I have had it up to here with all these modern Scandinavian-style coffee shop clones. They’re cold, white, and sterile, with all the warmth and ambience of a hospital room. You can usually recognize them by their ubiquitous peg letter menu boards (you know the ones) and uncomfortable metal stools with no back support, seemingly designed to torment anyone even moderately blessed in the cake department. Good luck trying to linger here for more than an hour without your sciatica acting up.

I long for the warm, earthy aesthetic of the ’90s and early 2000s. I want to see squishy, overstuffed armchairs and cushy couches. I want to feel like I just walked onto a Nora Ephron movie set.

A few shops in Seattle still get this cozy, inviting vibe: A Muddy Cup in Wallingford and all locations of Choc

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