On a cool, foggy morning, classical music spills from the speakers at the downtown Peet's coffee house. Inside, the mood is warm, inviting and comfortably crowded, if there is such a thing. At one table, UC Davis students sit in studied concentration; at another, committee members talk out their plans for an upcoming civic fundraiser, jotting notes on legal pads. A mothers' group sits nearby, toddlers in tow. Their jogging strollers stand at the ready - but no one appears to be on the verge of leaving. In fact, everybody in the store is enjoying a nice, long visit.

Whoa: Is this a coffee house or an extended public office space? Increasingly, for the java dispensaries around Davis, it seems that the answer is: Both.

"I think people focus better on projects here," says Darren Gelsi, 23, a barista who works at the Peet's Coffee & Tea location at the Marketplace shopping center and, in four years of pouring caffeinated and decaf drinks, has seen his share of long-term visitors.