A coffee habit

As said earlier, I have been traveling quite a bit this year and ever since I discovered my passion for coffee places, the first thing I would do when I got into a new city, was to roam for a nice coffee place I could do my work in.

So in my opinion a nice coffee place has to have at least the following characteristics:

-       Good coffee
-       Free Wi-fi
-       Plugs (!)
-       Capacious tables with an appropriate height to work on
-       Big windows for natural light + lamps for the evening
-       Character.

Screw all Starbucks Cafés – they suck.
Always filled with tourists, same NOT-cozy style everywhere and the coffee is not exceptionally great – in brief Starbucks does not have character.
Starbucks is like McDonald’s. It’s a chain, it’s convenient as you already know their stuff by heart and they are everywhere – but would you ever choose McDonald’s over a nice tasty restaurant if you had the choice?!
In most times you would not (except after partying I suppose). The same with Starbucks. At least for me I only choose Starbucks, if I really do not have better options, but individual coffee shops have grown like mushrooms these years, so I always end up going to a passionate coffee place
–and I am happy :)

So maybe if anyone is going to travel to any of these cities, this list of really awesome nice coffee shops, which fulfill all (or almost all) points above, might help:

Munich:
- Batty Baristas:

Just next to the Technical University of Munich, this was my favorite place to work and hang around back in the days, as it was so close to my university. Especially on sunny days, I can definitely recommend to go there at around 3pm – that’s when the sun shines directly into the coffee shop and when it’s the nicest to sit outside :). Their coffee is good and the atmosphere is cozy although I don't think the interior is that spectacular.

Berlin:
- Buchkantine:

In a quiet but very nice neighborhood in Moabit, Berlin, directly next to the Spree River, this coffee place is integrated in a bookstore, which makes it the perfect place for book and coffee lovers. They also have a terrace, which is nice to sit at during the summer time

-St. Oberholz:

This coffee place is very stylish and is the home of many freelancers and Mac lovers. When you step in, you have the feeling that you are in some high-tech world. You will meet blue-light reflecting "aliens" wearing big headphones, staring back from behind their big laptop screens...This coffee place has everything anyone can dream of of a perfect coffee work place - given that you like the "berlin style" of it and that at peak times you have to share your broad band with tons of other people.

Berlin is a great coffee city - they have a million other cool cafes! Check them out!

Paris:
- Malongo

If you want to taste a great coffee and do not want to feel like being in a parisien brasserie, Malongo is the place to be. The interior has a touch of South America and they sell their South American(?) coffee in the café as well. It is great to enjoy a sunny afternoon in Paris - that's when Malongo is bathed in golden sunlight...

Beijing:
- Sculping in Time Coffee

Copied or not, this time the Chinese did a very excellent work of establishing this coffee chain business. Each Scultping in Time Coffee in Beijing has a different interior but all of them are decorated with taste and love. And as Chinese people are indeed hardworking people, there is really no deficits to be observed. They have plugs, wifis, capacious tables, good coffee, good light and nice ambiance (okay maybe the coffee price was European standard, but that should not count!)

Geneva: 
- Boreal

By far one of the best coffee places I have been so far. Everything was done correctly here. Very good coffee, large tables, wifi, plugs, good lighting conditions. If only they didn't close this early (7pm!) - but this is a typical Suisse thing I guess. Definitely a super super cool place to be creative!

New York:
Sooooo, Big Apple. Unfortunately the Upper West Side does not offer much of really good coffee places and I have not made it to Brooklyn yet to really explore the coffee shop landscape over there, but at least I found a pastry/coffee place on the Upper West Side which is still a nice place to chill. Its called the "Hungarian Pastry Shop". Beside nice pastry and decent coffee, there are so many authors, writers, journalists who enjoy their creative moment there. So this place is pretty nice for people observing :)
They dont have plugs, nor Wifi (which is rare here in NY!) and they do not offer much light - but definitely a nice place to brainstorm and be all creative!

Unfortunately I have not had enough time to find a great coffee place in London (if someone knows of a good one feel free to tell me!), I forgot the name of the nice coffee place in Singapore. 
Bali, Torino, Frankfurt, Shanghai and other cities weren't that interesting coffee place wise (mostly only the starbucks experience...

Some pics of today in the Hungarian Pastry Shop in New York...