story by Emma Willibey, photos by Hannah Bredar

Arrive at 9:30 a.m. expecting suffocation. Athletes dart by businessmen, dogs circle elderly couples and toddlers bump into collegians.  Newspapers and phones threaten seclusion, but the frenzy bonds everyone.

“The runners stop and get drinks; people come and hang out with their children,” Aixois Bistro owner Emmanuel Langlade said. “It’s like being at home.”

However, Crestwood coffeehouse Aixois is not alone in doubling as a hangout. STA seniors said that Brookside’s the Roasterie Café and the Country Club Plaza’s Lattéland Espresso & Tea also foster Kansas City culture.

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The Roasterie Café

Three minutes separate the Roasterie from senior Mattie O’Boyle’s home. However, O’Boyle said that little else distinguishes the two.

“[The Roasterie] being in Brookside kind of just adds to the more quaint, you-know-everyone-there kind of feel,” O’Boyle said. “I always see [my sister] there every time I go.”

O’Boyle frequents the Roasterie for chai tea and chocolate croissants, but sales and branding manager Eli Rami said that coffee is the shop’s pride. To distinguish itself from chains, the Roasterie utilizes unconventional brewing and “top-of-the-line” ingredients like Shatto Milk.

“We air-roast our coffee versus drum-roasting, [which is] more traditional,” Rami said. “Air roasting makes the coffee more consistent. Every bean gets the same amount of heat and attention.”

According to Rami, Roasterie’s quality treatment is not limited to coffee, as the café carries smoothies and breakfast sandwiches non-coffee consumers like O’Boyle. In similar flexibility, although Rami said that chocolate milk, white chocolate sauce and macadamia nut mocha “Crunched for Time” prevails, baristas do not have to recognize blends to prepare them.

“If a customer asks for something we don’t make, we’ll make it,” Rami said. “[It] doesn’t have to be on the menu.”

Offering variety without imposing is the Roasterie’s specialty, Rami said.

“Some coffee shops, you go there and they tell you how [you] should drink their coffee,” Rami said. “We educate [customers] if they ask [about our products]. It’s really about the experience.”

Lattéland Espresso & Tea

Senior Rachel Moran can be “technical” when describing Lattéland’s coffee-bean quality.  Knowing “absolutely nothing” about blends before joining Lattéland’s 47th-Street team, Moran can now explain why caramel macchiatos do not exist.

“When I started, [Lattéland] didn’t have a set training thing, so one of the employees was just kind of like, ‘You’re gonna learn under me,’” Moran said.

Moran said that preparing coffee is simple, although requests like “sugar-free, French vanilla, soy, no foam, extra-hot latté, decaf” baffled her as a beginner.

“None of the drinks are super difficult when you get the hang of [making them],” Moran said. “A lot of it’s muscle memory.”

Lattéland provides Moran “a skill set” more valuable than anticipated. According to Moran, fellow employees participated in Kansas City’s 2012 National Barista Championship.

“One of my [co-]workers was like, ‘Nope, I’m putting this computer up [on the counter], we’re live-streaming the competition,” Moran said. “These people get really intense about their coffee.”

Passion for the job dictates Lattéland’s coffee-making, Moran said. Machine-timing opposition leads Moran’s boss to reject staffers who worked at Starbucks Coffee Company because they would have to re-train for the Lattéland position.

“If [a drink] looks right and smells right, we serve it,” Moran said.

While prime ingredients heighten beverage costs to a $4.25 average, Moran said that Lattéland’s service compensates for prices. However, employees’ attitudes may not be attributable to enjoying work.

“I get free coffee my entire shift,” Moran said.

Aixois Bistro

Aixois parties may not be customer demands. According to Langlade, the staff hosts family gatherings, plans outings and drinks together after work.

“I’m not a big corporate kind of guy, the way I run my restaurant,” Langlade said. “I need to be a bit more strict, but I feel like [the workers are] all friends.”

According to senior Madeline Cozad, Aixois’ sociability translates to staff-customer interaction.

“If I go [to Aixois] after school, [workers will] ask me, ‘Do you go to STA?’” Cozad said. “One time I got tea and this [worker] was telling me about this really rare tea leaf from Japan and he was just going on about it.”

Aixois’ location feeds its friendliness, Langlade said. The coffeehouse’s position between Brookside and UMKC ensures familiar faces.

“We have newborn babies [come into the shop]; we have [at] 85 years old a guy who comes every day,” Langlade said.

According to Cozad, limited seating does not enable Aixois to grow stifling. Cozad said that the shop’s soft-rock soundtrack by musicians like contemporary artist Norah Jones create an ideal study space.

“There’s something about the environment that’s very soothing and helps me focus,” Cozad said.

Langlade said that Aixois’ food philosophy coincides its authentic environment.

“We try to get as much local organic food produce that we can,” Langlade said. “We make everything from scratch; nothing is prepared. We make the granola by ourselves.”

Aixois workers’ efforts produce a reliable restaurant, Langlade said.

“Simple food, coffee shop, pastries,” Langlade said of Aixois’ appeal. “[Customers] know each other; they gather together and talk and laugh. Definitely a family-neighborhood type of place.”