Tantra Coffee House

Tantra Coffee House offers a look at the diverse people who live in San Marcos. Its definitely not your ordinary coffee shop. At first glance, this place may seem like any other coffee shop, but it's what the people are doing here that sets it apart. Just like most coffee shops, Tantra is full of cyclists, students, businessmen, and "hippies." Not all were "hippies" however, as Tantra's reputation would have some people believe. People come here and just hang out. There is no coming and grabbing a latte to-go. You hang out and study, play games, listen to the jazz music playing in the background, or even take a nap. Yes, there was a man taking a nap on one of the couches while we enjoyed a game of Mrs. PacMan. A bookshelf sat in the same room as the vintage arcade game filled with English textbooks, board games like Sorry, Scrabble, and chess, and children's books. Yes, a bunch of children's books.

The decor here is Asian-themed, with statues of Buddha and Asian artwork scattered all over the walls. One of the walls is covered by a huge mural that a local artist painted. While none of the employees knew exactly who painted it, we were told a story about a piece of the mural. A tiny blue VW van was painted at the bottom of this tree. Apparently, a "hippie" poet from the 60's drove this van he called the "blue canoe." He would just hang around the shop all day and inspired the artist so much that he or she decided to include him in their work.

The trash is separated for recycling. The food is all organic, including the coffee beans. One employee, Cassie, called Tantra a "melting pot." The employees really seemed to love their job. Outside the place two well dressed younger men debated about our current government, while inside, a woman who had never been there before just walked around and took it all in. If the coffee and interesting people aren't enough to entertain you, on Sundays they hold a unicycle football league. I'm not really sure what it is all about. I guess I will just have to go there on a Sunday to find out.

Tantra is not really the type of place I would normally go, but actually going in might change some people's minds. I expected to see a bunch of pretentious hipsters talking about the newest underground music scene with a few hippies scattered around. Tantra is more of a place where everyone is excepted and you can almost do whatever you want there. They do have plenty of things to do there between classes.

Brian Steele