Stoop Coffee!
It’s August! It’s Monday! That means it’s time for a Monday Letter.
Stoop Coffee!
About a year ago, I read this article about drinking coffee on your stoop. It’s a simple, brilliant idea: if you’re going to have a morning coffee anyway, why not take it out to your front step and say hello to the neighbors? And while San Francisco has the right population density for this (it’s 1/6th the land area of my hometown, with the same population), it can feel surprisingly insular. Everyone’s enamored with their devices, building the next billion-dollar business. And regardless of where you are, community has to be built. It doesn’t come for free.
After reading it, I immediately knew I had to try it in my neighborhood. I live in a prime location to host, and I love coffee. I texted my roommates, and we were set. On the occasional weekend when the weather has been nice, we drag a few IKEA LACK tables out to the street, pull up our Wayfair dining room chairs, and start gabbing.
This past weekend was our best stoop coffee yet. We had lots of friends come through, some new and some old, and enjoyed diner-style coffee from my Hamilton Beach coffee urn.
This time I could really feel the momentum brewing. Lots of folks asked for it to be weekly, and while I might not be able to commit to that, I’m going to try. I’m finally returning to that original Substack article that inspired us, and I’m being reminded of all the great ways we can take this. Maybe a pancake breakfast is in our future?
If you’d like to host your own stoop, here’s my recipe. The first step is to not overthink it. You don’t need to buy anything, and you damn sure don’t need a Partiful. Just grab a friend or two, and drag some furniture out on your stoop. (Do bring an extra seat or two so passersby can stop for a moment.) The magic materializes as soon as you take that first step outside. If you’d like to upgrade, a coffee urn is a great purchase. I picked up this one for around $40 on Amazon. I grab a twelve ounce bag of beans, grind them up (as coarse as you can), and can brew around forty-five cups with this, which is plenty. If you start having regulars, setting up an e-mail list, WhatsApp group, or some other equivalent is a great idea.
So, if you’re reading this, consider taking your morning coffee to the stoop. It’s wonderfully accessible, welcoming, and can take you places you’d never expect.
And, what I’ve been up to.
- I finished reading Football by Chuck Klosterman. Here’s the review I published on Goodreads.
Exceptional. Klosterman is one of my favorite authors to begin with, and I think this is now my favorite work of his. As a Canadian living in the United States, football’s interconnection with culture is unmistakable. This book dissects that from countless interesting angles (money, politics, race, religion, the CFL, soccer, Texas, CTE, and more). It’s more than a game here; I think most people accept that. It’s the exception to the rule, and Klosterman reveals why.
- I saw the Odyssey (2026). It was amazing. Totally lived up to expectations (and they were high!); Christopher Nolan just did his thing. Amazing cast, unbelievable imagery, and of course a legendary story. I think it deserves all the flowers it’s receiving.
- I played through Firewatch, a game I have owned since it came out in 2016, but never got around to. It looked stunning, and the story was cool. It has definitely inspired me to go back and polish off some games from my Steam Library that have been doing nothing but collecting dust.
- July was a busy month of travel for me. I went to the Calgary Stampede, back to Edmonton for a bit, then on a 4-day golf trip at courses near Banff. That is definitely the most golf I’ve ever played in my life, and I wasn’t as bad as I thought I’d be, so that was nice.
Until next time!