Jenny Kane: Coffee, cupcakes, chocolate and contemporary fiction / Jennifer Ash: Medieval crime with hints of Ellis Peters and Robin Hood

Café time all the time…

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I have a serious coffee shop habit! I am addicted- not just to the coffee itself- but to the cafes themselves. I just love them- all of them. From the mega chains, to the little independent cafes, the truckers rest stops, and the coffee stops tucked away in department stores- I adore every one of them.

coffee drink

I love to watch the people around me, to smile at strangers to see how they respond, to wrap my hands around a coffee mug and inhale the aroma of the drink within. For me, there is something very soothing about these places. Whether they are jammed packed and noisy, or as quiet as the proverbial grave, with myself being the only one in residence,. I simply feel at home in coffee shops. It is for this reason that, when I was offered a job as coffee shop blogger for Phoenix Somerset, I snapped the opportunity right on up! I mean, why wouldn’t I!

I call my coffee blog Have Americano and Pen…Will Travel Each week I visit a new coffee shop somewhere in Somerset, and work from there for a while- it’s a fantastic job !

It won’t surprise you to learn then, that every novel I have ever written has taken shape in various different coffee shops.

From my earliest days writing children’s stories (I used to go into schools and jump around, making up tales about cows, hats, and Doctor Who- yes Doctor Who), to my erotica, my poetry (my writing life began as a poet), and on to my romances, each has begun life with a cup of café poured black coffee to hand.

Another Cup of Coffee - New cover 2015

It seemed totally natural to me therefore, that when I came to create my first non-erotic novel, to make coffee shops the main places of meeting and discussion for the main characters.

The coffee shop that features most within Another Cup of Coffee is Pickwicks. Tucked away on a side street in Richmond, London, Pickwicks is run by the ever bubbly Peggy, and her husband Scott. It is here that, newly arrived in London from Scotland, Amy is to find a refuge from her troubles, a temporary job, a possible future, and a potential friend in Kit- a woman who spends her days sat in the corner of Pickwicks writing erotic stories for an American Internet company…

Each and every day I begin by visiting a café, pen and notebook to hand. I’ll be honest, I get really grumpy if my day doesn’t begin with a good black Americano, and a good dose of inspirational people watching!

Coffee smile

Who says coffee shops are just for drinking coffee???

Happy reading,
Jenny xx

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8 Comments

  1. Evelyn Steward

    I blog too, but mine are about anything and everything. I like Costa, but have my own coffee machine at home. Ir years, I only ever drank home brewed, once a year, Kenya Blend. Since being bought a Costa about three years back, I am drawn. Every time I go to hospital, a cup of Latte for me.
    Rock on coffee shop blogger. Lots of characters there.
    Evelyn

    • Thanks Evelyn – I also have a coffee machine, but it just isn’t the same somehow. I like the people watching too much! xx

  2. You need treatment. Poor girl. Mind you they are wonderful places to people watch. I like the aroma but not the taste of coffee. When I was young I drank it black and strong but when I was pregnant I went off it and that was 45 years ago. I hated tea back then and now I love it. Builder strength too. You must find lots to inspire you in the cafes and I have no doubt your characters all drink…coffee. 🙂

    • Lol- possibly I do Jane! I also went off coffee when I was pregnant- but as I can’t stand even the smell of tea, it was coffee went back to- black and strong! Most of the Another Cup of Coffee crew drink coffee, but in Abi’s House we enter a more tea and cake ordered world! x

  3. You need to come and visit, Jenny. We have more than 30 coffee shops between my house and the next part of town (about a mile up the road). Some chains, many indies, some full of yummy mummies, some of students, many of nice, middle class people like me, meeting friends. The chatterati. Some (I’m not lying) with people like JK Rowling, often to be seen tapping away upon a laptop, or Ian Rankin, also a local. Great place to live!

    • I’d love to visit that way Jenny. When I lived in Scotland it was very much a coffee shop every five mins. I loved it. Planning trip to Edinburgh next year…you have been warned…. xxx

  4. Phaedra

    I have become such a coffee snob, my husband bought me a Kerig for Christmas and I only like Green Mountain Dark Magic in that. Dunkin Donuts has a iced mocha coffee and I have them add a shot of Espresso to that. I do like cream in my coffee and some sweetener.

    • I just love the variety in coffee these days. I haven’ seen a Dunkin Donuts in years! Used to be here when I was a kid, but I don’t think we have them in UK anymore. xx

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