Ageism at a Coffee House

July 2, 2025

AGEISM AT A COFFEE HOUSE

On Monday, June 30, 2025 I took my time deciding where to go for coffee. I enjoy visiting different coffee shops to take in the space and to try their espresso. In Connecticut I've visited many of the shops around. I’m partial to saying "coffee houses," instead of coffee shops. House, for me, feels more intimate, like a place anyone can belong to. With a touch of vintage attached.

When I visit any coffee house - for the first time or as a regular - I spend my time writing. This happens in two ways: a legal pad and Blackwing pencil or one of my portable typewriters. This monday, I was with my typewriter. Coffee houses for me work - the smells, the sounds and how individual they all are. Audibly, coffee houses can be rather loud. The grinding of beans, the steaming of milk or purging of the steam wand before and after milk steaming. The banging of the portafilter to rid the previous puck of grounded espresso beans, to set the stage for another. These sounds help me focus on the page in front of me.

Of course I'm also here for the coffee. The hunt for good to great espresso is something I love. So I ended up at SILK CITY COFFEE in Manchester, Connecticut. This place is ranked at the 67th, in a top 100 list in the world. Connecticut has two in that top 100 list, with STORY AND SOIL being the other. Yes, I've been there too.

As typically happens when I'm out with my typewriter, many people approach me to say "how cool" this is or they may have questions. I try to engage with everyone interested, although hard sometimes, as I'm in a thought that needs development. What happened next I did not expect and has never happened before - I was told to stop typing.

The manager Hailey sat next to me and told me the typewriter can be distracting to other patrons and I was kindly and respectfully told to stop. Clearly, this must be ageism, as my typewriter is from 1924. Earlier, I mentioned all the sounds associated with a busy coffee house. I'll add in more - loud music, orders being yelled out from the kitchen and street traffic when the door is opened. Yet my typewriter is too "distracting?" This is not my place. Hailey admitted that SILK CITY COFFEE welcomes everyone, but to preserve the space for "our regulars" is important. Is this a war between analog and modern tech? I guess if I took a Zoom call and spoke loudly, that would be preferable?

I was certainly thrown off course. Every coffee house I visit loves my machine and are very interested in its story. Photographs of me typing have been taken by baristas and coffee house owners. I'm regularly told to come back and type, any time I want.

Initially, when Hailey started to walk my direction I thought she was going to clear the table. As she pulled out the chair next to me, I then thought she wanted a closer look. But as she sat in silence as I hammered away at the keys, it hit me. She wants me to stop. And, without no foundation to stand on, I did. Reverting to my legal pad to notate this day.

It was a 25 minute drive from home to SILK CITY COFFEE. Before departing I wrote Hailey a 2-page letter on my observations. Highlighting the many distracting sounds a coffee a coffee house produces, that are much louder, and distracting than my good ol' 1924 Underwood portable.

I’ll be clear - Hailey was kind, respectful and pleasant to speak with. However, SILK CITY COFFEE, is not a place I'd visit again. Can a coffee house claim to love people and simultaneously not accept a persons desired way to write? Or how they create? am not offended, I just think its a stupid line to draw.