Coffee to perk up your day

Three and a half Kiwis opened Happy Bones coffee shops in NYC.

Coffee - coffee - coffee!
That morning cup of java is what so many of us need to either kick off the day, to keep the day perking along, or both!
Caffeine has been a driving force in many societies for years and recent research by University of New Mexico anthropology professor Patricia Crown showed it was an international market mover with ancient civilisations trading holly and cacao-based chocolate beverages between what is now modern-day Mexico and the south-west of what is now the United States for around 700 years! Holly was used to make a caffeinated tea. Researchers found caffeine shards from jars, bowls and pitchers located at archaeological sites and evidence has scientists believing that the caffeine likely was used in rituals and political events by the elite or "noble class".
In the days of that notorious highwayman, Dick Turpin, London was a city of numerous coffee shops and they outnumbered pubs!
Today coffee shops abound around the world and the trade in North America is two-fold - either a "chain-based" coffee outlet or a boutique outlet.
Wanganui is the perfect example of the boutique coffee shop. Whether it is a flat-white at Jolt with a jaffa to boot, an early morning "get-me-going" coffee in the "snug at the Big Orange", a "perky little cup" at eclectic Ambrosia or a coffee like your mum always made at another coffee shop, you will never be far from your "cuppa".
More prevalent across North America are the "chain" coffee shops. Starbucks dominates this market across the USA and Canada with more than 22,550 stores in 65 countries and territories - a success story that began in 1971 but took on the major expansion process after 1984 (and can you guess what hit their menus last year - non other than flat whites!).
A Seattle-based company, it has its challengers and none more so than in its founding city where 'kitty-corner' to most Starbucks is Tully's. Dunkin' Donuts, a chain based out of Massachusetts, is a national challenger known as much for its doughnuts as its coffee with more than 11,000 outlets. North of the border the dominant chain is Tim Horton's which, with expansion into the north-eastern USA and the Persian Gulf, has in excess of 3700 outlets.
Coffee is big business! But for many coffee aficionados, it is the boutique coffee shop that is the answer to that needed "java kick" and a place to sit with friends and chat about family, friends, sports, and to solve the problems of the world. And where better to do that than your local!
Three and a half Kiwis needed a local in New York City (Luke, Kirsten and Craig being Kiwis while their friend Jason is married to a Kiwi!). No flat whites? No small boutique coffee lounge on the way to work? Easy answer - "let's open a coffee shop".
A small coffee shop (three tables inside with stools and a long bench running along one wall) in a superb location close to Little Italy and Greenwich called Happy Bones.
"New York City is about energy and creativity and Happy Bones exists to inspire and energise New Yorkers. We start with the best coffee and the best baristas in the city, add amazing local art, and bring you the most interesting publications from the world over. "We want to send you back out into the city brimming with new ideas and passion."
And just as their website says, it is an eclectic little stop with friendly staff who happily chat - or you could slip over to a side area and buy a Happy Bones T-shirt knowing that a percentage of their profits go to Free Arts NYC, an organisation which provides "underserved children and families with a unique combination of educational arts and mentoring programs that help them to foster the self-confidence and resiliency needed to realise their fullest potential."
Whether it is Wanganui or New York City - there is a boutique coffee lounge just waiting for you to pop in and perk up your day.