hilltopics People Features
Monday, October 16, 2000
For comments, contact Clay McCuistion at 864-4924 or e-mail features@kansan.com
8A
Tucker Gilmore, Overland Park junior, prepares a double latte at the Java Dive, 10 E. Ninth St. The Java Dive recently expanded, providing more seating and workspace for coffee drinkers and students studying late at night.
photos by Thad Allender/ KANSAN
Above: Ali Hickman, Omaha, Neb., senior, rests from her studies and sips her coffee at the Java Dive, 10 E. Ninth St.
Right: Espresso streams out of the portifilter at La Prima Tazza, 638 Massachusetts St. Coffee grinds are tamped into the portifilter and then locked into the espresso machine where pressurized hot water passes through the grids, creating caffeine-charged espresso.
Cyberspace and coffee meet at the newly opened Nova Cafe, near Eighth and Massachusetts streets, where Jasonne Grabher O'Brien, Lawrence graduate student, drinks coffee and watches her computer screen.
Consider, for a moment, the cup of coffee.
As cold temperatures, midterms and late nights writing papers loom, the cup of java in a quaint bistro looks more and more attractive. After all, where else can students go to hobnob with friends, quaff beverages and still look as though they're doing something productive?
Consider for a moment, the cup of coffee. Bitter, yet soothing. Calming, yet loaded with caffeine. Dark and steaming, yet occasionally topped with frothy milk. The perfect weeknight drink for the college student.
This week, Hilltopics celebrates the coffee culture of Lawrence — the shops that dot downtown, the establishments' unique patrons and the special men and women who brew the cups of life-saving liquid stimulant.
On Wednesday and Friday this page will feature profiles and information about Lawrence coffee shops and the people in them. But for today, we thought it appropriate — as October chill filters into the air — to show these shops and their customers without much additional explanation.
One can find bars and liquor stores in nearly every city. Fast food restaurants are numbing in their ubiquity. But quirky, independent coffee shops are the specialty of towns like Lawrence. And that's worthy of celebration.
Or at least a shot of espresso.
— Clay McCuistion