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After staring intently at the bookshelf in front of you, perusing the spines and trying to find the perfect book to suit your mood, you pluck one from its dusty home. You amble past the record player and stacks of old records in their battered covers, step around the coffee table and sink into the plush, velvety scarlet cushions of the sofa.

Suddenly, your relaxed reverie is interrupted by a barista bringing you a latte and a pastry.

A lot of coffee shops aim to be stylish sanctuaries from the outside world and its swarm of corporate coffee chains, but many often sacrifice the human touch in order to establish themselves as hipster havens. At the Solo Café in Tempe, pretension is nixed in favor of sweet enthusiasm, and you don’t have to be a cliquey regular to feel welcome.

Instead, it’s like you’re in an awesome living room, study or kooky-cool attic. Five bookshelves give it a library-like feel, while a pile of board games and a few chess boards lend a family-fun vibe. There are a few armchairs, traditional table-chair setups and a bar with high-top stools. Owner Chad Bare’s antique-shop finds – from a massive, beautiful slab of wood used as a service bar on the counter to a pot-bellied stove at the entrance – are the antithesis of catalogue furniture and décor. Little tchotchkes are propped on shelves and peek out from between books. The overall effect is a helter-skelter hominess that is inviting rather than intimidating.

“It’s not like working,” says Bradley Kleeman, a barista who is “transitioning to manager” at Solo Café. “It’s more like relaxing and getting paid to relax.”

The café has been open for a little more than four years and the small staff is experienced and tight-knit.

“Basically only four people work here and you can always tell who’s working by what music is playing,” Kleeman says. When he’s working, a mix of punk, pop-punk and indie blends with the sounds of brewing and customers chatting.

Writers Vicki Gaia and Evan Smith meet at Solo every few weeks to discuss their work – Gaia writes romance novels under a pseudonym and Smith writes science fiction and fantasy. They love the atmosphere of the café, from the art-for-sale by local artists hanging on the walls to fellow patrons.

“I’m a coffee freak,” Gaia says. “I probably know almost every coffee shop in Arizona – if I know about it, I go. They have great coffee.”

Gaia usually sips cappuccinos or lattes, while Smith is a chai latte devotee.

“I’ve never had a bad drink here,” Smith says. “It’s great for conversation and it seems like even the people here (customers) are nice. They’ll just come over and ask random questions. It’s very friendly.”

The clientele is varied, but Gaia and Smith say they’ve met a lot of artists, students and computer programmers at Solo.

“It’s just kind of a catch-all for cool, interesting people,” Kleeman says.

The baristas roast beans from Cortez to make traditional hot and cold drinks (mochas, lattes, cappuccinos and americanos are popular) and work with more than 20 teas that “all fit together like the most perfect jigsaw,” Kleeman says.

Kleeman loves mixing and matching teas to make new drinks and gives his creations fanciful names. Gaia orders his most recent concoction, “Gandalf the Vanilla Mint Early Grey,” to go after she finishes her cappuccino.

“Refreshing!” she says.

Cookies, muffins, biscotti and other pastries to dip and munch are supplied by Jonathan Robins Bakery in Tempe. Ultimately, though, the emphasis is on quality, reasonably priced coffee (bonus for starving students: Solo has a frequent-buyer punch card that rewards your caffeinated loyalty).

“What we do here differently is we just make good coffee,” Kleeman says. “We’re not trying to be a niche market for kids who want coffee to be wine.”

Tawni Bare, co-owner and wife of Chad, also owns the adjacent salon and pulls models for her hair-cutting class from the café (she also cuts Kleeman’s hair). A friend of the Bares owns the art and furniture gallery next door. The collective, collaborative community intensifies the family feel of the café and its neighbors.

“We wanted to cross-pollinate the businesses and create that kind of downtown feel in Tempe,” Bare says.

The baristas welcome every patron like an old friend and invite them to stay a while.

“Regardless of where they come from, what they do, who they are, who they think they are, we won’t judge them,” Kleeman says. “We’ll just make them some awesome coffee and hang out with them.”

If you go… 107 E. Baseline Rd, Tempe 480-838-7656 alteredegosalon.com/tempe-coffee-shop

 

Contact the reporter at llemoine@asu.edu

 


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