My first coffeehouse visit in a long time, that’s what this is. Needless to say, the holidays are a busy time, and between Thanksgiving and Christmas, these past two months have been downright harrowing. I was lucky enough to get a whole week off of work this past week for Christmas, and so I decided to go on a few adventures of my own, in between visiting relatives and all that. I was on the trail of a new investment opportunity in Lancaster, so on the way I decided to see if there were any new cafes in the area that I hadn’t been to yet. I found this one in Elizabethtown.
Now, one must understand Elizabethtown first. This is one of the many small towns in Central PA which managed to ride out the recession with aplomb and join in the new “urban renaissance” taking place in a lot of large towns and small cities in the area. Communities are investing more and more in the arts and the local environment where possible, and Elizabethtown seems to be one of these. Just to show you how well-run the place is, it only costs 10 cents for two whole hours of parking. Contrast this to Harrisburg where it costs 75 cents for 15 minutes. Yeah, I bet they’re not half a billion dollars in debt either. I could rant on, but I’ll save that for a possible future political blog.
Anyhow, I found this place called Folklore Coffee. Cute name, and one that made me immediately think of literature, storytelling, and the arts in general…which is exactly what this place seems to welcome! Like a lot of local cafes, they have events sometimes on the weekends, which includes the music of local musicians. The artwork on the walls is local too. In fact, the interior is a really gorgeous space, with more than enough room for a band to play, and plenty of little nooks and crannies to secret yourself away into while you read. It seems they agree with my opinion that an effective coffeehouse pretty much has to have these sorts of things; there must be more to a coffeehouse than coffee. Coffee is just the fuel for the art. But again I digress.
I asked for their house blend. They told me that it’s usually a mix of Ethiopian, Brazilian, and New Guinea coffees, but that they were all out for now. I chose the Mexican instead. A really nice, smooth, slightly bitter-in-a-good-way coffee. It felt like a medium roast; a nice thing for a morning after breakfast. The only snafu to the experience was my soymilk which granulated when it hit the coffee. Fun fact: that happens when either the coffee is more acidic than average, or the coffee is very hot compared to the soy. Well, the girl at the counter was very nice about getting me a new coffee free of charge (to which I added normal milk and had no problem). It more than sustained me for the morning trip down to Lancaster.
All in all, this is another wonderful place that doesn’t get enough publicity. Well, here’s some for free. You never hear about the Elizabethtown art scene, but I really think that it bears looking into further. This is a place with a lot of potential, and could clearly become a local artistic hub. Visit it.
The exterior.
The interior.
A bar in a coffeehouse? Wha?
Nice pottery.
Books.
The Coffeehouse Journey 