Grounds + RNCR Roastery in Prague presents its unique style story in Wayzata’s Robert Schneider’s latest book. Photo: Alex Shoots Buildings
Minnetonka author showcases independent, local coffee hubs from around the globe.
If you’re an admirer of good coffee and sleek design, clear a spot on your coffee table for a local author’s latest book, Café Cool: Feel-Good Inspiring Designs.
Written by Minnetonka’s Robert Schneider and published by Images Publishing, the book features 39 cafés and coffee shops from around the globe. Serving its purpose of a coffee-table style book, Café Cool has the goods to enlighten, inspire and evoke emotions from those who venture through its pages. Full of vibrant colors, aesthetically pleasing designs and interesting facts, readers can easily picture themselves seated in the featured cafés, sipping on their favorite Americano, cappuccino, espresso latte and the like.
“The book is meant to be a pleasing presentation of coffee and design and hopefully to show respect and appreciation for everyone who makes the entire experience possible—from the farmer growers to the roasters, baristas, designers, architects and so many others,” Schneider says.
While discovering British Columbia, place Vancouver’s Nemesis Coffee on the must-see list. Photo: Ema Peter
The book follows Schneider’s Coffee Culture: Hot Coffee + Cool Spaces and Café Culture: For Lovers of Coffee and Good Design. “Humbly, the first book was successful, so we did a second book and now the third,” he says. Unlike its sister editions, Café Cool offers more dynamic elements, including the layout treatment with gorgeous photography, and Schneider weaves in various quotes from people involved with the coffee shops and cafés. “I made it more like a story of what it was like to go through the design or the build,” he says.
When selecting spots to feature, Schneider says his research included more than 1,000 locations—both in-person and online. “I’ve done a little research every day … if something sparks my interest, it goes in a certain pile,” the author says. “I have all these stacks of different possibilities.”
For Café Cool, Schneider started with his personal interest in modern, contemporary designs and looked for locations that are unique and have an interesting architectural perspective. “In this book, no two cafés or coffee shops look alike,” he says. For example, readers can expect to discover a venue on the seventh floor of a skyscraper in downtown San Francisco; another, located in London, is in a renovated railway arch; and one space is tucked within a boutique hotel.
Should your travel exploits take you north and east of the border, consider pausing for a sip at Farouche Tremblant in Lac-Supérieur, Québec. Photo: Raphaël Thibodeau
Will there be a fourth book in the coffee and design series? Schneider says he’s open to the idea. “I would be excited—if the possibility exists—to do a fourth book in the series,” he says. “I have other ideas for books I’m trying to put together that would be about different aspects of design.”
After all, good design adds to the overall experience of any place people choose to spend time. “Good design makes experiences more enjoyable and more meaningful. Thereby, those experiences can facilitate lasting memories,” he says.
On Robert Schneider
The author has taken his lifelong interest in art and design and put pen to paper, as the saying goes, with his three books. When he’s not exploring (in-person or online) coffee shops, one might find Schneider in one of his favorite area coffee shops, including Harmony Coffee, Minneapolis; Kopplin’s Coffee, St. Paul; or The Grocer’s Table, Wayzata (Our vote!). He continues to pursue his love of architecture, art, design and photography.
Purchase Schneider’s books at imagespublishing.com or wherever books are sold.
