Why do students go to a café? First, of course, to have coffee and a snack. And in our urban century the café is a place for socializing, meetings and dates.

But it’s usually more than that. Since modern computers are so portable and most cafés have free internet, the café has become a student’s library and personal office.

There are visitors who love loneliness, who come not to produce but to observe and absorb. They just watch the passers-by sipping coffee at a table by the window. I am that way too, sometimes.

But there are also people who come here for a reason – they need to get something done, and a café gives them the perfect setting.

Different people work outside their natural habitat for different reasons. Some have kids, or dogs or roommates (or all of the above at once), and they make a run for it.

On the other hand, some have a pressing, flattening silence in their empty apartments to the point that their brain starts to reflect the emptiness.

In any of these scenarios it can be painful to squeeze out an idea, a thought, a word.

And that is when you make an escape – an escape to the streets, to a café, to the people who don’t care, who mind their own business.

There you do not need to change a diaper or be yelled at for not washing dishes. Inexplicably, thoughts begin to sprout, as if you steal them from the head of an unknown (but somehow connected) stranger from the next table.

By the way, you are mistaken if you think the invention of the Internet turned cafés into a kind of office-room.

There is a stunning example in the early 20th century – the famous Austrian writer and journalist Peter Altenber.

He was so fond of Café Central in Vienna that he even received his correspondence there, and the question of where to find him was always answered, “Café Central, Vienna.”

His figure in papier-mâché retains a place of honor on a bench near the entrance to the café.

Modern expectations of a café are things like Wi-Fi, outlets to charge computers and iPhones and the ability to order coffee or tea and sit at a table as long as necessary without catching the angry looks of waiters.

Noise level is also a concern. It shouldn’t be too loud, and it should stay at that level of white noise when it’s not distracting.

In general, our needs and desires are rather modest, so let’s look at how well they are satisfied by cafés in EdCC’s neighborhood.

On the list are Caffe Ladro, Aloha Café and Starbucks – all on 196th street, within 10 minutes walking distance of the EdCC campus.

Aloha Café

Entering, I am immediately greeted warmly by Jung, the owner, with whom I go back a long time. Aloha was one of the first cafés I discovered when I started at EdCC four years ago.

It has one big table (perfect if you have to lay out not only a computer but also a bunch of textbooks), six smaller tables and two low coffee tables surrounded by armchairs.

The café’s clean restrooms and Wi-Fi (password on request) are not surprising, and more of a mandatory thing nowadays. There are not many people, and usually there is no problem finding an unoccupied table close to an outlet.

Jung gladly engaged in the conversation and shared that lately the business is down. Aloha doesn’t have as many students as it used to.

“We were here first, we opened in March 2010. But now they have Starbucks everywhere,” said Jung. Aloha has a friendly, almost homey atmosphere; Jung greets most of the customers by name.

Caffe Ladro

Caffe Ladro is bigger than Aloha and has more locations around Seattle, but it still succeeds in maintaining a simple and friendly atmosphere.

The café is filled with cozy armchairs and a variety of differently sized tables. One can find more desserts and pastries here than at Aloha.

The baristas engage in light conversation with all the customers and make jokes. As a true barista should, they supply you with a good mood for the rest of your day.

Cara, a Ladro customer working on her book, explained why she can’t work at home: “My head is quite empty when I am there, and I was frantically trying to string words like beads on the fishing line in phrases and meanings, but it didn’t work.”

Starbucks

Hearing a lot of short, distant remarks about Starbucks from Ladro and Aloha customers, I approached it with a heavy heart. The barista welcomed me with the usual smile and polite question of what I would like to drink.

Haters gonna hate, but Starbucks is packed with students.

I couldn’t get a table to myself, so I took an empty seat beside a girl, Stephanie, with a computer by the window. She turned out to be a high school student who was working on her English essay.

“I am a tea person,” Stephanie explained. “But my friends who drink coffee never come here. They would go to the coffee stand across the road.”

Stephanie shared that Ladro and Aloha are too quiet for her; she needs more people and more noise to concentrate.