Coffee Shop AU

The Coffee Shop AU is an alternate universe fanfiction trope that became popular in LiveJournal fandoms, then migrated with fans to other platforms. 
The trope was originally known as Barista AU and is closely-related to the Bakery AU.
In most cases, one half of the main pairing is the barista and the other is or becomes their favorite customer; in some stories the whole cast works at a coffee shop.
This trope is especially popular in fandoms where one character is very attached to coffee, either in canon or in fanon, or is frequently stressed.
==History and Popularity==
The earliest example of a coffee shop AU may be a popslash story, Café de l'Amour, by NSyncGrrl, written no later than 2001. In the author's note, she speculates that the story started a trend in popslash.See Fanlore's entry for her fansite Forever.
The trope spread out and had become very popular by the end of the aughts.See these 2008 examples from LiveJournal - primarily popslash - here, here, here and here. Additionally, refer to this search on Fanfiction.net. In 2011, thefourthvine stated "I think we can all agree that the barista AU is a fine and honorable tradition in fandom."25.10.2011, The One That Left Me Twitching with a Need for the Recipes, Damn It, the RECIPES. from 221: Wish I Could Be Part of Your World by thefourthvine, accessed 29.10.2011 In the header of her own Suits barista AU, friskaz said "Every fandom needs a barista au."17.10.2011, Grande Soy Triple Dirty Chai by friskaz, accessed 29.10.2011
Coffee shop AU fanworks are nearly ubiquitous in pan-fandom.
As of February 2019, works tagged "Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" represent 14.8k+ of the 905.4k+ the works more broadly tagged as AUs."Alternate Universe" tag on AO3. [https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Alternate%20Universe%20-%20Coffee%20Shops%20*a*%20Caf%C3%A9s/works/ "Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" tag on AO3. Accessed February 2019.
In the Fansplaining Fic Preferences Survey of 2016, conducted by Flourish Klink and Elizabeth Minkel of the Fansplaining podcast, over 7,500 respondents ranked coffee shop AUs as the tenth most popular AU trope, and the fifty-third overall most popular trope, suggesting that coffee shop AUs may not be quite as astronomically popular as more commonly reported.Five Tropes Fanfic Readers Love (And One They Hate) by Flourish Klink. Published on October 27, 2016. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
Regardless of how popular or ubiquitous the coffee shop AU is according to quantitative analysis, the trope certainly looms large in common conceptions about tropes in fanfiction. Katharine McCain, a PhD candidate at Ohio State University researching contemporary fanfiction with a focus on coffee shop AUs, discusses the popularity and conventions of the trope in a 2017 essay titled "Fans Love It a Latte: The Rise and Participatory Nature of Coffee Shop AUs." She writes:
Nick Lowe's 1980s article The Black Wine of Thentis, which unfortunately does not appear to be online, suggests that many appearances of coffee in fiction are inspired by writer's block - the author is trying to come up with an idea, takes a coffee break, then proceeds to write coffee or something like it into the story in some form - see e.g. the Uncoffee article on TV Tropes for many examples. This may possibly be an explanation for part of the appeal of the coffee-shop AU. Katharine McCain presents a related claim in her essay "Fans Love It a Latte," writing: "The first thing we need to acknowledge is that the link between authors and coffee shops (or even just coffee in general) is quite old itself...Coffee shops have always been tied intimately to fiction, but they are tied even more closely to the writer herself. Theyare a part of our cultural understanding of what a writer is—or rather, what they are supposed to be.Fans Love It a Latte: The Rise and Participatory Nature of Coffee Shop AUs by Katharine McCain. Published in The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 3, No. 1, August 2017. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
Writing for the Daily Dot, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw suggests that the coffee shop AU is likely "a fan-created genre," and so the appearance of coffee drinking or even coffee shops in other forms of popular media may have little to do with the coffee shop AU as a genre.Millennials can’t stop writing fanfiction about coffee shops by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw. Published at the Daily Dot on September 28, 2018. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
In a 2011 thread on fail-fandomanon, nonnies presented a variety of explanations for the trope's popularity. One nonnie wrote:
===Fandom-specific popularity===
Stargate Atlantis also saw an explosion of Barista AUs, due to fans interpreting Rodney McKay's canonical love of coffee as caffeine addiction. Wank ensued around a story in which Ronon Dex was a barista, while the rest of the cast had positions of higher status; (Accessed Oct. 29, 2011); The more you know...; webcite this coincided with a general discussion of the roles Ronon and Teyla often had in SGA AUs. see String Theory, A Concerto for Violin in D Minor, Atlantis meta: time to stop and think about things, Race and Fandom 
Barista AUs are especially popular in Bandom, in part because Jon Walker of Panic! at the Disco had actually worked as a barista prior to joining the band. He and other characters are often depicted as working in coffeeshops in College AUs.Many bandom fics use the barista trope without specifically being about the coffeeshop. See, for example, Tell Me to Stop by airgiodslv, a D/S kink fic in which Jon's coffeeshop is only a secondary location. 15 January 2008. (Accessed 2 April 2012.) Another variation is the bookstore AU; see foxxcub's ?Jon's Bookstore (A Few of My Favorite Things), in which the various employees of the bookstore convince Jon to open a coffeeshop inside the store. 23 December 2007. (Accessed 2 April 2012.) Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance also has a well-documented love of/addiction to coffee, causing him to be frequently cast as a coffeeshop customer.
Mundanity is an aspect of the trope that may be related to its appeal."don’t you think it’s kind of funny that we have these characters with magical powers that go on incredible adventures and do amazing things and that’s really impressive but after a while we’re like “okay so what if they just owned a coffee shop. imagine them filing their taxes” - post by killuangel 2015A common additional tag for coffee shop AU works is College AU. As such, there seems to be correlation between a fandom having a large amount of College/Mundane AUs and coffee shop AUs.
 
In a 2019 thread on fail-fandomanon, nonnies speculated about canons in which coffee shop AUs are noticeably absent.Fail-fandomanon thread. Posted on January 15, 2019. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
As of February 4, 2019, there are 14,640 fanworks in the "Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" tag on Archive of Our Own. The most common fandom in the tag is BTS, with 1,007 tagged works, followed by Supernatural with 758 tagged works and Teen Wolf with 583 tagged works."Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" tag on AO3. Accessed on February 4, 2019. Other tags are often used by fanwork creators on AO3 for coffee shop AUs, including "Coffee Shops" (which has 18,870 tagged works as of February 4, 2019), and so the number of works tagged "Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" does not necessarily represent the total number of coffee shop AUs on AO3. Additionally, coffee shop AUs are often published as short fic and bullet-point lists on Tumblr, where the trope is also quite popular.Coffee shop au tag on Tumblr. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
==Trope Conventions==
Writing for Vox, Aja Romano describes the coffee shop AU as a popular AU subgenre: "the "coffee shop AU," in which characters are taken out of their existing storyline and placed in the context of meeting randomly in a coffee shop (usually one half of your OTP is a barista, and the other half is an annoyed, harried, caffeine-addicted patron)."Canon, fanon, shipping and more: a glossary of the tricky terminology that makes up fan culture by Aja Romano for Vox. Published on June 7, 2016. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
On AO3, the overwhelming majority of works tagged as "Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" are rated General Audiences (5.5k+ tagged works, as of February 4, 2019) or Teen And Up Audiences (5.3k+ tagged works, as of February 2019)."Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" tag on AO3. Accessed February 2019. The majority of these works are slash, with 10.9k+ categorized as M/M as of February 2019."Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" tag on AO3. Accessed February 2019. The most common additional tags as of February 4, 2019 are fluff (5k+ works), Alternate Universe - College/University (2.4k+ works), and Alternate Universe - Modern Setting (2.1k+ works)."Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés" tag on AO3. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
Coffee shop AUs are often equated with fluffiness. While for some fans that is a drawback, for many others it is a main draw. Katharine McCain hypothesizes that the coffee shop AU lends itself particularly to fans seeking an idealistic representation of romance and affinity, writing: "It is a fantasy for any non-conforming individual, particularly the young adult, that we can exist freely as we are in comfort and safety, yet still make that existence into a form of activism by broadcasting it in a space as public as a coffee shop."Fans Love It a Latte: The Rise and Participatory Nature of Coffee Shop AUs by Katharine McCain. Published in The Phoenix Papers, Vol. 3, No. 1, August 2017. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
In an essay published by The Mary Sue, Samantha Puc describes the pleasures of a good coffee shop AU:
Tumblr user cheezygoddess compiled a masterpost of coffee shop AU prompts, which highlights many of the themes and tropes commonly found in coffee shop AUs.Coffeeshop AU Masterpost + AUs by cheezygoddess. Posted on Jult 6, 2015. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
==Criticism==
Coffee shop AUs are sometimes criticized by fans as being unrealisticTwitter user cynicalpie tweeted a thread of advice on how to make your coffee shop AU more realistic, pointing out many of the common misconceptions about working in a coffee shop that frequently pop up in fic. Some fans, though, pointed out that the unrealistic nature of these "mundane" AUs is exactly the point - as discussed in this fail-fandomanon exchange. or overly ubiquitous. Coffee shop AUs are often criticized as rampant with OOC characterizations, or overly mundane.Fail-fandom anon thread. Posted on August 26, 2017. The "sameness" of coffee shop AUs - which can, at times, feel divorced from their canon source material - is another point of criticism for some fans.[They're a decent enough premise for fluffy shipfic, but I wish they weren't so same-y across multiple fandoms. It's always either "poor stressed customer who is wooed by someone out-of-this-word amazing at making coffee/possibly baking" or "barista is also a college student and then they crush on/banter with one of the patrons," wrote one nonnie in a fail-fandomanon thread.
From the article Fandom Is Broken by Devin Faraci, about fandom entitlement, coffee shop and bakery AUs are mentioned in relation to criticism of fans who want fan service:
For some fans, coffee shop AUs normalize workplace harassment. From a tumblr post by g-taire:
Still, other fans use their own experience working in coffee shops as further inspiration for mundane AUs with realism. Coffee Shop AUs I need as someone who works in a coffee shop by melissanelissa, 2017.I actually work in a coffee shop and I came up with some prompts based on my experiences at work (or what I would wish would happen to me at work) by izupie, November 2017.Im so sick of these fake coffee shop AUs that aren’t rooted in reality so here’s some situations more likely to happen by offbrandbarista, March, 2017.
Gavia Baker-Whitelaw addressed this aspect of coffee shop AUs in her article on the trope, writing:
Various criticisms and opinions about coffee shop AUs were recounted by nonnies in a 2017 fail-fandomanon thread titled "Disruptive And Provocative Opinions About Coffeeshop AUs."Fail-fandomanon thread. Posted on May 21, 2017. Accessed on February 4, 2019.
Other Comments:
==Notable Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
The 100:
* Mystic Coffee by blindwire, 2016
Ace Attorney:
* The Usual by SaraJaye, 2017
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
* Shouting into the cliffs without an echo by plinys, 2015
Bandom
*Like Drinking Salt Water by sophia_sol, 2011
*Foam Heart by lovebashed, 2010
Dresden Files: 
*The Stars and Scones Bakery and Coffee Shop by Lucia Zephyr, 2011
Fire Emblem:
* Coffee For Two by Refletsan
* Good Morning, Leo by ZippyZapmeister
Fullmetal Alchemist:
* Twelfth Cup of Coffee by Tierfal, 2014
Hawaii Five-Oh
* measure out your life
Harry Potter:
* I'll paint a mural of your smile by magelesbian, 2014
Inception: 
* I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York) by gyzym, 2010
Mad Max: Fury Road
*Two creams, one sugar by underwater_owl, 2015
Merlin:
* Possibly Maybe I'm Falling For You by lady_ragnell, modern royal family college AU, 2011
Naruto:
*The Shop Around the Corner (Rescue Me) by Emmee Kay, 2011
One Direction:
* Hiding Out in the Kitchen by LittleMousling, 2012 
Popslash:
* Untitled multi-part coffeeshop AU; in the fandom, it was typically called "bitchy barista!JC"-- by Cappucino, completed February 2004.
Sherlock:
* Division by MrsNoggin
* One Espresso, Seven Sugars by mydarlingbenedict (LiraDonne)
* Notes in a Tip Jar by Lakeore
Stargate Atlantis:
* The Perfect Cappuccino by Rachael Sabotini 09/2005
* The one where John and Rodney work at Starbucks by Punk and Sabine, 2006
* Fair Trade by esteefee, 2009
Stargate SG-1:
* The Barista by dietcokechic 11/2005
Stray Kids
* on my lips (your laughter is the sweetest)
Suits:
* Grande Soy Triple Dirty Chai by friskaz, 2011
Voltron: Legendary Defender:
* nothing's quite as sweet by dimpleforyourthoughts, 2016
X-Files:
*The Fisher King by Aloysia Virgata, 2016
*The Pequod Universe: Especially Au Cafe Pequod by sunflowerseedsandscience, Mulder POV (written in 2017, remporarily removed, than reposted again in 2018) and the sequel D'un Nouvel Oeil (2018) (Scully POV)
===Fanart===
Image:SmallVices by pen pistola.jpg|Small Vices by pen pistola, illustration for I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York)
Image:I've got nothing to do today but smile fanart by red rahl.jpg|Fanart by red rahl 
File:70 per cent EtOH late afternoon coffee.jpg|"late afternoon coffee with your favourite barista, flat white, no sugar" by seventypercentethanol for Ace of Diamond
Image:Tumblr 5ef3f51760414ae634574ada09f43913_a83c6e8a_1280.png|"Give Me A Grande Coffee Shop AU" by aimmyarrowshigh for I Met You On LJ's #FicTropeFriday
*Illustrations by morewinepls for WWII X-Files AU Au Cafe Pequod: Jan 14th, 2018, Nov 30th, 2017, WWII AU - Dana Scully, BAMF working for the resistance, Aug 1st, 2017Artists asks not to repost their art works
* Coffee Luck comic by lordzuuko: "MakoHaru Barista!Makoto AU" (Free!)
* art for And the name for your order is? (Miraculous Ladybug)
*Illustration for Café au Lait (Voltron)
* A modern day AU where Jim works at a coffee shop. (Star Trek AOS)
* a scene from The Life and Times of a Sullen Coffee Shop Employee (Les Miserables)
===Fan vids===
*XF - Au Café Pequod by K. Edits
*Overwatch AWNN - That Coffee Shop AU Fanfiction Omahdon
*History of wrong guys | Lams Animatic (Coffee Shop AU) by Cutetanuki-chan (Hamilton)
===Reclists===
* 2017 reclist for Sterek 
* reclist for Johnlock
* coffee shop au recs and coffee shop or bakery au recs for Klance
* reclist for Victuuri
* reclist for Stony
==External Links==
*Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés tag on Archive of Our Own
* coffee shop au tag on Tumblr
==Further Reading==
*Millennials can't stop writing fanfiction about coffeeshops by Gavia Baker-Whitelaw at the Daily Dot
*Please, Please, Please Give Me More Coffee Shop AUs by Samantha Puc at The Mary Sue
*Coffeeshop AU Stats from AO3 by threepatchpodcast and toastystats
==Meta==
*Why Are There So Many Coffee Shop Fics?? by ShippersGuideToTheGalaxy
==References==
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