The Pannikin twins.

^{Photo by David Coddon}

Relax. That coffee or tea you’re drinking at Pannikin on downtown's G Street isn’t making you see double.

The owners are twin sisters from Newcastle, England: Vivienne and Verena Garnett. Theirs is no ordinary coffeehouse, either.

You will find coffee and tea here, of course. More varieties than you can count. But the Garnett sisters’ Pannikin Coffee and Tea is an eye-popping emporium stocked square inch to square inch with the likes of textiles from India, African masks, Mexican folk art and clothing, accessories, furniture, pottery, toys and candies from countries the world over that produce fine coffees and teas. You walk in and you hear world music playing, something you’ve never heard before. You’re transported far from the heart of downtown San Diego.

Here, you come in for a hot beverage. You stay for browsing, and just possibly buying.

The Garnett sisters, who came to the U.S. in the mid '80s, worked at this Pannikin store before seizing an opportunity to buy it themselves in 1999.

“It was just (a case of) job security at the time,” says Vivienne, the younger of the twin sibs. Admitted her sister, Verena: “We wondered if we could make it.”

But here they are, 11 years later, with a steady business comprised of locals, business people in the neighborhood and some tourists. About one-third of their business is selling beverages, one- third packaged coffees and teas, and one-third the store’s eclectic merchandise.

It’s the latter – coloring books to Day of the Dead figures, exotic chocolates, paper lanterns - that really sets the Garnetts’ establishment apart from all the franchise coffee spots downtown.

“We don’t see them as competition,” says Verena. “They sell similar products, but – do they sell African masks? No. Do they sell furniture? No. We believe we’re unique in that respect. They all sell tea and coffee, but that’s where the similarity ends.”

The Garnetts’ storefront window pokes a little fun at the competition. Plastic figures reminiscent of the hysterical masses fleeing rampaging Godzilla in one of those classically kitschy movies are arranged in the window, fleeing a different beast, represented by a Starbucks cup or a mug from the Zanzibar Café a block up the street.

It’s all in good fun, though. The Garnetts share a hearty chuckle about it, even if their neighbors in retail are unamused.

Why do folks flock to Pannikin?

“We have a really good product,” said Vivienne.

“They come for our charm,” winks Verena.

Truth be told, it’s a little of both.

Pannikin Coffee & Tea, 675 G Street, San Diego, CA 92101, (619) 239-7891.