Coffee Stories is a community that brings people together through sharing stories about their coffee shop experiences. It started when Steve Kantor asked people to submit their coffee shop stories online, and hundreds of submissions poured in. These stories were compiled into a book and movie to share people's experiences. The organization now encourages people to continue sharing their coffee shop stories and ideas to bring more people together through their common experiences over coffee.

1. Coffee Stories
A community of like minded people with the idea
of bringing the world together through coffee.
www.lifebushido.com/coffee coffee@lifebushido.com
Coffee Stories

2. Coffee Stories came about by way of a common goal - bringing
people together through common experiences.
Steve Kantor, creative vision behind the company LifeBushido and
feel-good book of wisdom, “Where Are You - Right Now?” sent
out a call to anyone wanting to share their coffee shop experiences
on the online work market place, Mechanical Turk.
Hundreds of stories poured in and were soon joined with ideas of
how to share the stories with the world.
Coffee Stories

3. Pieces came together like coffee beans and cream. Soon, a book
was in the works as well as a movie.
Today, coffee drinkers are still sharing their ideas and becoming a
part of the coffee shop phenomenon.
Coffee Stories

4. Excerpts From The Book
At a coffee house, I had a really great time talking with my mom and sister with whom
I don’t get to visit with as often as I would like. My mom told me about people in my
family from a long time ago that I had forgotten about, and my sister told me about
the new boyfriend in her life and how she hopes the relationship will become serious.
It was a great time just chatting with the women in my family while my husband took
care of my son for me. Our coffeehouse gathering was very relaxing and it gave me
a chance to relax. We all agreed to continue our women only get together monthly so
that we can continue to have this quality time together.
Coffee Stories

5. Excerpts From The Book
The best thing that has ever happened to me in a coffee house was finding out that I
was published for the first time. I was seventeen years old and had a poem published
in a local magazine that isn’t around anymore. I was skipping school and sitting at
my favorite coffee shop when the editor of the magazine came in and told me he
had just tried to call me to let me know that I’d be in their anniversary issue. It was
the first time I’d ever shown anyone something I’d written and my first publication.
More than a decade later I cherish the memory.
Coffee Stories

6. Excerpts From The Book
Almost 4 years ago I invited a girl, who was a
friend of mine for coffee. She rejected my request
asking why she should go out and have coffee
with me. I answered her questions, and somehow
managed to get her to agree to have coffee with
me. We dated and are now married. Funny thing is
it took me six months to talk her into having that
one cup of coffee with me.
Coffee Stories

7. Creative Brainstorming
Several of these stories stand out in my mind as ones that would make a great movie
(fiction type) if all these characters were brought together in the same coffee house and
developed over time. The story would be set at a specific coffee house. I picture one in
a city bustling with all different types of people. All very different, all with different
stories but all brought together under the same roof and their stories played out over
time, each group having a unique and complete story in itself to unfold. Most wouldn’t
even know each other but they are living side by side. The movie could span years of
time as these stories unfold.
Coffee Stories

8. Marketing Ideas
Turn these stories into decorations for coffee cups one sixth of the story on each cup in a set of 6, one
fourth on each of a set of 4. When you have coffee with friends, you would have a complete story among
you. Or the same kind of thing, but used in a coffee shop stories are mixed and matched, customers mingle
with each other to figure out whose stories are connected and in what order during a poetry reading or
performance night, perhaps.
Coffee Stories

9. Marketing Ideas
The film should begin by showing images of the coffee house, Quartermaine, and show the
owners opening the store on an average day. The voice over will be the story of the man who
was drinking coffee there when the woman walked up to him and asked him to help her with
her coffee shop and he ended up marrying her daughter. That is a great beginning! Then, the
plot would be a series of vignettes in which the characters, who are friends of friends (Love
Actually meets Six Degrees of Separation) go through their lives, ordering coffee in the morn-
ing before work, or stopping by on dates.
Coffee Stories

10. Do you have a coffee shop story? Do you have a passion for sharing common experiences?
For more information or to get involved, please feel free to get in touch:
email us at coffee@lifebushido.com or visit us on the web at www.lifebushido.com/coffee
Coffee Stories