Exciting news! We have an inside look into what our heart for the community and this cafe is and why we do what we do here! To help us out, we have one of our very own staff, Chloe! Chloe is 20 years old, originally from Bundaberg, she loves making coffee, babies, and spending time with people she loves! Let's ask her some questions about her perspective into the Meeting Place...

What made you want to work in this cafe? What pulled you in?
I’ve worked in a specialty coffee shop before and loved the experience so much! I wanted to know what it would be like to work here and in this type of environment and focus, I thought it would actually help me grow in different ways than before.

What's your favorite part about being a barista?
I love being creative, and I love looking at cool unique things, so I enjoy creating latte art for other people to enjoy, along with being a great brew to drink!

What is it like to work in a donation based cafe? Is it different than a normal job?
There is so much focus on the relationship with the customers, making them feel welcome and part of the family! It’s so awesome to see the people who encourage the mission we are in by the extra donations they give! I think it’s interesting when people find out we aren’t getting payed but volunteering our time, they are so supportive to us and also to TMPC!

On a side note, do you have a favorite holiday? If so, what is it and why?
I love family and friends! I so enjoy catching up with people and spending time with them! I also enjoy going to the beach! I grew up along the coast of Queensland and that to me, feels like holidays!

Where do you see yourself fit in to the Meeting Place family? Where does your heart align with the heart of the cafe?
I see myself being someone to help support and encourage, and also help with any prior knowledge I have to offer the cafe! I so enjoy bringing someone a cup of coffee and just chatting to them, which is something we don’t always have time for, but I’ve been learning recently how much Jesus took time with people when He was here on earth and even though He was busy he was showing people the love of God. God always has time for us.

Thanks for reading! If you want to get a better sense of why we do what we do here, just pop in any time we're open, and I guarantee you any one of our staff wants to have a chat over a nice cuppa! Have a blessed and amazing day!

There are a lot of different kinds of coffee lovers in this world - the "purists," who like everything to be made traditionally and properly, with nothing added to the cup other than milk, espresso, and the every once in a while shake of chocolate powder on a cappuccino. There are those who are innovation focused, always on the hunt for new ideas, asking the question "how can we improve the old ways of doing coffee for the consumers that are enjoying it today?" Then there are those who just like the taste of coffee, who enjoy it for the convenience factor and use it in a more utilitarian fashion, drinking maybe a simple iced vanilla latte, or a flat white because it's the first one they saw on the menu.

Something that we here at the Meeting Place Cafe love so much about coffee and cafe culture is that, seemingly, there is such a wonderful balance between all three: tradition, innovation, and convenience/consumer appeal. You see cafes all around the world that have the convenience factor down, and they're thriving because it appeals so well to the customers they're attempting to attract. You see cafes that use traditionalism to reel in their target audience, making each cappuccino exactly how they would in a cafe in Italy in 1902, or a flat white exactly how it is meant to be prepared, using precision and skilled hands to provide for their customers a delicious cup of coffee. Those who are seeking innovation in their cafes are the ones that come up with all those crazy, but somehow intriguing ideas, that pull you into their cafe because you just HAVE to try that one. They use creativity and "out of the box" ideas to pull in those people who love adventure and always pick something new. No one way of preparing coffee is necessarily better than the other, and you don't have to sacrifice quality to obtain convenience. tradition OR innovation. Each way of making coffees is simply meant for different audiences who want different things

There's the beautiful thing about cafe culture - you can get it all at once, or choose one of them, and all around the world, there is a coffee lover out there who understands you and wants to give you what you're looking for. In an ideal world, there is no judgment in this culture, because everybody has a different way of enjoying their coffee, and everyone has different priorities in their lives, and that's really what it's all about; enjoying coffee. So whether you prefer a 6 ounce latte with exactly the right amount of foam, a vanilla caramel iced latte with whipped cream to give you that extra zing, or trying out a rainbow latte where the cup is an avocado, please do us a favor, enjoy it!

A lot of people are jumping on the train of environmentalism in the past few years, and that's amazing! A big question is though, how do I connect my passion for taking care of my home on Earth and some physical steps to actually taking CARE of it? Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle is a great foundation, but it can go a lot further than that. Let's explore some ways that you can reuse those coffee grounds that, before, you probably would have just thrown out. There are so many ways that we can be environmentally conscious, especially with our daily habits and intake of food products, like coffee.

Some Outside Uses for Old Coffee Grounds

1. Homemade Fertilizer! - Just sprinkle onto the ground you're trying to fertilize or mix grounds with 1/2 cup of water and make a fertilizer spray!

2. Bug Repellent - Sprinkle the grounds at the base of your house or put them in a bowl on the patio to keep bugs at bay

3. Tossing coffee grounds in your compost pile helps stabilize the pH level, which helps foods degrade more quickly, and more evenly. The coffee scent also helps with the smell

4. Coffee grounds can absorb the strong odors in your garbage. Fill up an old pair of pantyhose with some dry coffee grounds, and hang the mixture on the inside of your trash can lid

5.  Scratch Repair - You can use coffee to hide scratches on dark wood or espresso finishes. Mix a small amount of grounds with warm water to make a paste, rub the paste over the scratch, and wipe it off with a towel. The grounds stain the wood, and make the scratch less noticeable

6. Face and Body Scrub - Natural body scrub to help your skin be silky smooth and keep the planet looking nice as well

Those were our favorites from the research we did! Check out a full list at the link below!

https://www.moneycrashers.com/ways-reuse-coffee-grinds/

Our Ten for November is out and ready to inspire you in your next project! This list of 10 creative prompts is something that the Meeting Place Cafe sends out the first week of every month to help you with your writer's block, your songwriting stuckness, pretty much any artistic road block you may have. We hope you enjoy these and use them to inspire others with your art form!

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