Why do I spend €5.70 on a cup of coffee every single morning?
I go to the same café, laptop and iPad packed in my bag. As soon as I enter, I see the familiar faces. the barista, the regulars working on their laptops. I order a latte macchiato with oat milk, stand for two or three minutes while it's being prepared, and sometimes find myself in the middle of a conversation with someone I've never met before. As soon as I grab my coffee, I run to my spot, which I already have secured as soon as I entered, open my laptop and work on my projects.
Sometimes I catch myself asking: why not explore different cafés, or just study at home? The answer I keep coming back to: no decision fatigue. Same metro line, same place, same order. And when you go somewhere every day, you build these small, beautiful conversations with people you'd never otherwise know.
A library would be the obvious alternative. But I don't like it. Work feels way more like work there. Everyone is stressed, pin-drop silence, no interaction. When I work in a café, I don't even feel like I'm being productive. I just sit there, work on my things, drift in and out of conversations. It all feels like play.
From time to time I explore somewhere new. But for this phase of my life, I'm settled at Heinrich beim Hauser. or as my friends call it, Hipster Müller.