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It was the first time I’d tasted coffee that tasted of something other than just coffee. This one happened to have the slightest hint of blueberries. It’s hard to believe that this could be the case until you’ve tasted a coffee that’s grown, roasted, and brewed specifically to highlight the slight sweetness contained in a coffee bean.
They had shelves full of different coffees, some with tasting notes of nuts and caramel, some of peaches and lemons, and many in between.
As I sat in the Belfast coffee shop, I felt like I was somewhere special. I had made the pilgrimage, walking 30 minutes from my student accommodation, just to try out this place that had been recommended by a friend that was well-informed on coffee matters.
Bear in mind that this was at a time where Starbucks was seen as new and trendy. This new coffee shop was beyond that, only frequented by the most in-the-know young professionals and local hipsters.
The coffee was more expensive, and served in smaller cups than Starbucks, and on further investigation of the cups, they were high-quality and made specifically with coffee drinkers in mind. You felt that the coffee from these cups had to be special, unlike the huge mugs from the Starbucks around the corner.
As it’s popularity grew, various similar coffee shops started popping up, using the same type of coffee beans, similar interior design, and of course, those same cups.
This was a positive in my eyes. I could now have a similar coffee-drinking experience in various parts of the city. But I always felt that these other shops were good, but not quite as good, versions of the original coffee shop I first went to.
But then, a few months later I came across another coffee shop that was nothing like these others, and I got that same feeling I had the first time I made that original pilgrimage.
The same feeling, even though in this one, the coffee was completely different - they only used one blend that the owner had tasted on holidays and needed to bring to her hometown. The decor was a world apart. And alas, the cups were different.
No doubt, the people opening the various offshoots of the first coffee shop were trying to create the same feeling they’d also had on their first visit, and maybe they made the mistake of thinking that feeling was a result of the coffee selection, or the exposed ceilings, or the cups.
I likely would have made that same mistake had I been tasked with opening a coffee shop at that time.
But it wasn’t about those things. It was the fact that this was something new and original. Someone had taken the risk of putting something out there that they liked, in spite of the fact that there was nothing out there like it.
This reminds me of when I was a teenager, trying to copy some of the older lads I grew up around. I thought the clothes they wore were cool, and asked for similar ones when it came to Christmas. I tried to copy phrases they were using. I went home and downloaded the music I’d heard them listening to. The urge to copy things you see as inspirational is part of how you create yourself.
But it’s very easy to make the mistake of copying specifics, rather than the overarching philosophy, and in doing so, you can simply become a lesser version of someone else, rather than focussing on becoming the best version of you.
When we admire something or someone, it’s usually about the originality, or the fact that they’re brave enough to do, say, or create something without knowing how it’ll be accepted.
It’s not about the specific things they’re doing or saying. It’s not about the specific way it looks. It’s not about the cups.