I interviewed Makeworth baristas Bennett Campbell and Taylor Hall as well as head roaster Tim Shenkin about their morning habits and the joy that being early risers brings to their day. After speaking with them, I feel inspired to lean into my early mornings. Grab a cup of Makeworth coffee and read on for more!
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Lauren: Do you consider yourself a morning person?
Tim: Yes, by default. I cannot do nights, so either I’m just a day person and/or I’m a morning person. But I would largely consider myself to be a morning person.
Taylor: Yes, I do. I really am a morning person. I love to wake up early because it makes me more productive, and I really don't like sleeping in. When I sleep in, I feel like I'm getting a late start. I really like when you wake up and you feel like you're awake before anyone else, so you have a little bit of time to yourself.
Bennett: I do consider myself a morning person. I don’t like sleeping in all that much. It bums me out.
Lauren: What time do you tend to wake up?
Taylor: Most of the time I wake up around or before 7.
Bennett: 7, or 7:30, regardless of work. The opening shifts have now made my schedule, and on a day off I’ll sleep in maybe til 8.
Lauren: Earlier?! Woah. *Lauren is not a morning person.
Lauren: When you have to be somewhere, are you going to wake up earlier so that you can stay in bed, or are you getting up when your alarm goes off?
Bennett: I shoot out of bed.
Lauren: I’m realizing how “not-a-morning-person” I am. I’m a lounger.
Bennett: I can’t lounge. It bums me out.
Taylor: If I can have a slow morning, I'm a little bit of a lounger. I love it when I can take extra time and do my routine in a way that feels very chill, natural, and not rushed.
Lauren: Do you have a morning routine?
Taylor: Well, it kind of depends. It's a little bit different every day, but I'm trying to get it narrowed down to, "Every day I wake up at this time and do these things" — I feel like that would be good for me. Most of the time, I get up and I mess around on my phone for a little bit. I've tried reading in the morning, but sometimes that makes me a little bit sleepy. I'll drink water, brush my teeth. I like to make myself food in the morning and cook myself something for lunch as well!
Bennett: I wake up and I start panicking about the 30 things I feel like I have to do, and I realize I can only do, like, three of them, so then I make a list.
Lauren: Like, you wake up, eyes open, panic.
Bennett: There’s like two minutes of really nice, calm, easing into the day, which is one of my favorite parts of the day.
Lauren: Really? Like, right when you wake up?
Bennett: Yeah, ‘cause I’m not thinking about a bajillion things, I’m just thinking about, “I’m awake”, you know what I mean?
Tim: I am a morning person who is also a late person. I’m not a prompt person, but I am a morning person. I’ll lounge and wait too long, and end up being late.
Lauren: Gotcha, so the priority is seizing the day in itself, instead of being on time. To you, what makes a “morning person”?
Lauren: What’s your ideal morning?
Bennett: Wake up at 7, go to a cafe, and get some reading done for our book club. Then I like to do some errands, and hopefully, by the time it gets to the evening, I can just relax.
Taylor: Honestly, it would be waking up, drinking water, going for a walk, coming back, getting myself ready, going to my favorite coffee shop, getting a coffee and taking care of anything I need to do, and then starting the rest of my day, however that may look. And it's honestly not that unfathomable. Like, I could do that. That's a realistic thing.
I love going to coffee shops in the morning, it's one of my favorite things. That feels very ritualistic to me. It feels very special and intentional, especially when you're getting a drink somewhere to drink it there, and designating time at a specific location without needing to rush. That feels really good to me. Plus, I love the way certain coffee shops present their drinks when you're staying "for here". That's one of my favorite things. Lauren: That's so cool.
Tim: On my ideal morning, I become conscious at 7:30 because I went to bed at 10:30.
Lauren: Okay. With an alarm or…
Tim: Au natural.
Tim: 7:30 wake-up, and we start breakfast, and the breakfast would be a breakfast sandwich, bacon, hash-brown, egg, a coffee… we have a little manual espresso machine, so we’d do that, and then as soon as we eat breakfast and clean, we’re magically ready to go, and then we drive somewhere outside.
Lauren: Gorgeous, beautiful.
Lauren: What’s an album recommendation for a great morning?
Lauren: I will!
Bennett: Jessica Pratt’s “This Time Around”. That’s a great morning record. Soft, subtle, she has such a beautiful voice. Really pleasant songwriting, it makes you feel very ethereal. I mean like early morning, I’m talking like 6 or 7am. And then around 8, you gotta pick it up.
Bennett’s other recommendations for your morning playlist:
Aldous Harding’s “Designer”
Cate Le Bon’s “Pompeii”
Kurt Vile’s “Walking On A Pretty Day”
Nick Drake’s “Five Leaves Left” and “Pink Moon”
Weyes Blood’s “Grapevine”
Thanks so much to Bennett, Taylor, and Tim for chatting about their mornings! For the best mornings, we recommend a cup of Makeworth coffee. Shop now!
