first novel. The draft's going to end up just north of 100,000 words, and well over 30,000 of those were written here. Possibly even more.

Where is this magnificent writing place?

Noble Coffee & Tea Company, Noblesville, IN

They hung an actual coffee pot out front
so people who haven't had their morning coffee don't have to read.

Those of you following the blog may remember Noblesville from their town square around Christmas time. If you don't then please proceed to Education Room B.

The shoppe actually has two entrances, one on the square and one around the corner on the next street, right next to a cupcake store. (And yes, they are totally cool with you buying cupcakes then bringing them in to enjoy with coffee. It's a VERY good idea.)

We shall call them the Cupcake Entrance and the Square Entrance.

The Cupcake Entrance drops you right in front of the counter.

Also in front of the Wall of Coffee.

Noble Coffee roasts their own coffee, so as you peruse the Wall of Coffee look for their own various roasts. They also have flavored blends with neat names like Jamaican Me Crazy and Highlander Grog. (Both very good, by the way.)

As a brief side note, we sent a couple pounds of these to my aunt for Christmas. My understanding is she jealously guards them from any visitors to keep for herself. You've been warned.

Just off the side of the Cupcake Entrance is a room that reminds you why the "Tea" part of the company name is there.

We would also like to remind you that tea can be fancy,
as shown by our fancy Tea Cabinet.

Oh, and there's a third reminder of why we should all cherish either our pre-ground coffee or our automatic coffee grinder:

In the 1800s, forgetting to grind the beans meant
you weren't getting coffee until dinner

But say you didn't come in the Cupcake Entrance. Say you wandered around Noblesville Square and thought you'd come in for a bit of coffee and perhaps a bite to eat.

You'd find one of my favorite writin' rooms.

Quite large, and while traffic comes and goes we've always found a table.

Because of the Cupcake Entrance, this large room is removed from the people popping in for a quick to-go coffee. Those people all use the Cupcake Entrance in an attempt to go the shortest distance between them and coffee. (I don't blame them for this.)

Which means this room is largely just for people chillin'.

And those aren't paintings between the wood panels. They're murals.

Murals of totally different styles...

...But somehow they work together. Don't ask me why.

Actually that square table there is my favorite table, and where I've done most of my writing at this shoppe. I've spent a great deal of time planning my next writing move while staring at that baker riding a bike while drinking wine or the early 20th Century Frenchmen slurping espresso.

Back to my point, though, that chillin' style is the real reason I love this place. There's a comfortable, easy atmosphere here. So comfortable that I've seen at least 8 blind dates meet here for the first time. Even though the conversation was awkward, the atmosphere was cool. And that takes some doing.

In case you're worried about getting coffee from the large room of the Square Entrance, all you have to do is head through the archway to the Temple of Caffeine.

You can also use the Temple of Restroom.

Thanks for the vibe, Noble Coffee House. I'm sure I'll see you soon while editing.

Gathering for Caffeine OR Musical Coffee Style

Indie Indy Coffee Shops Series #3

I'm gonna start off with a disclaimer:

Some coffeeshops aren't technically in Indianapolis. They are, in fact, in suburbs or small towns just outside of Indy, depending on which label you prefer.

For those longtime readers of the blog: 1) You're awesome and possess incredibly good taste. 2) You may remember a separate post about Pendleton.

We revisit that town, this time concentrating on the caffeine.

Gathering Grounds, Pendleton, IN

Kudos for the alliterative pun!

The title Gathering Grounds brings forth images of a group of friendly, welcoming people coming together to chat, laugh, and drink tasty coffee. It's the kind of sentimental idea that can work really well for marketing but in execution can be far more disillusioning.

Gathering Grounds laughs in the face of such cynicism.

And then invites you to come sing Simon & Garfunkel.

The place is pretty small, but doesn't feel cramped at all. There's a good amount of seating, and even on a crowded, busy Saturday morning one can find seats.

And a rather large variety of seats, at that.

That man with the guitar is, in fact, the owner. When there's a lull in coffee-making he'll grab his six-string and plays a few tunes, sometimes taking requests.

While I can't adequately record the audio component of the experience on this blog, I can say this: The man knows how to play in coffee shops. His volume, style, and tone fits perfectly, even when doing more frenetic songs. To illustrate: I can, in fact, continue to work on my book while he plays only ten feet from me.

It's pretty impressive, actually.

The general decor follows the same Thrown Together Yet Put Together look:

The coffee bar.
It's hard to see, but the cooler in the back holds some awesome quiche.

Coffee next to syrup, next to toasting your own bread.

It's hard to see, but this map is covered with pins.
The owners have been all over, and returned to make this chill place.

To be honest, the whole place is an intriguing blend of laid-back, almost hippy sentiments, strengthened with enough good commercial sense to keep the place around.

Kind of like your favorite Indie band: Doing something different, but there's still a merch table.

Or merch wall, as it were.

All in all? It's a great place to spend a Saturday morning/afternoon.

Caffeine Thunder Stone OR This Cafe's Made in New York City!

Indie Indy Coffee Shops Series #2

Last weekend a friend of my wife's came into town. Her purpose? To visit both my wife and another friend who lives an hour or so away.

Rather than avoid the awkward situation of choosing one friend's familiar haunts over the other's, we all decided to meet halfway. In an area none of us knew well. Which is fair. After all, if we're all ignorant, that's still fair, right?

Well, I'm glad we did, because while looking for a place to gather and write, we found a wonderful gem, one which is a perfect companion to another coffee shop that's been waiting in the wings.

Because I've heard keeping your audience in suspense is a good thing, we'll save the gem for later.

Cornerstone Coffee House

Notice that "CoffeeHouse" is in much bigger words than "Cornerstone"
They clearly know their audience.

There is a full cafe and restaurant connected to this coffee shop. But being true connoisseurs of the bitter bean, we ignored such things like "food" and headed straight for the coffee.

Pictured: Coffee.
...and maybe other things, too.

The first thing I noticed about this place was... Okay, well, the coffee.

But the second thing I noticed was the diversification. The whole place looked prosperous, well-cared for, and nicely designed.

Which, due to pesky things like economic reality, takes money.

Let's face it: It's easy to run an independent coffee shop into the ground. It happens on a fairly regular basis. After all, usually the only products are low-margin things like coffee or muffins.

But Cornerstone countered (get it?) by putting in a bar. And a cafe. And still managing to create a comfy area to work and chill.

For working...

...For chilling.

I'll admit: At first the cafe-style decor worried me. People who run "restaurants-that-serve-coffee" can often get grumpy about people who buy hot bean water and sit for hours.

But not here. This is a true CoffeeHouse/Bar/Restaurant, and happily let us consume their tasty roasted cherry-pit tea for hours while writing a bit.

Which is why we took some home with us. Because it was tasty and they were awesome.

Also: How could we possibly resist that name?!?

SoHo Cafe

Now for the Mysterious Gem from my Mysterious Meeting with Mysterious Friends drinking Mysterious Beverages.

I refer to this wonderful establishment:

Far too cool for the strip mall it's in.
...Though the "Eat More Cake" shop next door is also cool.

After getting entirely misled by Yelp's address (Curse you, Technology!), we called them on our cell phones (Hooray for Technology!) and they very nicely gave us directions.

One is never sure what to expect when one enters an independent coffee shop, so you will of course understand the moment of pause when the entrance yielded this:

I almost wish they'd turn down the lights to
make it more creepy and atmospheric...
...almost.

But at the other end was a lovely little cafe area. There was a gelato bar, a neat coffee bar, a table, and a little lounge area in front of a fireplace.

How lovely!
Also: The Peanuts fan in me loved the "Psychiatric Help 5¢" sign.

It's hard to tell from this shot, but the menu items include Nutella Lattes. I don't think I need to say more.

One corner held a lovely amount of hip, neat merchandise, too!

Remember: Buying it from your Indie Coffee Shop makes it cooler!

But there were five of us, and not a lot of apparent seating. The menu looked tasty enough, so we figured we could sit outside (where there was plenty of seating). We could at least get lunch, but not hang out.

Then I noticed this:

Gallery, you say...?
Seating, you say...?

Which suddenly made me love this place. Allow me to demonstrate:

Why, there's PLENTY of room!

From BOTH angles! And a wall of art!

Art, crafts, and neat things lined the walls. The tables had plenty of space and there were plenty of them. It was very much like being in a hip, artsy New York shop!

With a couple key differences:

1)There was room for people.

2)The people who worked there were really, really nice.

Seriously. They kindly brought our food to our table instead of just calling it out at the counter. They chatted and joked with me, and when I came back the next day instantly recognized me.

Being a regular at many shops, I've often gotten that treatment, but not usually on the first day.

And you read that correctly: The next day. We thought about switching it up, but honestly we all liked the place so much that we gravitated there the next day almost without saying.

And to top all of it off, this coffee shop came with it's own informative plaque. And we know how much I love informative plaques...

Informative!

Oh, and their dried-backed-crushed-steeped seed drink?

Very tasty, indeed.

Calvin the Rancher's Neighborhood Coffee OR This Coffee Shop Looks Rather Fletching!

Indie Indy Coffee Shops Series #1

Before we start, let me explain the secondary title above. Being a writer, a lover of hot drinks with caffeine, and an avid people watcher, I've always enjoyed writing in coffee shops.

When I moved outside Indianapolis and found out there's a wealth of independent coffee shops, well, the combination of wordplay and a subject near to my heart was too good to pass up.

Originally this was going to be a single post of four different shops in the Indie area. But then I actually WENT to said shops, and, well, they really were fascinating!

But enough explanation. Let's jump to the actual fascinating thing. Or, as the sign says:

Get Your Culture On.

Also: Custom things!

First, something about Calvin Fletcher:

He was an influential citizen, lawyer, banker, rancher, etc. back when Indianapolis was just getting going. (1820-something through a few decades later. What? I'm not a history book!) 

He owned a fair bit of land (over 200 acres) outside of Indianapolis, which soon became surrounded by Indianapolis, and long story short eventually became a neighborhood known as Fletcher Place. Which is now a historic district.

...Which when we were there was under some beautification.

Behold the new traditional-style sidewalks! No, wait...

This. This is what they'll look like.

And off to the side of the sidewalk was Calvin Fletcher's Coffee Company.

Not affiliated with Calvin Fletcher, only his neighborhood.
Hence the history lesson.

Inside we were greeted by a large, comfortable place with art on the walls.

Spacious coming...

...And going!

But let's dig into why this place warrants a full post by itself.

First off is Doug. I don't have a picture of Doug, but he's the owner and was incredibly nice. He knew his coffee, and gave a great recommendation explaining the difference between his house blend and the other blends. (The house blend was quite tasty.)

And the was before I asked permission to take pictures for this blog. (Which he gladly gave.)

So I looked around, took a few pictures, and stumbled upon this:

That's not Doug. That's Jeff. But he was also there and also nice.
And has a cool ponytail.

For those of you who don't have incredibly huge screens with incredible resolution, let me sum up the article: (Incidentally, those of you WITH huge screens: Do you really need that much screen?)

The article tells how Doug served his community for 25 years as a minister (he might still be ministering, actually), and opened the coffeeshop as a not-for-profit coffeeshop. Kind like Newman's Own if Paul Newman was a minister and if his salad dressing was a dark roast.

Every month they take the profits and give them to a charity like Second Helpings, Bread for the World, etc. Which is pretty cool. Almost as cool as Jeff's ponytail (but not quite).

This community philosophy was everywhere here. Local artists displayed their art on the walls, and in a couple cases on the tables.

There was an awesome little library/book corner.

Awe. Some.

While we were there, half the customers that came in were greeted by name, AND they made the appropriate Cheers comments. (If you don't get that joke, I am sad.)

But what we really loved, given that my better half designs knitting patterns and I recently tried my hand at hand-dyeing yarn, was this:

Because knitters are awesome.

Donated by the local yarn shop Mass Ave Knit Shop (it's a great shop, but I digress), these needles and scarves are meant to be knitted by the community, and when finished given to the needy for the cold Indiana winters. Which can be very cold indeed.

We really liked that idea a lot. And of course, knitting was done:

To overuse the word: This my awesome wife knitting...

...in EXTREME CLOSE UP.
(Wow. Cheers and Wayne's World in one post...)

But to sum up: We loved this shop, and even though it's a good 45 minutes away from us, we will definitely revisit for some tasty coffee, friendly knitting, and community spirit.

...Oh, and really good pastries. My pumpkin chocolate chip muffin was, to run the word into the ground, awesome.