However it happens be it through work or habit, for some of us our internal clock has shifted, settling into the same waking hours as a nightbird. Somewhere in the string of nights that have made up our lives more than the days, when distant mountains beckoned through bedroom windows at dusk, there was a need to keep the muse awake and whispering. Coffee or tea were sought, or were they instead a gift shared by that sable-haired dream over a polished hardwood table, enchanting you to stay?

But as it goes with the sameness of that bedroom, kitchen, or office window, eventually a change of locale is needed. While our city has plenty of late spaces, there are not so many for us who have dispensed with the restlessness of youth; we who are soundly children of the setting sun. For those in search of a place to drink a cup of coffee and write, or catch up on work in a pleasant setting, I present the Nightbird’s Coffeehouse List: (ranked in no order)

Weekend Crunch

There are plenty of coffee and tea spots around, but none that are open so late as ‘Sozo Coffeehouse.’ Friday and Saturday boast a midnight closing time; the rest of the week closes at a solid 10:00 pm (but Tuesday is treated like the middle child, and is given a 6:00 pm end). Inside the locale is separated into three distinct sections: the first in which one would enter, is the game side, with pool tables, a board game corner, and the bar. Lit well, it is rather inviting if busy looking. Through old brick doorways is the second section with a bevy of small tables, a stage, and a few couches in a corner. This section for catching up on work or writing out the lamentations of the broken soul is unfortunately the most poorly lit area; the tables come with a lamp to compensate. The third area is neat, as there are a few rooms with couches in them that you can rent for cheap (a few or so bucks for an hour).

It is a great place if your only criterion is a place open until midnight, however, one might find it particularly loud when it gets busier, as well as seeming to pull rambunctious teens in. There are plenty of activity clubs and weekly events hosted there to its credit – it often seems like a happy place of community. However, between the poorly lit bathroom and the dim writing section, I would not suggest Sozo first, except when the need arises for squeezing in the late hours that you can’t find anywhere else, then it does just fine. On reflection, I believe it would be the sort of place teen me would bring girls-that-would-be-muses.

Date-Night

‘Bad Seed Coffee and Supply’ in Dundee has the slogan, “Now pouring Omaha’s Baddest Coffee.” The first time I went in, I almost expected some women with heavy eyeliner, all the right issues, and some sweet punk attire, but I was met instead with a quaint coffee shop that is attached to a cute cat cafe. (Felius Cat-Cafe and Rescue, where you can play with cats. How cool is that?) On Friday and Saturday, Bad Seed in Dundee is open until an admirable 8 pm. It has a midtown location too, but its hours are not suited to nightbirds.

While the interior is smaller, the lighting is better than Sozo’s, and parking is right across the street, plentiful, and free. It is also quieter and has a small bit of seating outside from which a person could watch the nightlife in Dundee, or during the day, look at the nearest street’s long line of towering oak trees that run south through the neighborhood. It seems a grand place to take a muse: first to play with cats, then coffee after with a good conversation where, with practiced smiles, she drags out the secrets of your soul. After, as it closes and the Baddies behind the bar shoo you both out, you could win the truth to your hopeful muse’s smiles during a walk just outside through the neighborhood, under those towering oak trees, along a good sidewalk, and through the banner of moonbeams filtered through high branches.

For Downtown Access

‘Hardy Coffee Company’ downtown makes the Nightbird list for being open until 7:00 pm every day of the week except Monday. Inside, it has that 2010s college aesthetic with hanging light bulbs and a polished concrete floor. It is rather spacious with a somewhat bright, airy feeling. Seating is good, but perhaps underused; there is certainly space for -several more tables, which gives the coffee shop the look of an architect's image of what the inside should look like.

Credit where it's due: Hardy Coffee does have easy and quick access to the bustling nightlife of downtown Omaha. One store over and just across the street to the west is an Omaha art museum (KANEKO: Creativity Library), which could serve as the primary location of a date. Afterwards, Hardy Coffee would be a clean and well-lit location from which opinions about the finger painting of those tortured souls could be discussed or argued until sunset; after, a walk into the Old Market to crowds and street performers.

A Movie Setting

‘The Mill’ is the kind of place that you’d see in a Hallmark movie: fifteen-foot-tall windows that let in an abundance of light during the day, light that warms a grand bookcase and wooden floors. In this movie, you’d be at the wooden bar they have inside – but you’re a nightbird, and this is a Hallmark film, so it's late and downpouring against the glass. And maybe impatiently – nervously – you’d wait for your muse while drinking coffee or alcohol.

I don’t know if she’ll end up coming though, you’ll have to tell me later.

As a coffee shop, it does very well for itself. There is plenty of seating; however, most of the tables are really small, so once it gets busy, it is not the ‘best’ place to work (but it is certainly suitable). And while the bar is one of the best-looking in Omaha and exceptionally well-lit, laptops and other writing devices and such are not allowed on it. Just outside, there is a wonderful seating area that is half-roofed, so even in the rain, you can write away into the night. It, like Sozo, is open until 10:00 pm every day (but does not hit midnight, unlike Sozo).

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (Thanks, Hemingway)

Some people might have heard of the ‘Myrtle & Cypress Coffeehouse’ at North 33rd. They work out of a cute little house, but close up too early for people like me. However, many haven't heard of their other coffeehouse located inside of the Omaha Music Conservatory right near 72nd and Dodge (the last hour or so of it being open has particularly low traffic). That one closes at 8:30 (though the building itself closes at 9:00 pm).

Where Sozo has community elements, so does this one. Every Wednesday, there is an open ‘Go’ club that anyone can attend, of any skill level (it’s that board game with the little white and black pieces), as well as a section with children's toys where Children can entertain themselves. Thankfully, to those of us who like the silences of the night, kids have an earlier bedtime than we do.

If Bad Seed is the best date spot, Sozo is the best crunch-time spot on the weekends, The Mill serves alcohol but has coffee shop vibes, then Myrtle & Cypress is the best place to get work done, and to write. The tables are all spacious, it is the most “Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” among night owl spots, as well as the least well-known. It would be remiss of me to write about Myrtle & Cypress without noting just how hospitable and polite the staff are.

~A Sunbird’s Spot~

If it so happens that you have burnt away all the hours of the night, your fingers bleeding from trying to explain on paper how simple it is for a woman to carve away your heart with but her eyes – and lo, the sun rises. Then I would recommend starting your day at Archetype Coffee Little Bohemia, which opens at 7:00 am. Man, do they have great coffee and great eggs (like, really, good eggs). Isaiah Sheese, the owner of ‘Archetype Coffee’, won the U.S. Coffee championships in 2023 and went on to take fourth place in the World Barista Championships.

To the moon chasers: May those of you who seek to ride the midnight winds to the next moonlit tomorrow find safe, and clean well-lit places full of good company and better coffee.

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.