Places to Write: Cabin Coffee

Essay-writing season is here, and if you’re looking for a place to write with just the right ambiance, our media assistant Kyle Cross has some suggestions for you. This is the first in Kyle’s series “Places to Write” in which he reviews local cafés. (We note that Kyle has no family or financial connections with the cafés he will be reviewing). If you’d like to suggest your own favorite places to write, let us know in the comments.

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Places to Write: Cabin Coffee
by Kyle Cross

Just as the cafe’s logo suggests, Cabin Coffee makes you feel like you’re situated in a log cottage outside of civilization, completely removed from society, surrounded by powdery snow in the middle of January. However, it is, in fact, located in the heart of downtown Halifax at 1554 Hollis Street, across from Salter’s Gate Apartments. In many ways, it is an embodiment of the fusion of rustic and urban lifestyles, an embodiment that speaks to the city of Halifax itself: not so metropolitan as Toronto, not so rural as Summerville.

In my introductory blog in this series, I suggest that readers and writers alike might want a warm and humble nook in which to write – somewhere they feel at home, without all the distractions, of course. Well, if you’re looking to get away from people and feel like you’re on the outskirts of town without leaving town, plant yourself in one of Cabin Coffee’s comfy, brown leather chairs; they will envelop you in love while you read, write, and drink copious amounts of coffee. As you can see, the log-constructed back wall shuts out the bustling downtown core, allowing you to focus intently on the work that sits in front of you, possibly taunting you saying, “You won’t have finished me by the time you leave this cabin.” If you take advantage of the stained wood to help block out the world, though, you will, indeed, tackle that work like a Japanese sumo wrestler.

My vegan and vegetarian friends, rejoice! The ‘moose’ on the sidewall of the Cabin is, in fact, fake; it is merely a decoration that adds to the whole rustic-like atmosphere of the cafe. This place gets cozier and cozier with every picture: a fireplace in the downtown core! Although the fireplace, too, is not real, as you focus on that seemingly overwhelming assignment, you will feel the imaginary fire sparking your ever-so-creative imagination – that is, if the coffee doesn’t do it for you. The fireplace will relax you as you write, and write, and write; it will settle your nerves while the coffee sets your mind ablaze.

Yes, that is a classic Coleman lantern pictured above. Like the fireplace, the lantern can be seen as another motif for the crackling imagination. What’s more, it adds to the feeling that you are sitting in not so much a downtown coffee shop as a cottage in, say, Summerville, Nova Scotia. Let the lantern guide you from the gauzy, wooded narrow path into the vast open field of your written work. You needn’t worry: the coffee will help you get to your destination.

Although these red and green balloon animals seem festive enough to be in a National Lampoon movie, they do not merely ring in the holidays; they are representative of Cabin Coffee’s new beverage, their Picante Mocha, which is on for a limited time only. If this doesn’t fire up your imagination, you must be Jack Frost. And I must say that I was skeptical at first, but once I sipped the mocha a few times, I was hooked. The slight spice accentuated the chocolaty mocha quite nicely. If you plan on visiting Cabin Coffee, though, you must try their Costa Rican blend; it is a toasty medium roast that will inevitably set fire to your creative superpowers.

I highly recommend going to Cabin Coffee, whether it’s to write, read, study, or just sit and chat with your friends next to the fireplace. Opening hours are 6:30 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Friday; 7:30 am to 5:00 pm on Saturday; and 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on Sunday. Go experience being nestled in a cozy cottage in the middle of downtown Halifax.