Sacred Grounds

This is my go-to coffee joint when I visit Tampa. It's a few minutes away from USF and conveniently located on Busch Boulevard (but it's easy to miss the strip it's in unless you're paying attention).

I started going here around 2004 or 2005, when I was an undergrad. The space is very GLBT friendly. There are open mic nights, scheduled musicians, and local meet-ups. I used to be a member of a knitting group that met here every week; the couches and chairs are very knitter friendly.

This is the kind of place where you sit down for the night with your drink and get to know people. I can understand why some reviewers were put off with this atmosphere; this is not the place to go if you want to recede into the background and become an anonymous fly on the wall. The drinks and food are expensive, but a lot of people settle down and spend a few hours socializing and listening to music, so in the end the quality of experience usually justified the cost for me.

I visit SG every time I'm in Florida, and after four years of living in New Orleans, I was happy a few months ago to see that it's business as usual. I caught up with old friends and enjoyed a speciality coffee milkshake.

I love this place. Great people and lots of couches.

Just tonight, I went here to attend (1) a radical mental health workshop (basically do-it-yourself group therapy in a style critical of, like, patriarchal bullshit and shit) and (2) a Bradley Manning Support Group organizing meeting for a demonstration we have planned in the morning. If you want to find cool people, accepting people, nice people, smart people, go here. They have a library, couches, and a stage, and this place has done so much for the local community and helped me find mine. It's too bad industrialized corporate universities like USF don't allow her to locate directly on campus but more people need to know about this place to keep it alive.

I happily spent the last few dollars in my bank account on a fancy coffee drink here. At first, the machine denied my card, so I checked my balance, and she adjusted the price for me, and even left me some change!

Karma owes Sacred Grounds, and its owner, Karen, big time! So, harness the spontaneous energy animating the universe, I think the Taoists call it Tzu-Jan, and allow yourself to facilitate some Karmic reciprocity! Sorry if that sounded a little abstract or hippi-dippiish ... but that place has that effect on me.

I came to Sacred Grounds with a friend on a cool Fall night to simply have a nice conversation with her and catch up. I walked in, and I definitely felt comfortable to do so within minutes of entering. It is very homey and small on the inside, but it was not too crowded and overwhelming. The mood inside was easy going and just fun to be around... For a laid back night, you can come inside and sit down on the comfortable couches and just gaze at all the cool things they have inside or listen to some local talent perform. Sacred Grounds is very hippy and casual, and it is ideal for anyone looking for something far from a headache and madness. Come and relax here and I guarantee you will find what you are looking for!

Locations like this appeal to me so much because they are just low key and quiet. I don't ask for much, so the simple coffee and local talent in the background is all necessary to make this a calming experience. You can tell that the locals are really pulled to this place because it is welcoming on all levels.

I am definitely a fan of Sacred Grounds and I love what they do!