C is for Coffee- Day Seventeen.

Asheville does not quite have the coffee scene that Portland has. Looking for a place to socialize? Relax? Read? Try a thousand coffees? Portland has you covered. My favorite place is called Singer Hill Cafe. While I still lived in Oregon I spent many afternoons there doing homework. In the summer the walls roll up and it's like being outside without the burden of actually having to be outside. The coffee is delicious, and the people are friendly. I did the majority of my homework here.

Now I live in Asheville where choices are limited. There are only two free-standing Starbucks. Since I posses no intrinsic motivation to do homework while at home I have been on the lookout for the perfect place to do my work. 

Here are some steps to finding the perfect coffee study shop. 

1. Find people who are kind to you from behind the counter. Are they willing to answer your questions about where they roast their beans? Do they charge you for a refill on hot water? Do they gossip about customers and other staff members when there is no one at the counter? 

            a. What are the patrons like? Are they mostly working quietly? Or are they are a college reunion? 

2. If your butt is unable to sit in their chairs for at least two hours, get out.

3. If their wi-fi gives out every fifteen minutes, pass. 

4. Ideally it will be conveniently located between home and work and the gym. Luckily in Asheville everything is ten minutes from everything.

5. What is their coffee to food ratio. Ideally the place you choose will specialize in coffee with some small snacks. That way, peak times like lunch won't be as noisy. Because as the eternally distracted know, other people's conversations are way more interesting than whatever you're doing. 

6. What are their tables like? Last week I tried a new place. The coffee was amazing, but the largest table in the place (only three tables) was a door on its side. No go. 

7. Natural lighting. Staring at your computer is not good for your brain. It's important to remember the  sun exists. (I wear glasses now. Should I talk about that?)

8. And most importantly, is their coffee amazing? Because if you're a recreational bean water drinker, life is too short to be drinking the bad stuff. 

After a few weeks of research I have narrowed it down to two places. One has a better atmosphere, and better coffee, but the other place has more comfortable seating. I've been going back and forth. Do I settle? Or do I keep looking until I have tried every place with wi-fi in Western North Carolina?