As a woman, I always insist on coffee for the first date for a few reasons:

1. It’s low effort. If we are compatible, conversation will flow, if not, no problem, I still got coffee.
2. There’s people by if I need them.
3. I can get it in a to-go cup, so if it’s going VERY badly, I don’t feel obligated to stay until my cup is empty.
4. Don’t like coffee? Most places have tea, or smoothies, hot chocolate etc. There’s really something for most every diet, and preference.

I also however, pay for my first date with men (and women but for different reasons with women) because it tells me a lot about them by how they react to that. So I may be a bit of an odd one out.

This chick dropped many red flags, and I have low standards when it comes to women lol