How to Work from a Coffee Shop: Some Etiquette Tips AND Some of Our Favorite Spots

Remote companies continue to grow and work from home jobs are highly sought after in this post-pandemic world.

If you’re up for getting out of the house and turning your remote role into a work from coffee shop job, you’re going to want to stick around.

Today, we’re bringing you the crucial rules of thumb to keep in mind when working from a coffee shop. We have six pieces of advice you absolutely cannot forget when you pack up your mobile office and take it on the road for a cup of joe and a change of scenery in your workday. 

We will also share some of our favorite coffee shops across the U.S. to give you some fun places to add to your coffee shop bucket list! How do we know which ones are the best? Well, we make their coffee shop t-shirts, of course! And if they’re choosing us for our quality custom tees, you already know their brews will be top-notch as well. 

Get ready to screenshot and share with that one co-worker who’s always at Starbucks during your Zoom meetings…

Work-From-Coffee-Shop Etiquette

1. Buy Coffee (and Other Treats)

The most important rule to follow, and hopefully the most obvious. If you’re going to be hanging out at the coffee shop all day or most of the day, you have to pay for your seat. Well, not literally of course. But the wifi you’re using, the table you’re sitting at, and the smells you’re enjoying all cost the shop something. So you need to keep ordering throughout the day.

We know you’re saying, “Hang on—that’s a lot of coffee,” and shaking your head to yourself right now. And you’re right. If you have a new cup of coffee every few hours, you’re not going to be feeling too great by the end of the day. That’s too much caffeine for most people! So space it out, and don’t order coffee every time.

Order a coffee when you arrive. Remember to tip. Grab a snack later. Stay there for lunch if there are more food options at your coffee shop of choice. Get a refill for an afternoon pick-me-up or ask if they have any good herbal teas (naturally caffeine-free!) Just make sure you’re going back and ordering different things throughout the day. It doesn’t always have to be coffee. Think of it as an opportunity to explore the menu and find the hidden gem items you didn’t know they offered!

2. Keep a Respectful Volume

Bring. Your. Headphones! No excuses. If you forget, run by the store and grab a $10 backup pair to keep in your car. Headphones are an absolute must for working remotely anywhere in public, especially in a coffee shop.

It’s just common courtesy to use headphones for music, videos, and virtual meetings. It’s extra important in a coffee shop because most folks come there to focus or relax. They don’t need to hear your annoying co-worker on Zoom at full volume going on and on about numbers and spreadsheets. (Arguably, you don’t need to hear that either. That meeting probably could have been an email.)

In the same vein, if you need to speak over the phone or in a virtual meeting, just pay attention to your volume. If possible, step outside. If not that’s not possible, don’t stress. People talk in coffee shops, so it’s OK for you to as well. But it’s courteous to be mindful. If it’s a small area and you feel comfortable doing so, let the people around you know how long the meeting will last. If you must speak up a lot, apologize to those around you afterward too.

3. Be Mindful of Your Space

What makes up your mobile office? It can probably fit in a backpack, correct? Then you shouldn’t need to take up the largest table at the coffee shop. If you’re working there by yourself, don’t take a table multiple people could use.

If you need a little extra space or a bigger table here and there, feel free to move tables throughout the day. Sketch and plan your project at the four-seater, then move to the barstools for email time, and out to the patio for afternoon meetings.

It’s also helpful to plan your work from home versus work from coffee shop days around your workload. If you have a lot of emails to catch up on, you won’t take up much space at the coffee shop and it will be nice to get a change of scenery for those tedious tasks. If you are in brainstorm mode and need to try a card sorting or physical mind map exercise, it could be better to do so from your own home.

4. Charge Only When Necessary

After you double-check to make sure you have your headphones, be sure to grab your laptop charger too! The last thing you want to deal with is a dead laptop right before a weekly standup meeting.

However, don’t be annoying about your charging cord. Sometimes coffee shops have limited outlets available, and they’re in high demand from other customers like you. Depending on the outlet available, make sure your cord isn’t a tripping hazard!

Our best advice: Charge your laptop the night before your work-from-coffee-shop day trip. That way, you’ll be all set for a few hours of working before you need to ask another customer to trade seats with you so you can plug in your machine. This is also a good way to measure your time if you don’t plan on staying in the coffee shop all day—just work until your laptop dies!

5. Bring a Sweater

Even if you don’t think you need one. You’re welcome. This one may not be "etiquette," necessarily, but it's just one of those things you probably need to be reminded of.

6. Be Nice — to Baristas and Fellow Customers

Another hopefully-obvious rule of thumb. Be a nice person! Especially if you’re working at the coffee shop all day. Whether or not you think about it this way, you are representing your company. If you’re being rude and obnoxious to everyone around you and someone glances at your screen to see your company logo by your email inbox, they will get a bad taste in their mouth about this company.

You are probably a super nice person. We like to think most people are! But even the nicest people can have off days, especially during work. It can be easy to get tunnel vision and forget some basic human interaction things when you work remote all the time too. “Please” and “thank you” really do go a long way. So does leaving a good tip.

Compliment your barista’s latte art skill. Thank them for clearing your dishes if they do so. If you ask a fellow customer to keep an eye on your stuff while you run to the restroom, thank them when they get back and make a little friendly small talk about what they’re up to. When you leave at the end of your workday, clean up after yourself. Push your chair back in and thank your baristas one last time. 

These may all seem super obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many times we don’t see these decent interactions happen. Let’s not lose complete faith in humanity! 

So now that you know the six crucial rules of thumb to remember when working from a coffee shop, as promised, here are our favorites. (We also make t-shirts for them!)

Some of Our Favorite Coffee Shops to Work From

We have the opportunity to print shirts for some really lovely coffee shops all across the country — and we figured this would be the perfect time to shout them out! So whether you're in Orlando like most of our team, or in one of these other cities, we encourage you to check out these spots — for both your daily dose of coffee and the awesome coffee shop swag. 😜

In Orlando…

• Lineage - https://www.lineageroasting.com
  The quintessential Orlando coffee experience! If you’re a coffee fiend and you’ve been to Orlando, you either love these guys or live under a rock.
• Craft & Common - https://craftandcommon.com
  The cutest and most picturesque shop in walkable downtown! Get ready to ‘gram your visit and pick up some cool cards and local goods here too.
• The Salty Donut - https://www.saltydonut.com/ - Orlando, FL + multiple locations in the US
  Newer to the Orlando coffee scene—come for the coffee and stay for the donuts! Visit here on a nice day and sit outside on their patio. 

…And Beyond!

• Harken Café & Bakery - https://www.harkencafe.com/ - Charleston, SC 
  Rustic charm meets quaint beauty at this perfect spot for a chill day.
• Sibling Coffee Roasters - https://www.siblingcoffeeroasters.com/ - Charles Town, WV 
  Dedicated to helping you appreciate the fine coffee in life.
• Looking Glass Coffee - https://www.lookingglasscoffee.com/ - Snohomish, WA
  Come for coffee and a remote workday, stay for their events and live music.
• Three Tree Coffee Roasters - https://threetreecoffee.com/ - GA (Multiple locations)
  Coffee with a cause—their specialty coffee helps empower farmers, works toward ending human trafficking, and engages the community.

Are you a coffee shop in need of a double-shot of swag? We're here to help. Reach out to us or browse products to get started!