I’ll tell you why I will not “put an end to $8 cafe lattes” as suggested in an influencer’s recent post, and instead defend them until I’m blue in the face. In no particular order, here’s what I’m really “paying for”:

1) Cafe’s are my third place: I work by and for myself at home and though I’m generally introverted, I love being around the buzz of other people in a cafe setting while I’m pretending to get work done but mostly I’m just procrastinating somewhere else where the vibes are better than my dining table/desk.

2) Pastries: I love seeking out places that have the best ones: an assortment of morning pastries (croissants/scones/muffins) and afternoon treats (cookies/brownies) is ideal and annoyingly hard to come by. When you find it, it’s like winning the lottery.

3) Connection: I found a new-to-me place that had exceptional pastries in both of these above categories and made a point of asking the barista where they were from, then found the solo baker on instagram and made her day (her words not mine!) by sending her a message and telling her how great they were.

4) Getting dressed: I love putting an outfit together even though I’m very casual 99% of the time, but if I’m WFH all day only leaving for dog walks and daycare pickup, it doesn’t feel worth it to me to change into something cute, so I love putting more effort into my coffee shop outfits because it feels more like an “outing” with a higher return of eyeballs (even if they’re just in my mind).

5) Support your local main streets! Yes coffee is expensive and about to get a lot more expensive thanks to tariffs. We need local coffee shops almost as much as we need libraries! I will die on this hill.

6) The experience of walking in the sunshine with an iced coffee that someone else made for you just scientifically tastes better than even the most high-end gadgeted concoction you can make for yourself at home, it’s just a fact!