Now *that* was a fast summer. I bet a lot of you who read this were wondering just what happened to my posts. Is this another blog that just suddenly died a slow death and didn’t let anyone know? Did the coffeehouse guy choke on a latte and everyone missed the funeral? Did the reality quakes accompanying the blood moon erase me from existence? The last one is probably closest to the truth but no, I’m still here, remembering the Berenstein universe with the rest of you. And finally getting away for the weekend to go on a coffee run.
This last trip was actually a bit of a side-quest like the run to Shippensburg I did earlier this year. I was headed up to Sunbury this past weekend for a family reunion, so as a matter of course I looked for coffee on my map app. I wasn’t expecting to find anything; after all I’ve been up here every year for reunions and was sure that I’d exhausted the supply of local coffeehouses to visit (it’s not a renewable resource after all), so imagine my surprise when Eagle’s Wind popped up.
Turns out the cafe has only been here since January, which is why I didn’t know about it. It’s a small, family-run operation located on the famous Sunbury-area “Golden Strip” just north of Selinsgrove. It’s so named because the whole corridor is a massive transportation hub; most traffic headed north to Williamsport and New York state or south to the capital of Harrisburg has to pass through here, which makes it both a bustling center of commerce, and a traffic nightmare. Given the number of hungry travelers, a coffee house here was an idea whose time has come.
It’s easy to see the youth of this shop, both in the fresh paint and the actual youth of its staff members, one of whom was the daughter of the owner. The place looks surprisingly modernistic in style, given the down-home, Appalachian nature of the surrounding area. I love that style personally, but it remains to be seen how well the aesthetic will play with the locals! Judging by the guy happily reading the news in one of the small alcoves, the locals seem to be enjoying it just fine as long as you don’t try to take their picture (I got the sideways glance even as I pulled my phone out!). On the plus side, the staff was truly kind, the family nature of the place shining through in our interactions.
I went for whatever the house blend was; in this case it was a Columbian from a roaster called Fresh House. I have no idea where it’s from; I tried looking it up but to no avail. Maybe it’s a local micro-roaster? If anyone’s heard of it, let me know in the comments! It was a good, solid, well-made coffee. It wasn’t truly distinctive, but it was certainly good and refreshing. A bit less rich of a mouthfeel than I’m used to from a Columbian, but it was probably a breakfast blend, given that we were right on the cusp of noon when I ordered it.
I’ll be stopping here on my way to family reunions in the future most likely. As I said before, it always puzzled me that there weren’t more coffee shops in the area. Let’s hope that this one succeeds in breaking the pattern and succeeds in bringing some much needed non-chain refreshment to the area! As an aside, in a month it will be the start of pumpkin spice season. Samhain season. Wine trail season. Academic season. Mornings of cold rain that invite melancholia and the need for a hot beverage to watch steam away in the grey air season. As such, I’ll be heading out to find new places for coffee more often than in the summer. Be ready.
the approach…
the windows…
the modernity…
the alcove…
The Coffeehouse Journey 