I just wrote a letter to a friend of mine who will be visiting Boston this weekend and is looking for a nice coffeeshop to do freelance work from. I thought for a bit, wrote up a quick summary, and think it might be of interest to other Bostonians. Add to my list-- where's a nice place to sit down, sip tea/coffee, maybe get online for cheap/free, and work for a few hours? The requested analogue, fellow NYC residents, was the Tea Lounge.

My favorite place downtown is the Trident Booksellers and Café, which is on Newbury Street a few blocks 'in' from Massachusetts Ave. That makes it a bit far out if you're really 'downtown', but several subway lines and several bus lines go along Mass Ave there. The food at the Trident is a bit expensive, but it's a great place with a bookstore attached to the café, it's locally owned, and they really don't mind you sitting down to several hours of work with a tea or coffee.

Further in toward the Common, also on Mass Ave, is Tealuxe, (mutual friend) S_m_r_'s second-favorite place after the Trident. There's another Tealuxe up in Harvard Sq. I'm not as fond of Tealuxe because it's smaller and they tend to push people along if they can. It's just not as nice a place to sit and work, but you can and they've got a great (the best?) selection of teas.

If you're down in Jamaica Plain, which I would highly recommend, I like JP Licks, on Centre St. about a 5 minute walk from the Green St. T station. They've got booth-tables where you can camp out and spread out, and the folks there are often fun.

Also in JP, further down toward "the Monument" and the Arnold Arboretum, is Emack & Bolio's, a local chain like JP Licks. More like the Tea Lounge, but like JP Licks, ice cream-based.

If you're up in Cambridge, I found several places. Algiers, in Harvard Square, is an odd two-story place that tries to be an arabic coffee shop. They're fun despite that, and they have great mint coffee.

Cezanne is a nice place about halfway between Central Sq. (2nd Cambridge stop on the Red line) and MIT/Kendall Sq. (1st Cambridge stop). That puts it in the middle of nowhere for most short-term visitors, but it's a nice place to work for a few hours and I've done so several times.