Cafe and Cowork
Who are we?
I'm Philip, I build websites 👋
I've been working remote for most of my life. During the past couple of years I've spent most of my time traveling around Asia, including Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Hong Kong, and now most recently Taiwan. I've always enjoyed reviewing places on Google Maps, but started maintaining my own collection of "good places to work from" and eventually turned it into this site, Cafe and Cowork.
For me, the most important factors are comfortable seats, a quiet environment, power outlets, and stable wifi. Those are the main things I need to get work done, but of course it's also nice if there is good food and cheap drinks.
On the tech-side, this website is mostly static content. To keep things as simple as possible, there is no database, just a markdown/yaml file for each cafe. The website is built with node.js, using express, and pages are rendered server-side using pug (my view engine of choice).
You can check out my other projects on my website, or find me online on GitHub and Instagram.
I'm Chloe, I write reviews 👋
When I was a translator, I often stayed in coffee shops to catch up with my work. There was a lot of work to finish, so no time could be wasted. Because of this my priority was finding a cafe near my place, whether it has power outlets, and how quiet it was. Usually I want to stay as long as possible I also cared about the food so I didn't have to bother myself to go somewhere else.
I’m often the first to arrive and the last to leave. When I’m tired, I count down the remaining unturned pages to translate, secretly observed what other people were doing, or flipped through the magazines and books in the store. Since then, cafes were often associated with work to me. I was very grateful for the tolerance of many cafe owners. Maybe they haven't had many interactions with me, but they still accompanied me through a difficult working time.
Now, after a long time, we have started the Cafe & Cowork project by coincidence. We want to provide a convenient place for our friends who care about where to work. Cafe & Cowork we try to include as much objective information as possible, both pros and cons. Recently, I am particularly care about natural lighting and the seating arrangement, and I care about whether the space is noisy, just like in the past.
In addition to these criteria, I always unintentionally pay attention to the thoughtfulness and the effort an owner puts into the cafe. Even small cafes with an inconspicuous appearance are often full of personal style and work towards freelancers and nomads. More and more stores provide excellent working environments. Whether it is lighting, background music, sockets, WiFi, table, or meals that are particularly important to me, they are often surprisingly outstanding, even beyond many offices. I can almost imagine a shop owner enthusiastically sketching out the scene of working here when designing the space, and complementing them one by one according to everyone’s needs. So for me, rather than just finding the best place for myself, it has become more important to find a place where the owner cares.
You can find me on Instagram.