Shift Meal: Read Queen Bookstore & Café

What baristas eat, drink, and read when no one is watching

Between pulling espresso shots, recommending books, and plating donuts, baristas don’t have much downtime—so when they do, what’s actually on the menu?

Nestled in Old Town Lafayette, The Read Queen Bookstore & Café (for those wondering, the pronunciation, according to their website: “I love to read, the Queen she said, and in so doing I am well read.”) is a women-owned community staple. In a time when third spaces continue to disappear across Colorado’s Front Range, Read Queen holds onto a version of that role—part café, part bookstore, part gathering place—with a steady flow of customers and just enough seating to make it linger-worthy.

At the center is barista Taya Kendrick, often nursing an iced vanilla or brown sugar maple latte during her shift, while snacking on food from home. Despite packing leftover pizza or peanut butter power bars, she admits it’s not always enough to stay away from what’s available in-house.

Sonnie Simmons, who has worked at Read Queen for just over a year, has settled into a different kind of shift fuel: Goldfish crackers. Soup and burritos are available, but she’s unapologetically BYOGF.

Like many cafés testing the edges of their menu, Read Queen staff say they’ve also been experimenting behind the scenes with dirty sodas—combinations of soda, cream, and flavored syrups that may soon become official offerings.

Barista Emma Lynn might be seen eating the Greek salad she brought from home, but when no one’s watching, she admits to something sweeter: coffee ice cream. Paired with a honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon latte, it’s part fuel, part break. She’s currently reading Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery, a horror novel that breaks from her usual literary fiction.

In a space built on books, coffee, and community, even the smallest shift meal becomes part of the day’s rhythm—quick, improvised, and never quite uninterrupted.

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