Coffee Shop Ethnography

Introduction

Sitting in Korouva on a Sunday night is an almost awkward experience for me as I am the only “customer” in there with the barista and her friend. But the jazz music is good and my almond milk/pumpkin spice latte is tasty. Every wall in the tiny building is covered in art. Korouva Milk Bar on 2005 Maple Street is a unique space for students to come drink coffee, tea, milkshakes, and creatively named smoothies. It is not a place where I would take my mother. After having been in Korouva during various times in my first semester at Southwestern, I decided to write my ethnography with the aim of figuring out just who Korouva is for. So I spent several more days there over the course of a week to see who walked through the door, or rather, one of two doors. The front door, facing the street, features princess Leia smoking a cigarette saying “be like me, don’t buy ExxonMobil” and “Come back soon… or

But that’s exactly how the Cove felt after the quiet of Korouva. There were probably 20 times the people studying, playing pool, or eating a late dinner. The types of people were also what one might consider the “average” college student. For one, I was the only person in the cove with colored hair, when, among Korouva’s three people, I was not in the minority group. In the cove, I recognized several people who I knew to be on sports teams. The stark contrast between the people in Korouva and the Cove only reinforces my theory about who Korouva is for. There is a specific alternative crowd that spends time in Korouva. Later, I talked to some of the Jocks and aspiring frat guys that I knew. They talked about how they liked Korouva and that it was a cool place, but whenever they went, they felt like outsiders. One boy even said that he knew it was a place for “alternative” people and not people like him. “However,” he said with a laugh, “That doesn’t make me any less inclined to