Propagation

One Unilocaler described this as «a coffee shop with highly Instagrammable aesthetics and hipster sensibilities» and I would say this is 100% correct — in every negative context possible. It is aimed at local hipster types who clearly (as the owners have so eloquently pointed out) wouldn’t have the funds to afford the furniture they sell — their patrons are simply there to shill out $ 5 so they can take an image to post to the ‘gram. To be fair most of their customers probably didn’t even know what mid-​century furniture was until last year when this shop opened and their minds went crazy eyes all exploding with hearts and sh*t, bc white walls + wood + succulents… OMFG groundbreaking! *eye roll* This shop is catering to a group who is trying so desperately hard to be cool that they don’t even care about the subpar service or coffee. Why don’t they care? Because we all know going to another coffee shop wouldn’t be so grammable, and for these patrons it’s all about aesthetics of their overly curated social media presence.
I am a fan of the décor, but my interest stops there. The coffee has been mediocre despite having sourced their beans from «the best» places. On more than one occasion the drinks were made improperly to the point they weren’t even able to be consumed. Clearly they didn’t take the time to figure out how to best make the drinks before opening… which live and learn, that’s fine. It takes time to get a business perfected and running smoothly. I understand shops have a learning curve and that things need to be worked out, etc. What I don’t understand is the pretense. You’re selling COFFEE and a couple pieces of random furniture (maybe). The responses of these owners to other Unilocal reviews are hideous and down right embarrassing. This is a sad sad showing for Orlando small businesses. Better coffee and better vibes can be found at Vespr & Lineage.

Figured I would get my review in for the heck of it.
When this place first opened, I was dating a dude that worked at the bar, BART, in the same strip. Nothing on the owner’s part was done to meet the neighbors or build business relations. So there’s that.
I really wanted to love this place. I told people about the Mazagran, instagrammed it, asked about the furniture (which I can afford, but I will never give that much money to these people).
When they first opened I let them know that I do website design and Internet marketing for small businesses, they basically ignored me. That’s fine, I try not to poach places, but I genuinely would have loved a partnership with them to make them successful.
Now, gold-​toned everything, succulents, white walls, everything clean, mid-​century, and almost clinical, that is my jam. If I were to open a coffee shop, it would look like propagation with more seats and wifi. (I literally exclaimed «look at the fiddle-​leaf fig!» upon entering).
I don’t mind waiting for coffee. I don’t mind the weird hours, as I keep strange hours myself. I am writing this while wearing a beach-​stripe linen jumper made of pastels with a butterfly-​sleeve shirt on underneath, wearing my gold-​dipped Rose thorn necklace specially ordered from my favorite jeweler in Brooklyn. I am literally the ideal client. I am unapologetically the snobby second-​gen hipster that keeps kinfolk on the coffee table and gets excited to buy squash blossoms. And I felt weird, ignored, and alienated.
I’ll miss the coffee and the Instagram opportunities, but I won’t miss this place. We need more great coffee in Orlando, but we need people that want to be a part of this growing and vibrant community. Bring the Cali and NYC inspiration here, lord knows we need it, but don’t look at this community with disdain. Don’t think people don’t get what you’re trying to do. We do, we just don’t like being treated like trash.

I have been looking for a coffee spot since I’ve arrived in Orlando; this is it. I really love the minimal setup and open space. This is the perfect spot to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and not feel rushed. I love how they take their time brewing your drink instead of slapping something together. It’s definitely not a place for anyone who wants to do a grab-​and-​go.

Updated review: Hahahahahahahah! My prophecy came true! Only took three months!!! As my sincere appreciation to these fine people who were responsible for the most entertaining, gut-​wrenching, tear-​jerking, laugh-​out-​loud Unilocal page, I shall purchase all of their leftover furnitures, burn them, and dance around the fire in the nude! The fire rises! Come join me, everyone. No one shall interfere. With the furniture money you will receive, you can start another to-​be-​failed coffee shop so we can all be entertained by your admirable but mistaken attempt. Many people make mistakes when starting a business. But not as serious as yours, I fear. For disrespecting the fine people of Unilocal,your punishment could have been more severe. Tell me what hurts more from moving all the unsold furniture into the U-​Haul Storage. Your spirit? Or your body?!
Original: Rude staff. Mediocre coffee. Based on what I have seen, I am confident to say that this place will be closed within a year. Advice to the shop owners, it will cause more harm to your business to respond to the negative Unilocal reviews and make pompous and vindictive statements (but I’m secretly hoping that you will reply). It’s too late to make up for it now. When your shop closes down, you can learn from your immature mistakes and bad decisions and find success in your next venture. Good luck to you!

A friend of mine took me here about a week ago for an afternoon, artisanal cup of java.
Now don’t get me wrong, I normally can «vibe» with the best of them at «hip» places around town, but it’s pretty hard to «vibe» with a «hip» place, when this place’s «vibe» was as non-​existent as the presence of a male role model in my life.
Propagation is absolutely immaculate and pristine; I have to give it up to the owners for that. Such a shame though for a place to be so painstakingly put-​together, yet so cold and dead.
Their coffee/​lemonade drink that they make however (the name of which presently escapes me) was very interesting and tasty and I find myself wanting to return to try it again once more before they close down.
I can’t remember if the guy working the counter was nice (from the pictures on here I’ve seen of him, I don’t think it was the owner, Travis), but I guess that just means that his customer service was, in the words of my ex after our «first time»:
«more-​or-​less forgettable.»
—–
SIDE NOTE: They had a pretty good playlist of music playing.

I love third wave coffee shops like Vespr, Lineage, Downtown Credo. Propagation falls into that category, and after several visits, I just think it’s simply not that great of a coffee shop.
First and foremost, the coffee is pretty good, and prices are a little high but not ridiculously so. I’ve never bad service from the staff, so that’s a plus.
On the downside, the actual shop itself is just weird. They say they’re a coffee shop and a furniture store. OK. For such a large, open, and bright space, there’s basically nothing in it. You have maybe a 5 or six tables with enough seats for 15. I guess that’s not really a problem since this place is usually pretty empty. There’s no wi-​fi, so no one is just chilling doing work.
And you can count the number of furniture pieces for sale on two hands. Why so much space, and nothing inside? There’s minimalist, then there’s plain empty.
I just read this place is closing this month, and I don’t think they will be greatly missed.

The only reason this shop resembles anything good is because they use Lineage beans. Other than that, the aesthetic is obviously just pleasing a very surface-​level hipster crowd (nothing against hipsters, it’s just apparent what Propagation was trying to go for).
Stay away from this shop at all costs, ESPECIALLY if you’re just browsing for furniture. They take chairs and tables very seriously, pricing some in ranges I can buy a whole room of furniture for. And they talk a lot about their clientele in New York and California; how about you focus on the city you’re in rather than trying to please cities on opposite sides of the country as Orlando? If you’re not going to focus on Orlando, get out of Orlando and live closer to your precious Californian clientele.
Travis and Brittany, get a grip. You have a nice space in Orlando that many other businesses would love to use, but use it with Orlando in mind. Stop attacking others just because they don’t agree whole-​heartedly with your business idea – it’s immature and portrays the experience in business-​owning that you guys clearly lack.
Update:
It’s fun to make you guys angry. I was hoping for a better response, but that’ll do. THANK GOD THE COFFEE PART IS CLOSING! I see you guys aren’t making enough money from your Californian clientele to keep buying coffee beans. Congrats!
Undated update:
You guys take critique really well. Instead of insisting on making your customers feel welcome, you push them away with rude comments. You better start bowing down to customers besides the upper-​middle class of California. And it’s funny how you assume I don’t own a business, making it obvious that you guys think you’re powerful because you own a business. Have a nice life.

On a hot and humid Sunday I walked by the succulent filled window of this establishment. Upon entering I found a quiet and open atmosphere. The owners obviously have an eye for decoration.
I ordered what I remember to be the Makarato, a sweetened espresso beverage, put on ice, shaken, and strained. Placed in a serene glass, the Makarato was refreshing and simply delicious.

Fantastic ambiance, coffee, tea, and staff. They made excellent use of some reclaimed furniture. The thing that impressed me the most was the fact that they took international trips to study places that served coffee and tea to develop their own unique recipes. Staff is very laid back which compliments their brand.

Small size, big price. Decent taste
Pretty basic. Could be better. Could be worse.

I write this review more in sorrow than in anger, and at my own apparent and obvious peril. I wrote them an email in an attempt to secure something resembling a «maybe we shouldn’t be hitting send so quickly, because we have so many emotions when people don’t Absolutely Love Us» type apology, but got nothing. So… public airing of grievance: commence!
My wife left a 3-​star review explaining some positives (friendly barista, pleasant space, coffee price reasonable) and some drawbacks of this place (hours don’t make sense for time required to enjoy painstakingly slow beverage production, prices of furniture make real people shopping largely out of the question) after we went there with two other people around 12:40 one day last week. We didn’t get out with our 4 beverages until around 1:15. Our barista was funny and personable, coffee was solid but not worth the wait. My black coffee tasted like every black coffee I’ve had at a place using good beans, but I do better on my own at my house. I didn’t think enough of it either way at the time.
Anyway.her review was accurate, even-​handed, both positives and drawbacks noted, and suggested things that would make experience better as a customer, and based on two times she’d been in. Basically, she did what Unilocal exists to do: inform other would-​be customers of customer experience, communicate those experiences to businesses so that they can be informed of customer input, make changes if they wish, ignore them if they want. Everyone is supposed to win. Yay, Internet! Informed consumer/​conscious business person relations are the best!
Then came the response. Instead of the usual «thanks for your time in writing your thoughts, hope we can do better next time, here’s a coupon for one lavender flower» or, I don’t know, just ignoring it entirely, what happened was the most inappropriate response from a business owner I have ever had the sincere displeasure of reading, including everything from sarcastically insulting the wife’s Unilocal elite status to pretentiously listing satisfied customers in «California and Née York» as a reason for not giving a sh** that you can’t afford our furniture. Factual statements about an actual customer experience from a real life customer got a response from the owner which I can only describe as reminiscent of comment trolls on the Internet. It was a reaction both excessive and kinda crazy, which offended me far more than my own 3ish star experience of actually going to their store. (If there were categories, I’d give 5 stars to individual barista, 3 to the coffee, one to the 35-​odd minutes of time I had to wait before I could leave, –20 for owner-​customer service relations).
Anyway, the owners’ consistent, extremely aggressive, prickly, and mean-​spirited tirades written in response to any criticism are so outlandish and inappropriate to the point of suggesting comedy, leaving me feeling like I’m at the receiving end of some sort of meta-​comedy project, sort of like that time Joaquin Phoenix faked being crazy for a year or so just to make a movie with Casey Afleck.
Sadly, I think this is really who they are and what they are about. And either way it’s customer-​as-​victim. At the end of the day, with Propagation, You either are with them fully, or you’re an *expletive* who must be dealt with harshly, quickly, and publicly. There is no middle of the road, and apparently no room for an honest review without bitter, failed New Yorker writer level angst being directed your way. It’s a zero-​sum game.
Look, I respect a business owner for trying to create something new in a sea of strip malls and hollowed out suburban shopping malls. Orlando could do with many (many many) more independent coffee roasters and shops, amongst other businesses. I’ve lived in cites half this size with three times the coffee options. My life gets better every time a new business that isn’t Starbucks or Dunkin doughnuts opens up and sells black coffee I can actually drink without having to dose it with sugar or cream to make it palatable. Propagation is attempting to create a space for a product (maybe products) they clearly believe in and with an aesthetic of which I believe they should be proud. Would that they could just focus on doing that instead of sarcastically lashing out at customers who have the temerity to weigh in with their experience honestly.
Really, this place should be renamed «Polarization.» You’re with them or against them. Cause with them, there is no middle ground. For me, after reading the most insulting and hateful response to a mild and genuine review, admittedly by someone I’m rather fond of, I’ve determined to be against them.
Don’t worry, as they’ll happily point out, they’re clearly satisfying customers in «California and New York» with their very expensive resale furniture business. So the 4 $ cup of coffee I rate at 3 stars? They could care less. They don’t need my business. And they’re happy to say so.

I want to love this place. I really do.
The coffee is good quality. Better than good, really, but it seems like everything takes a long time to make. Prepare to wait 7 minutes for a blackberry tea lemonade.
I’ve been in twice now. Once, the employee was super nice and friendly. The other time, they were unfriendly and standoffish and better than me.
The few pieces of furniture for sale that they have are so massively expensive, you shouldn’t bother looking for mid cent mod stuff here unless you are like Tesla and Lake Highland loaded. They sell flowers, but they’re also expensive and semi-​dry. Weird.
It could be improved by better hours, more stuff for sale and to look at, and a warmer ambience. It’s like an expensive, slow, Grey Gardens/​Starbucks that is not open when you’d want to get coffee. Open up earlier, if you’re just gonna sell coffee and tea. Stay open later, if you want people to hang out here. Opening at 12 on a Sunday? It’s like this place is someone’s hobby. A hobby with a lot of potential, but that’s missing the mark.

A coffee shop with highly Instagrammable aesthetics and hipster sensibilities. Come for a latte and pastry but linger and take a few stylish and minimalist snapshots while you’re enjoying it. The space works well as a place to catch up with friends but probably less so to do work (no wifi, etc).
It’s also a furniture store, but I would guess that most of the furniture is not sold locally and rather merely is on display here before it’s sold to West Coast customers via their Etsy store, given the price points — but they had some well-​known mid century pieces like a Broyhill Saga buffet and Lane Acclaim coffee table, among others, that were pretty to look at.

This is in response to Travis and Brittany’s response, to my Unilocal review.
Do you both think it’s wise to write scathing replies to almost anyone who doesn’t like your coffee shop? Keep in mind (an open mind) that there are thousands of coffee shops in the U.S. With that being said, you should realize that Propagation is not and simply cannot be the best, and that should be entirely okay with any humble business owner. So, take a breath, and turn all of your negative energies towards those who do not like your coffee shop into positive energies towards those who are loyal to your shop. For instance, start replying to the positive reviews. being bitter is not a good business move.
Just one more thing, you practically proclaimed that your chai is «top notch». I still contend this as being true. You should know that chai originates from India. Therefore, it is safe to say that anyone who claims yours as the best would change their mind after having chai (masala tea) from an Indian restaurant, which there are plenty of out there in Orlando.

I have been working my way through the to 25 coffee places mentioned in the Orlando Weekly. Propagation was next on the list so I headed over to check them out.
I walked in and saw a sofa to the left that had signs on it and thought it was just cleaned and thought nothing of it. It turns out that the piece is for sale. If I am going to buy a piece of furniture, I would prefer to try it out. That was a huge turn off right there. Not letting clients try out the furniture they might wish to purchase is like asking someone to buy a car and not letting them drive it.
Behind me were some small tables if you wanted some coffee and some chairs. I am a big guy and those chairs did not look sturdy enough to contend with a guy that is 6’3 and close to 300 pounds. The killer was the fact that they do not have WIFI for the guests.
I would have to classify this place as a furniture store that just happens to offer coffee and I don’t really consider it as a «True» coffee shop. Knowing that they source their coffee from Lineage, I just chose to go to Lineage and get my coffee there. I would expect the coffee at Propagation to be good but I came out to have some coffee and get some work done outside of the office and not to go drink coffee as I shop for furniture…
Propagation seems to have a bit of an identity crisis from my perspective. This is the first place I have visited that I would have to say did not deserve to be on the list the Orlando Weekly put out in my opinion.

5 stars for quality coffee in a beautiful space. Propagation is as local and homegrown as it gets. The owners have put a lot of love into restoring the space and making it a truly beautiful place to shop and have a cup of coffee.
First, the space– The shop is full of mid-​century furniture, most of which is for sale. They turn things over and bring new pieces into the shop, so it could look different on your next visit. The shop has the great light streaming in through the front windows which is perfect for all the lush house plants like fiddle figs and ferns and makes it an instagrammer’s paradise. Look at their Instagram and you’ll see what I mean. Gorgeous. Their minimalistic Halloween and Christmas decorations have been really neat as well.
Second, the coffee– come expecting to try something you’ve never heard of before. Although they have your standard lattes and cold brew, they have things like mazagran, café tonic, or affogato. They use Lineage Coffee beans which means anything you order will be high quality.
Come here for a meeting over coffee (if you’re OK with no WiFi), for an afternoon treat with a friend who appreciates local businesses in Orlando, or if you’re trying to find that perfect Instagram shot.

I finally checked out Propagation & understand what all the buzz is about, this place is awesome! The staff is friendly, willing to answer any question you may have about their small but great coffee/​drink menu. I got the cappuccino which was not only beautiful to look at (cool design on top of the cup) but delicious. By far my favorite thing about Propagation is the ambiance — it’s really open, plenty of natural light, clean, featuring really cool retro furniture. I love that Orlando is growing & getting places like these in it.
This place gets four stars instead of five only because they open kind of late — I wish they opened earlier. Other than that, great. Coffee lovers rejoice because Propagation is legit!

After following this place on Instagram, I had to check it out for myself. The coffee was delicious! I got a Shakerato which is a mix of espresso, sugar, milk, and ice all shaken up and served in a glass. My friend got a latte which had a very smooth flavor. They serve Lineage coffee, so you knew that it was fresh, delicious, and local.
The décor was gorgeous. I really loved the minimalism with the furniture and succulents. The open spaces and natural lighting offered a great study and gathering space while the cozy back nooks offered a more relaxing place to sit.
I give this place four stars. There is ample parking, delicious coffee, and is overall a great space. The only downsides are the lack of outlets, small tables, and no wifi. If you are planning on studying here, make sure to pack light and have everything charged. It is a spectacular space to read and engage in conversation, but if you need to do work, come prepared!

This place is exactly what Mills needed!
By keeping the décor of the large open space so minimalist, it feels bright and airy inside. It feels like someone took a living room from the 60s/​70s and modernized it, with lots of wood, gold tones and unique succulents on each table. Even better, if you see something you really like it’s probably for sale because the space doubles as the owner’s Etsy shop. The rotating furniture will make it a fun adventure each time you go in! The menu is small but includes all your typical variations of espresso and coffee and each one is made with a lot of care. I had a flat white that was delish! Right now they are using lavazza coffee beans but the owner hinted he had some surprises up his sleeve about upgrading the coffee in the near future.
We spent some time talking to the owner and he is super down to earth and seems to have found the prefect way to combine his passions in life!

5 Stars based on the soft opening because it’s family-​owned, they’re lovely people, and the coffee/​atmosphere is exactly what Mills 50 needed!
I was heading to Yum-​mi and imagine my surprise when I saw that the same spot that was covered and closed yesterday has emerged into a spacious, serene coffee spot where a local little 6 yr girl (she says she’s the owner/​boss if you’re looking to speak to management) skips around beautiful, minimal mid-​century modern furniture (most of which is also for sale).
I had a chance to chat with the owner, Brittany, about the shop and learned a bunch. First– it’s a family effort. She and her fella have put many many hours into making the space into the kind of spot you’d find highlighted in a Kinfolk magazine (or Trouvé, which they have at their coffee table).
They previously managed an etsy shop selling the signature 50s era furniture and now you get to sip some coffee while feeling straight out of an episode of Mad Men. White painted brick walls and stained concrete are a perfect backdrop for the minimal furniture.
I ordered a cup of the Viennoise (pronounced Venwahhh, I believe). It is much like a cappuccino but with a dollop of whipped crème on top. The cup was a thing of beauty– glass with a metal handle– and the drink needed no additional sugar.
I had a quick meeting here, which was easy given the amount of space, and chatted a bit with the lovely shop daughter (aka boss-​lady) and couldn’t help feeling that this would be a place that I spend a lot of my time in the future.
And best of all– they plan to stay open until 10pm on most nights.
A welcome and highly anticipated addition to the Mills 50 District!