Monthly Archives: November 2022

Confession: This one is a bit outside of Harrisburg. Of course, if you live in Harrisburg, you know that most of “Harrisburg” lies outside of Harrisburg. It’s complicated. Many of us count everything south of the Kittatinny Ridge in Dauphin County as “Harrisburg.” Indeed, nothing to the west of the Susquehanna River is Harrisburg, although stuff in the middle of the river counts. Obviously. As I said, it’s complicated.

Ur turn cafe is quite a bit to the east of Harrisburg proper, in the Skyline-area outskirts on the road to the famous town of Hershey, but I’m calling it. This place is pure Harrisburg. There is a quiet but active underground of gamers in this city. We’re lucky enough to have a few good gaming and hobby shops. Then again, that really is a function of population density. Really, I have no idea what it’s like to be the only Dungeons & Dragons-loving kid in the middle of Juniata County or in the middle of Iowa. That can’t be easy. Again, I’m finding myself drawn to the exoticism of the coffeehouses now popping up in the Harrisburg area.

When I got here, the place was deserted. Well, not entirely. Co-owner Tyson was there waiting on his wife (another co-owner) to get in from Hershey. There was apparently a traffic jam of sorts up there (not surprising for Hershey). Unfortunately, the traffic had caught everyone by surprise and there wasn’t even any coffee on! Tyson offered to rectify this situation for me immediately and I gratefully accepted. That’s when he and I got to talking. The announcement for urturn cafe came out in a June 2020 issue of PennLive. Yes, he, his wife, and his brother-in-law opened this place smack dab in the middle of the worst days of the plague.

The odds were certainly against them, but today, the shop appears to be thriving. In fact, Tyson told me all about an upcoming tournament being held in the big dining room, and the poster board was laden with advertisements for upcoming sci-fi and fantasy-related events. There was also evidence of a massive kitchen. I had time to look at everything as I was waiting for my coffee. I also had time to talk to Tyson about the nerd stuff that we clearly both enjoy. After a few minutes of deep-diving into gaming, I could tell that Tyson was a true gaming geek. I don’t want to sound like a gatekeeper right now by saying “true” geek. Scratch that, I’m fine with it. Authenticity is important. If you can’t tell the difference between authentic and inauthentic, you must be a postmodernist, and you deserve an upbraiding for that alone. But I digress. This dude is authentic.

The coffee I got was Citavo’s Arabica house blend. Yes, the Sysco Citavo. Yes, the mass-produced kind. I know, I’m supposed to hate it. But I didn’t. I mean, OK, this was technically diner coffee, but at least it was a higher-end diner coffee. The owners made the effort to cull the best from the company, and that was admirable! The brewing itself was exemplary. It takes real know-how to turn a basic brew into something tasty. In this case, the saving element was that Tyson knew to brew a simple Arabica extra long in order to squeeze out the last of the flavor. A cunning move, sir! It certainly didn’t have the astringent taste of typical diner fare after that. I’m sure his coffee fuels many a long night of D&D. Or GURPS. Yeah, I like GURPS better, fight me.

So yeah, if you’re like me and enjoy everything from board games to tabletop roleplaying games, be sure to stop by this place. It’s an oasis in the middle of the vast expanse of Route 22/Jonestown Road. We’ve saved what is perhaps the most purely exotic for last. I’ll let you wonder what that might be. Until the last part of this leg, stay caffeinated.

the invite…

the games…

the setup…

bard’s delight…

ur turn…

What can I say? I’m high on life. So are the folks at this coffee shop, and that’s all they’re probably gonna admit to. The Melted Pot, after all, is not an ordinary coffeehouse by any stretch of the imagination. It’s attached to a glass shop. No, not the optometry glass or the fine stemware. It’s the other kind of glass. Now you’re on the trolley, and probably beginning to understand the double-entendre(s) at work in The Melted Pot. The glass shop is the venerable Coexist gallery in Steelton. Yes, Steelton counts as Harrisburg, even though it’s farther away from the center city than Lemoyne is. If you don’t know, have anyone on either shore of the Susquehanna River explain it to you.

When I said venerable, I meant it. The Coexist gallery has been a fixture in the area for a long time, serving the needs of the awkwardly transmundane for years now. They didn’t just survive the plague; they thrived in the insanity and grew by leaps and bounds as people craved not only music and fellowship but the idea of music and fellowship. That’s what Coexist really taps into. There is a certain je ne sais qua surrounding summer concerts, events, and hangouts. If you didn’t appreciate it before, you likely do now. There’s something innate to Humans engendering a need to connect and express both one’s self and creative impulse. They get that here.

Perhaps that’s why I first encountered Coexist under those exact circumstances back in June. I had just come home from a beer festival in Glen Rock and saw that Coexist was having a free music and street festival along the main drag in Steelton and in their parking lot. If ever there had been a day that captured summer in America. No, this isn’t a paid ad for them; I’m just plotzing because it was that day and my experience then that led me back here when I heard they were selling coffee as an add-on.

That coffee endeavor, The Melted Pot, was such a relentless tease. From my experience, the signs were up for a while before any actual coffee was available. Like most businesses, getting a project off the ground in 2020-2022 was an exercise in patience or the lack thereof. The patience of owner Shawn Gold, a Navy veteran, has made that project come to fruition. Well, mostly. The fancy machinery isn’t installed yet, and what is certain to be a beautiful lounge area remains partly open to the air and filled with scraps of construction.

None of that mattered. When I tasted the coffee, I knew that this place would be preeminent. That’s not an exaggeration. The company behind the beans was called Prestogeorge. They’re out of Pittsburgh. The specific roast I had was an organic Peruvian. I do love South American and Guatemalan coffees. The reason is the richness that isn’t quite earthy but close and the hints of chocolate and (now this was interesting) something of a perfumed, not-quite-floral quality that somehow ended up in the lingering aftertaste.

Whether it was the skill of the barista Tori, the brilliant roasting at the source, or a combination thereof (likeliest), this was a gem. Oddly enough, it resembled the brewing style of another favorite of mine since the beginning of the Journey, St. Thomas Roasters. St. Thomas tends to produce more mild yet savory fare, while this coffee was unabashedly robust. When I poured a bit out into the sink just to make sure it was as rich as I thought, there was no mistaking it for tea. That’s a compliment.

Nobody would have suspected that Coexist would transition so smoothly from focusing on -ahem- green-colored luxuries to brown ones. The coffee could have easily been ancillary. Instead, they made it central, and thus they gave themselves another distinctive. Look for more from Coexist and The Melted Pot soon. The summer concerts they have planned for this coming year are likely going to be spectacular.

And with that last note, we’re on to the next coffee spot. It’s called ur turn (yes, that’s the correct capitalization) and as much as Melted Pot was about fun, ur turn promises to put emphasis on the games. Until the next post, stay caffeinated.

the neon…

the chalk…

the art…

the vision…

the roast…

the takeaway…

This was supposed to be one post about a coffeehouse far to the north in a secluded valley near Pottsville. Instead, it has blown up into a four-parter on the post-plague renaissance of Pennsylvania’s capital city. Granted, I live here, so I’m biased, but this year there has been an explosion in the number of coffee shops and other restaurants as the city digs out from disaster. The phenomenon has been too fascinating, too inspiring, and too far-reaching in terms of both its audacity and success not to cover. So without further ado, here comes part one in the Harrisburg Renaissance series: Cafe de Olla.

First a little background: Cafe de Olla isn’t just the name of the cafe that opened on Third Street a few short months ago. It’s a very specific variety of spiced Mexican coffee. Traditionally, an earthen clay pot is used to brew it. The basic version of the beverage is made with ground coffee, cinnamon, and piloncillo, an unrefined whole cane sugar. You may recognize it by its other name, panela. Those aren’t the only spices it can include, just the ones it should.

Our new Cafe de Olla (the shop) is deceptively unassuming on the outside. It looks like a tiny Mexican street cafe from without (the lettering and awning give its heritage away), but on the inside, the space opens up into a stately series of white cubes that look for all the world like a downtown art gallery. In fact, there is art hanging everywhere on the walls and hidden alcoves concealing streamlined, modern architectural details. I’m a hardcore modernist both aesthetically and philosophically (love me some Gernsback and Buckminster Fuller) so this space really spoke to me.

On to the coffee. Unsurprisingly this was not your basic coffee. Indeed, Cafe de Olla was first on my list because it was so unique. Plot twist: The woman who served me the coffee, as well as the coffee itself, were both Colombian. I have no idea if the Colombian brewing style is different traditionally from Mexican. I do know that Mexican beans are milder and brighter. Mild and bright are two words I would use to categorize this Colombian. Another two words I’d use are cinnamon power! You could really taste the cinnamon, but it didn’t feel like a face full of Christmas like a pure cinnamon addition to a coffee drink. There were some special spices in there but I didn’t ask exactly what they were. It was a bit overwhelming for me, but then I eat cheese sandwiches for lunch with just the cheese and mustard. Hence, I’ve always been slightly biased against flavored coffees. This one, however, was such a distinctive and well-formulated recipe that I must recommend it to connoisseurs.

Cafe de Olla makes a great addition to Harrisburg. So many coffeehouses tend to follow the same paradigm in terms of offerings and atmosphere. Cafe de Olla does neither (although you can get regular coffee here if you want it). What it offers is variety. Why is there a Mexican specialty coffee in the middle of the Burg, and why is it succeeding? Because if you didn’t think variety was the spice of life, you probably wouldn’t stay long here yourself. If you do like the unexpected, stop by Cafe de Olla and get a taste of Mexico without having to trek across the high chaparral.

The next installment will be posted in a couple of days. I’m spacing out the coverage so that a story about one doesn’t drown out the story of the next. There are going to be four in all, showcasing some of the greatest standouts of the Harrisburg area. Be prepared for surprises, and as always my friends, stay caffeinated.

the entrance…

the white cube…

the artistry…

the gallery…

the beans…