Phenomenology

At three thirty in the afternoon on a Wednesday, Tinto Coffee is the only place open that actually Feels open. Open and not closing in half an hour, not a Starbucks, not something to drink in my car. (I tend to avoid drive up coffee stands. I’m not a good driver, I end up four feet away from the service window, I put it in park and climb out of my car.)

They’re open from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, 7:00 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

From their website, Tinto Coffee serves “Colombian coffee, roasted in Washington, using house made syrups and serving local pastries.” At my barista’s recommendation I got a 12 oz abuelita mocha and a slice of carrot cake. It came out to $17.83 after tax and a 15% tip. 

I’m not a mocha person, but, like, I still had a good time. Not too sweet, not too hot, you can taste the coffee, you can taste the cinnamon. The latte art was pretty, I watched her take a photo before handing it over. She wore a Carhartt branded apron. They were giving out thumb sized logo stickers. I put one on my ipad. It grows on you.  

Better than the mocha was the carrot cake. This was the best carrot cake I have ever had. Not too sweet, it’s made to pair with a cup of coffee. It was topped with walnuts; I’m mildly allergic to walnuts, the kind of allergy that makes the tongue sting, makes the top of my mouth raw. I ate the cake anyway, and I would do so again. 

I take a table by the window at the edge of the room. Tinto Coffee is in the middle of the food court, in the Bellis fair mall. This is my problem.

Outside, it’s raining. Ten tables over an older woman is knitting. Forever 21 is closing. Brat is playing, echoing, somewhere in the distance, dragging itself out of summer. I hadn’t eaten anything else since 5 am. The sugar and the caffeine and the environment comes out liminal and jittery. I’m working on a failed short story.

I associate the mall with a time before I had a checking account, wandering around with four or six of my closest friends and a crumpled $20 bill in the bottom of my pocket. With being fifteen, my hair bleached blonde, scared of everything. Happy in a different way than I find myself now.

And I don’t know if I can make Tinto Coffee fit into this picture in a way that I like. Not when my total was a few cents more than I currently make in an hour. When there is something I’m looking for when I’m going to a coffee shop, a kind of ambiance. Somewhere to hunker down for a couple of hours, a third space to exist in easily.

I do still like the mall. I like wandering around in it. But its not the place where I really want to be with what Tinto Coffee is trying to give me. 

Try is yourself, if you’re already in the mall especially. The service was good, and finding parking was easy. I just also wish for a little bit more.

Visited March 12th, 2025

Resource: https://www.tintocoffee.us/