Cafe Tableaux is a compendium of literary, anecdotal musings on coffee shop and cafe culture. At first glance, the tableaux may resemble reviews, but they are not bound by the limits of this form. Cafe Tableaux is a repository of subjective observations that can not be represented by a star rating or a shopping list of items on a menu or prices. Our writers are part of the story, not clinicians diagnosing the success or failure of a cafe model; they have described their successful ‘missed connections’, garnered free lattes after being mistaken for Anna Paquin, and one even received and accepted a marriage proposal.

Cafe Tableaux is an open community; anyone may join and contribute a vignette. Cafe Tableaux is for writers – and readers – who see value in the cafe experience beyond the flavour of the coffee or the ease of parking. We welcome the member who can document the time a man was seen weeping in line as ‘Linger’ began playing on the stereo, it being the first time he heard it since driving from Chicago to Gainesville with only a tape of ‘Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?’ in the car after confessing his deep, everlasting like for an uninterested girl – as our tableauxists cannot.