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| - Let me begin by saying that I have no objection to paying $$$ for a cup of coffee, provided that the beans, the atmosphere, and the locale (i.e. city) justify the cost.
Today I went to the Johnson Public House for the first time and ordered a medium coffee. The barista then said, "that will be $5.40." This astounded me. I've had coffee brewed using the Chemex method and even more inventive ones in San Francisco and other cities and never paid over the $5 mark for a cup (or even close).
So I ordered down (i.e., a "lesser" coffee and smaller cup size). $3.40, the barista quoted. Then I saw that the Johnson Public House does not accept credit cards for amounts under $5. The barista suggested I either buy one of the two pastries available for sale or a bottled water (the irony of a shop that peddles free-trade, high-quality coffee and sells bottled water can't go unremarked). I thought, "If I am not going to pay $6 for an item I actually did want, why would I pay $6 for items I don't want?" The reasonable response, if you are a business that needs support as much as the Johnson Public House probably does in order to sustain itself, is to say, "Okay, we'll accept your credit card this time, but next time, you need cash, because each transaction costs us X amount." I could, in fact, have paid the CC fee in change if asked, if that is the real issue.
This coffee shop has barely changed in its various iterations. It is dark. The furniture is second-hand and cheap. There are scant outlets. It is not decorated well enough to justify luxury prices.
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