Amami Kitchen and Espresso Bar

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Amami Kitchen and Espresso Bar

16 Feb

Well, here we are, the promised Leg 2 of this journey through the very center of Central Pennsylvania. It actually wasn’t all that much of a journey, merely a jaunt down the main drag of Lewisburg! My next stop was to the place that was recommended to me by the barista I mentioned at the religious coffee shop outside Milton. She told me that this coffeeshop of all the ones in the little college town was *the* hangout. And Lewisburg is a town filled to the brim with little hangouts given that it’s populated by thousands of college students effectively in the middle of nowhere.

Well, I took the stroll down the street that she recommended and here it was. Amami. You know, the thing that immediately struck me about this place was that it screamed “college town coffee shop.” Look down at the pics below for some good examples of why; the band stickers, the narrow urban architecture, the young people in a hurry with their gear. It all bespoke of a far more urban setting than Lewisburg itself. But cosmopolitanism is a state of mind, and you carry the city with you if you’re of the mindset.

If I seemed a bit underwhelmed by some of the previous coffeehouses, that’s because of sort of was. Now, don’t get me wrong, they weren’t poor coffee spots at all. There were simply no standouts thus far. That all changed here. I got the Americano. That’s essentially an espresso, but a drink-sized one. Now, Americano can be tricky to make. It takes some skill to get the proportion of coffee right, and if the quality of the water is off, the whole thing will taste like bad tapwater. Nothing could have been further from the truth here. This coffee had an interesting floral quality that gave it a unique flavor, along with a truly robust mouthfeel. This was really a joy to drink.

I’m pretty sure that the reason for this awesome quality is Davide Della Pietra, the owner of the establishment. He obviously cares about the quality here; the website makes note of his “vision” to bring an authentic Italian experience to the town. Indeed, the coffee is sourced from a company called Segafredo based in Villorba, Italy. It’s been around since 1973 and is known for its quality product. They bill themselves as “The Ambassador of the Italian Coffee Culture.” So here we have a man who has a vision linking himself with a source of beans that does the same. I guess magic was inevitable.

No, I’m not getting wistful about college towns even though they’re my territory of choice. The coffee really was that good. I didn’t try the Paninis, but they looked good as well, and if I was a leaf-eater of any sort I might have had one. But such was not to be; the coffee was the target here and it’s one that I hit. Or rather, I should say, it was itself a hit.

After this lovely cap to a long trip, I headed back down to Harrisburg. I promptly broke down on my way out of Lewisburg. The overdrive kept kicking on and off for no apparent reason and there I was, stuck along the side of the road sipping my fancy coffee. It took digging the manual out of the glove compartment and pressing buttons and hitting toggles for a good half hour before I finally got the thing moving above 20 miles per hour. That’s the funny thing about adventures; things will suck, things will rock, but in final estimation of things, the sucking is part of the rocking because at least you know you’re alive, and that’s what puts the whole experience over the edge to the “rocking” side. Ah well, that’s enough vagabondery for now. The next target is even further north. Tune in and see what I mean. Until then, stay thirsty.