Sitting for Coffee

I was reading Barista Magazine today and they had a feature on MadCap Coffee barista/owner Trevor Corlett. One of the interesting items in the article is where he discusses what they call "Sunday Service" as his cafe. Basically what it entailed is a sit down service for your coffee on Sundays, he does this about once a month. At the service he has his baristas come out to the tables to serve you your coffee and talk more indepth about it to the customer instead of coming up to the bar. He says that it's really catching on and might be doing it more often, as they are closed most Sundays.

This is pretty interesting to me because most of the time a cafe is busy. Think about a typical morning you have been in a cafe whether it be a upscale one or just your local Starbucks, the barista may smile at you and ask you how you are, but it's just small talk to get your order and on your way. What this sit down service shows me is while I think everyone in the weekday morning rush for the most part wants their cup and to be on their way, people are really interested in the coffee and I wish there were places close to me that did this.

One of the biggest advatages to the sit down service is that it gives not only the cafe an opporunity to distinguish themselves from a Starbucks, it also gives a safe opptunity for us the consumers have a discussion about coffee. I am as guilty as the next person about really enjoying my coffee, but due to this or that not really expressing that interest sometimes when at my local shop that serves great coffee. While this outlet is a safe place for that expression, it would be wild to talk with a professional in the cafe, where they have time and you don't feel like a burden.

For the rest of you, do you know of events done by your local shops that encourage this?