Everyone has their favourite café, their local hangout where they go for their must-have morning coffee, meet their friends for lunch, or even go to study or work.

When it comes to great cafes, they typically have very loyal customers who know the names of all the staff, who rave about their favourite café to friends and family. Wouldn't it be great if your café were like this?

If you are thinking about opening up a café, or you work in a café already but wish to improve it: here is a list of must-haves for a quality café. Owners and managers take note!

1. Happy and Friendly Staff.
   You could have the best coffee in the world and the most amazing food, but it wouldn't guarantee you loyal customers if your staff are rude and clearly don't love their jobs.

   Working in hospitality is a difficult job and those who are best at it are those who love working with others and meeting new people everyday.

   Strong personalities who can create an energetic vibe and handle the occasional difficult customer are best.
    

2. Quality Furnishings and Inspiring Surroundings.
   The best cafes are those where the owner or managers are proud of where they work and put an effort into making both the interior and exterior design comfortable and stylish.

   Allowing local artists to hang their paintings on the walls; supporting the local area by printing an information bulletin; taking the time to buy the newspapers each morning; and most importantly, making sure the place is clean and comfortable.

   All these touches will mean customers will feel inspired when coming there for a work meeting, for their lunch break, or to relax for half an hour after work. It will also attract more students and parents who do not work during the day.
    

3. Table Service.
   Even in the smallest of cafes, table service is always a nice touch, especially if you know the customer and make an effort to remember their favourite orders. This will make them feel valued and appreciated for their business.

   However, try to avoid assuming they will want the same order every time, because they might then feel unable to change their mind every now and then – and you don't want them going somewhere else because of it!

   You do run the risk of walk-outs with table service, but as long as you have vigilant staff and keep an eye on things, generally this is worth the risk.

   Loyal customers who sometimes forget won't mind if you add it to a tab. You can always chat to a debt collection agency to figure out what you can do if they refuse to acknowledge what they owe.
    

4. Do One Great Thing.
   Depending on your resources, if you struggle to deliver top quality food, coffee, cakes, and drinks – stop trying.

   Focus on what you want to be known for – a range of organic food, amazing chocolates, or maybe quality espresso? – and stick to it.
    

5. A Small Menu, Great Specials.
   Having decided on what you want to be known for, shorten the menu and keep the rest of the options simple.

   The last thing you want is to be "average" at everything. If you really do make the best espresso, that will draw the numbers in. Then have a few basic meals that you can prepare to perfection, or some great daily specials that you can be proud of, and concentrate the rest of your efforts to maintain the excellent espresso standard.

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Whenever I shop at the Royal Subic store at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, I always stock up on coffee. I only shop there once a month, so you can imagine how much of any particular item I might buy at one time.

The problem I have is that when I enter the store's coffee and tea aisle, I tend to get stuck there, ogling all the different brands and kinds of coffee (and sometimes tea). I'm talking about everything from automatic drip coffee to canned coffee, locally produced and imported. Apparently, I'm not the only coffee lover to get stuck there at times because at least two other people were in the aisle, looking at coffee, for as long as I was. One of them was still there when I exited.

Café Time Coffee

Since I have a monthly food (and drink) budget that isn't very flexible, the only thing I can really do is taste test anything other than the coffee I normally stock up on. This time was the first time I saw this particular brand of canned coffee on the shelf.

Café Time Coffee is produced by the Apex Food Company out of Taipei, Taiwan. I bought two flavors, the french roast and the espresso. I checked out the ingredients before buying: Water, coffee, sugar and powdered milk. There's nothing unusual to be wary of.

I have since finished off both cans. The french roast tasted exactly like french roast should, but the espresso wasn't nearly as strong as I thought it would be. The cost was 80 cents (USD) for the french roast and 90 cents for the espresso, and at 11.5 fluid ounces each. This was far cheaper than anything Starbucks has to offer in the store and more liquid to add insult to injury. Do the Starbucks "frappuccino" flavors taste the same, worse or better? In my opinion, the Café Time Coffee tastes almost the same.

More Taste Testing

Next month, I plan to buy a couple of other brands of canned coffee. At this time, I have no idea which brands I'll select but I'll be steering clear of the brands I've already mentioned.

There are some really nasty-tasting coffee brands on the shelves at the Royal Subic and I hope I don't accidentally buy one or more of them since I can't remember which ones are which.

I guess I'll have to consider the luck of the draw when the time comes.

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It seems that all of the coffee drinks in US coffee shops start with espresso as the base. It may not be true for all coffee shops, but it's certainly true for Starbucks and Seattle's Best.

Unlike most people who come and go and pay little attention to anything but what they're doing at the time, I observe everything that goes on around me. I have seen how both of these companies make coffee drinks — I purposely observed every facet from start to finish.

What Exactly is Espresso?

Espresso is sometimes referred to as espresso coffee and it's often mispronounced and misspelled as "expresso". Invented in Italy, as were most coffee beverages, it's a concentrated form of coffee, up to three times as strong as a regular cup of coffee.

You can't make espresso with ordinary automatic drip coffee makers. You need an espresso machine which brews the coffee under extreme pressure. Most people don't have one at home.

When served as espresso, the coffee is normally served in espresso cups of one kind or another. In most coffee shops, they use cheap containers that can be thrown away. Restaurants use fancy cups designed specifically for espresso. The cheapest espresso cup is usually more expensive than expensive coffee mugs.

Observations

I don't normally buy coffee at Starbucks or Seattle's Best (which has been owned by Starbucks since 2003). It's good coffee (at least in the US), but it's just too damned expensive. Of course, I won't buy coffee from fast-food joints either and that's because it usually tastes like they made it with my dirty socks.

On rare occasions, when I really needed my coffee fix, I bought coffee at both Starbucks and Seattle's Best. In March of 2008, while I was picking out books at a Border's bookstore, I succumbed to the smell of the coffee brewing nearby (within the bookstore). The aroma is what caused me to buy coffee at Starbucks on previous occasions.

I always ordered cappuccino. I like cappuccino a whole lot more than the other coffee drinks. Whenever I ordered a regular-sized cup, I noticed they used one shot of espresso. Whenever I ordered a large-sized cup, they used two shots of espresso. No wonder I always got a quick caffeine buzz after drinking the cappuccino (I never really thought about it until now).

Espresso Experience?

Other than being used for the cappuccino I drank, I have never tried espresso as a stand-alone coffee drink. With cappuccino, it's diluted by the added milk. I picture acid reflux coming back to haunt me if I try espresso straight from the cup, therefore I will probably never try it.

I know a few people that only drink espresso. It's not for me. I love the smell and flavor of coffee as it's normally brewed at home. I don't need a caffeine buzz every time I drink coffee, thank you very much.

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