The Spyhouse on Hennepin and 24th.

 the Glum Review

Coffee Shop Moment #309:  It is the midst of an afternoon..  A lone barista is working the floor.  Most tables are filled around the coffee shop.  You count the laptops – one, two, three… twelve?  Holy Burundi!  Almost everyone has their face buried in a screen.  Then, slowly, you notice it happening.  One person looks up from behind the lid of their laptop.  The motionless statues start to move.  Another person looks to their left and then their right, with bewildered eyes.  What happened, they seem to say.  Pretty soon all the customers are looking at each other.  “Is it happening to you?” they say to each other without words.  “I don’t know what happened,” the others silently respond.  As the befuddled looks spread across the entire coffee shop, you notice the barista watching the scene, with a subtle sneer.   The coffee shop is full of muted commotion.  Finally, the arms and legs of a laptoper come alive.  The person dislodges their body from behind the table and wanders up to the counter.  “Can I help you?” the barista asks while already knowing the problem.  “Um, yes.  My internet isn’t working.  Can you check the router?” 

Any coffee shop that has framed maps on the wall and plays good hip-hop during the noon hour immediately draws my attention.  At some point throughout the history of Minneapolis, art, tattoos and coffee serendipitously met and started a coffee shop.  This place is now known as the Spyhouse.  

The one I am sitting in right now is located on the corner of Hennepin Ave and 24^th St.  This is the second version of the Spyhouse in Minneapolis.  It is rectangular and it has ample bar space, something that is unique to coffee shops in general.  The seating in a coffee shop can make you “want to go to there”.  This is definitely true for the Spyhouse.  There are plenty of booths, tables, window bar seats and bar seats.  Also, just behind the bar is the dish washing station.  If you are sitting at the bar while a barista is washing dishes, it can get a little awkward.  Sometimes the barista will stare at you while washing dishes.  Embrace the awkwardness, it adds personality.  Who knows, maybe you could even step out from behind your laptop and strike up a conversation. 

I have to mention the coffee.  A sign of a good coffee shop is when they have more than one coffee of the day.  The Spyhouse has six.  Whether you are a coffee with cream kind of person, a drink it black fan, or a cold press lover, they have it all.  Another sign of a good coffee shop is what kind of coffee vessels they keep their coffees of the day in.  The Spyhouse uses glass lined airpots.  These help the brewed coffee stay hot and fresh.  There is nothing worse than plastic airpots with cold, old brewed coffee in them. 

Of course, I have to mention the music also.  You’re not going to hear this kind of music selection in any corporate or franchised coffee shop.  I can say that most of the time I am in the Spyhouse, I like what they are playing.  I’ve had to, on more than one occasion, ask whoever was working who they were playing.  There is a good mix of music that white, hipster people like (the latest, I found, is Fleet Foxes), Kanye West, mellow trance, and Gillian Welch.  I have one complaint though Spyhouse employees – too much White Stripes.   

There is food, there are espresso drinks, it opens early and it closes late.  The people that come in are not as hipster as the old Spyhouse.  This may or may not be a good thing depending on who you are.  The staff is friendly most of the time.  I don’t see what is not to like about this place.  Unless you are looking for that same, safe experience you have every single goddamn time you walk into a Starbucks.  At the Spyhouse you will see just how a coffee shop is run without the use of coffeebots.  The baristas are tattooed, there is style on the walls, good music in the speakers, and a rich coffee in each unique mug you get there.