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The Best Office In Town: Firefly Coffee

We needed a public place to work where we could focus. Meet the people who work for us. That has free wifi. And if it could be, where we felt the camaraderie of Cheers. There are a lot of coffee shops in town we frequent and a few months ago we fell in love.

Solution: Firefly Coffee

Caitlin invited us in the first time we came by. She was brimming with enthusiasm & passion, 22 and a recently minted business owner. I’ve met very few people who innately understand service as well as she does. Be it this venture or the next, you will see great things from her.

A few weeks ago, we were hungry and started chatting about food. She asked us what we wanted to eat. I said a bacon and egg croissant. She didn’t have any of the ingredients but said she would figure it out. She and Joe (hey boyfriend and the other owner) disappeared for an hour and returned from a trip to costco with all the making for my sandwich and a bunch of other choices people in the shop had requested. An hour after my request, I had my bacon and eggs. I became a customer for life.

They have a huge red leather lazy-boy and put it on the porch. I sit with my feet in the sun and my laptop in the shade, wifi blazing, powered up through an extension cord and working happily. Chuck, another regular is playing my guitar out in the sun. He is a contractor, part time dental and health insurance sales dude. Ask him to sing his song about Debbie.

Joe, probably the nicest guy in town, finished placing wood next to the huge fire-pit / meat roaster thingie that they fire up every night. Nothing like an outdoor fire in the evenings to chat around as you sip your coffee.

They have the best chai. It isn’t sweet, just subtle and spicy, like a chai should be. It takes 4 minutes to brew in a base of soymilk.

The Hyde gallery next door brings in all kinds of folks who check out the art. Kirby, the owner of Santa Cruz Institute of Contemporary Arts, kicks it on the porch next to me. His mountain bike has over 5000 miles on it. If you have a passion for art and want a leg up, this man is the person to talk to. Rough on the edges, he’s got a heart of gold.

Chip hovers over his art, which captures the street life on San Francisco. I’d plug his website but he ain’t got one.

The crazy splotchy house across the street houses some amazing characters (it is a nut house). Crisis Katie aka Katie no Pants, our crisis counselor is just learning to surf with us and has an amazing cool in the face of insanity. She has to working next door.

Basically, its the best office in town. The internet goes down sometimes, and the psycho’s get a bit much some time.

But the fly has their own parking, a gem in downtown santa cruz, and everyone knows your name.