My aunt swore you need to sit in a new coffee shop for at least 3 hours before deciding if it's your spot. I laughed it off until I tried it at a tiny place in Portland, the WiFi died at hour 2 but the barista started chatting with me about their pour-over setup. Now I always give places a real shot before crossing them off my list. Anyone else have a weird rule for judging coffee shops?
Three hours just to decide if you like a coffee shop? Come on, that is a huge chunk of your day for something you can usually figure out in twenty minutes. If the WiFi is bad and the seats are uncomfortable, sitting there longer is not going to magically make it your spot, it just means you wasted an afternoon. The barista chatting with you about pour-overs sounds nice, but that is called being a friendly person, not some hidden sign the place is special. Most of us have jobs and errands and only so much free time, so turning a simple coffee run into a 3-hour test feels like making life harder on purpose. Pick a spot, order a drink, and if it stinks, just do not go back.