As working environments go coffee shops (and indeed most public spaces) are generally pretty dire. They can be noisy with interruptions and the physical set up

As working environments go coffee shops (and indeed most public spaces) are generally pretty dire. They can be noisy with interruptions and the physical set up isn't well suited to work (bad chairs, tables not at a great height, limited space) - in short most of the things programmers will (rightly) complain about in a bad open plan office environment. It's nice to get out and go somewhere different once in a while but to me unless you're going to spend money on getting a private room somewhere (be in a hotel, a rented house or whatever), they're not places to get anything serious done, they're more about having a break and a change of scenery.