A Hidden Gem
By the time November rolls around, I always find myself looking to add a bit of change in my life. Something about the season prompts me to find new ways to appreciate life, whether it’s redecorating my dorm room, or spending an afternoon trying to make a new recipe for a tailgating party. That desire for change manifested itself this year as a need to find a new study spot.
Campus libraries are packed with sniffling students in the fall and the idea of spending countless hours under the harsh fluorescent lighting isn’t exactly my cup of tea. Thus, I began the search for my new favorite place in Gainesville - somewhere quiet, not too far from campus, that serves a quality cup of coffee (or tea). While I knew there had to be such a place, I didn’t expect it to be home to furry friends and a champion of a great cause.
Since 2021, the Feeline Good Cat Café has been located in downtown Gainesville and offers a relaxing nook filled with two of the best things in life - coffee and cats (you know I'm right). The café is divided into two floors: the upstairs, a secluded space with the perfect ambiance for tackling a paper, and the ground floor, which boasts ample seating and friendly baristas who serve delicious drinks and monitor the adjoining cat room.
Coffee, please!
Before meeting the cats, I made sure to sample some items off the menu. Feeline Good Cat Café does not serve food, but what they lack in food, they make up for in drinks! Rather than face the daunting task of picking an item off the menu, I opted for Barista Anne Marie Arthington’s suggestion: an iced brown sugar cinnamon latte, and was instantly hooked. The drink was perfectly smooth, sweet, and free of any aftertaste. If iced brown sugar cinnamon doesn't please your palate, perhaps one of the signature drinks the café creates each month to promote one of the cats available for adoption might be more to your liking. Beverages are allowed in the cat room, but are only for human consumption, of course.
Tucked away from the bustling commotion of the café, the cozy cat room hosts several foster cats from the Humane Society of North Central Florida; the café acts as a foster home, providing food and shelter but also sponsors adoption events/viewings in hopes of finding the animals a fur-ever home.
From Thursday to Sunday, you can book 30-minute or hour-long sessions in the cat room for some snuggle therapy, but be warned, you might just end up walking away with your new best friend. The Cat Café itself does not require a reservation, but all proceeds from the room's reservations support the maintenance of the space and the cats.
For every cat adopted, Feeline Good adds a Polaroid of the cat and their new humans to their honorary wall of fame - just think, you could be famous (wink, wink) AND get a new furry friend!