Ah, cafe life. Hours whiled away over a steaming mug, penning your novel in a setting as original and romantic as your main character.

Yeah, right. These days, it’s more like run into closest chain, wait in line for twenty minutes, pay $5 for a bitter cup that you gulp on the way out (the tables are all full, anyway).

Slow it down for a change at Kookoo Cafe, which just opened in Brookline Village. Grab a seat and soak up the artistic, old-world feel. Owners Ali and Elie Mohajerani (who also own Inner Space Yoga next door) have renovated and decorated with 200-year-old chairs and ceramic vases made at a nearby pottery studio.

The food is just as distinctive. A simple and delicious menu of authentic Middle Eastern and Persian wrap sandwiches (don’t miss the Grumpy Grapeleaf) also includes homemade soups and just-baked pastries.

Of course, you could also simply linger over a cup of high-octane joe, made by Boston’s long-lost (and much-loved) Coffee Connection.

So even while slowing down, you can speed it up.

Kookoo Cafe, 7 Station Street, Brookline Village (617-730-5525).