Comox Valley Coffees #1
A monthly behind-the-scenes look at our quest to facilitate 1,000 Coffee & Conversations across the Comox Valley and all the delight, surprises, stories, friendships, and serendipity that emerge along the way.
If you're new here, here's the idea:
Locals sign up. they answer a series of thoughtful questions. We match locals who don't know each other (but probably should) for one-on-one Coffee & Conversations at a local coffee shop of their choice.
You answer a series of thoughtful questions, we introduce you to 10 carefully matched strangers over time, and you simply show up for coffee and conversation.
If you'd like to join the experiment, get on the waitlist at comoxcoffees.world. We'd love to introduce you to 10 really cool people from the valley that we think you would enjoy.
Before we begin, we have a very special announcement.
Yesterday, on the Summer Solstice, we officially crossed 100 Coffee & Conversations completed in just 22 days. ☀️☕
In less than three weeks, 100 locals (people who likely never would have met otherwise) sat down together at one of their shared favourite local coffee shops to share a conversation over coffee, tea (and soon... beer).
We're honestly a little blown away.
When we launched this experiment, we genuinely had no idea what would happen.
Since then:
🤝 264 matches have been made.
💬 1,318 messages have been exchanged.
☕ 200 locals have met at one of 8 independent coffee shops.
👽 At least one conversation lasted 4.5 hours and covered consciousness, life transformations... and aliens.
Along the way, something unexpected started happening.
Your reflections began pouring in. Photos started arriving. Stories of surprising connections, unexpected friendships, career advice, personal breakthroughs, and fascinating conversations kept landing in our inbox.
It quickly became obvious that what was happening wasn't just interesting to the people having the coffees, it was something worth documenting.
So... we decided to do something about it.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Comox Valley Connections.
Each month, we'll pull back the curtain and share what we're seeing as a community gets to know itself one coffee, one conversation, and one stranger at a time.
Here's what you can expect:
...and all the unexpected delight, serendipity, and wonderfully human moments that emerge along the way.
Join the waitlist to get matched with 10 interesting Comox Valley locals for coffee & conversation.
Join the waitlistThe Numbers
Stories
We reviewed a few of the coffee reflections submitted so far and wanted to share a few of the themes that started emerging.
When asked what they talked about during their coffees, these were some of the most common responses:
When asked how their coffee companion made them feel, these were the most common responses:
Here were the spots where the most coffees happened this month:
Not that this is a competition in anyway... just sharing for fun. I mean it's been 22 days and most people have already gone for 2 coffees and some have already done 5! We love it.
Matches
One of our favourite parts of this project is seeing the combinations of matches that emerge. Here are some of the matches we've made this month:
Favourite Coffee Reflections
After every coffee, we ask both locals to reflect. Here are some of our favourite answers to "Tell us about your match".
Photos
We received 4 photos so far. And now we forever want to ask you all to take and send us photos. Not only do they make our hearts melt, they help us celebrate the incredible humans participating in this little social experiment and tell the story of the Valley meeting itself. Look at those SMILES!
Product Updates
First off, thank you.
Launching a project that uses technology to connect hundreds of strangers for meaningful conversations is equal parts exciting, inspiring, and occasionally chaotic.
Every bug report, suggestion, question, and observation has helped us improve the experience for everyone.
You found them. We fixed them.
From login issues to reflection glitches to a few unexpected quirks in the matching process and sending emails, your feedback has helped us make the platform more stable, reliable, and easier to use.
Please keep the feedback coming. You're helping us build this in real time and we are doing our best to make it perfect for you, while staying under budget.
One thing we learned quickly: many of you wanted to move faster. And many of you have wildly busy lives.
In the past few weeks alone we've had participants travelling through Italy, trekking through Mongolia, finishing PhDs, launching businesses, and generally refusing to sit still.
While some participants are happily pacing themselves, others seem determined to complete a year's worth of coffees before summer is over.
We originally released one match at a time, but we've since unlocked additional matches so most participants now have multiple conversations in motion at once.
No rush. No pressure. Just more flexibility.
This one came directly from participant feedback.
While many people love magic links, others wanted a more traditional way to log in.
Good news: passwords are now live.
To set one up, simply log in, click your profile photo in the top-right corner, and you'll see a "Set/Add Password" button.
A small feature, but one that should make getting into the platform a whole lot easier.
Coffee is great. But variety is also great.
Next month we'll be adding five new conversation locations, giving everyone even more places to meet, chat, and accidentally spend three hours talking to a stranger.
We'll reveal the new locations in our next update.
And yes... we still have a few more ideas up our sleeve.
This project is evolving every week, and we're excited to keep building it together.
Closing Thoughts
One thing we've been reflecting on a lot these past two weeks is just how powerful it is to simply make time for one another. We know it's not always convenient to schedule a coffee with a stranger. We know not every conversation will turn into a 4.5-hour discussion about consciousness and aliens. And we know not every match will become a lifelong friendship.
But maybe that's not the point.
Maybe the point is that, for an hour, two people who otherwise would have remained strangers choose to sit down, listen, share a story, and see one another.
Maybe the point is becoming a little more curious. A little more open. A little more understanding of the lives unfolding all around us.
And to think we are only 100 coffees in and have 900 to go. How fun.
Keep it up everyone, this ritual is more powerful than we all know.
Share the waitlist with a friend and help us build the most connected community in Canada.
Share the waitlist
