Malloy, the accountant, came in three times for coffee at 6:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m. But in winter, humans grow scarce, people feel isolated, they crave a place to see fellow humans, and this becomes their town center. In summer it’s crawling with humans, tourists only too happy to stand in line for genuine Cape Cod fudge. How different could our coffee be?”), they have built a business that’s as much at the heart of this community as Nauset Regional High, Snow Library or the Church of the Holy Spirit on Monument Road.
Sparrow said, “but it’s got to be more than the coffee. But without even being able to fully explain it (“People say it’s the coffee,” Ms. Sparrow and her husband, Bob, opened their first store 20 years ago, they weren’t looking to create a local institution. I figured if we have a problem, we know where to find him.” Sparrow said, “that I hired him to redo our Web site did a nice job. Chris Johnson, 33, a freelance Web designer, orders a tea and nurses it at a table for the next five hours while he works. to 9 a.m., is made up of people in such a hurry to get to work, says Marjorie Sparrow, 57, the owner, “they’re too busy for eye contact.” They are followed in late morning by the pony-tailed mothers with their preschoolers along with retirees like Russ French, taking a brief tea and scone break from caring for his wife, who has Alzheimer’s.Įarly evening, the laptops arrive and several stay till closing at 9 p.m. “This is my third cup of the day practically lunch for me.” The first rush is mostly middle-aged men who’ve lost the ability to sleep late. von Thaden, a contractor, drinks French roast. Malloy, an accountant, drinks Contractors blend, and Mr. EVERY morning at 6:30 a.m., as sure as the ebb of the Cape Cod tides, the rise of the sun and the four phases of the moon, the front door at the Hot Chocolate Sparrow is unlocked, and the regulars George Malloy, Bill von Thaden, Bart Randall, Jaan Vari, Bruce Bierhans hurry in from the cold and the dark for their morning coffees.