Timber Creek Coffee

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Timber Creek Coffee

18 Aug

Did I ever need a trip to the country! City life is fun until the construction vehicles dig the same section of road outside your home for weeks. Especially when they park their loud equipment outside your house at 6:00 AM. Then, the hustle and bustle is more of a hassle. Then, the local government’s empathy for its citizens is discovered to be somewhat lacking. Then, it’s time to get the heck out of dodge and run for the hills…or, at least a different part of the valley.

That’s where I went this past week: a different part of the Great Valley region. The Journey has focused on the mountains north and west of Harrisburg lately, but I thought it was time for a shakeup. This leg of the Journey takes us to the outskirts of Myerstown, to the east of Lebanon. For my out-of-state readers, that description likely clarifies nothing. Suffice it to say, it’s out in farm country. The drive to Myerstown was gorgeous. I found myself navigating an endless network of small country roads. Glades and hills blend together in the mind. It’s as easy to get lost as it is to find yourself.

Timber Creek Coffee offered a surprise. It’s a high-tech, streamlined, modern-style coffeehouse…frequented by a conservative Mennonite community. Yep, I think we’ve found more Amish coffee. I don’t know, for certain, whether the owners or operators are Amish, but the attire was nigh-unmistakeable. Once again, Amish coffee operations are experiencing a rapid growth spurt. Timber Creek was opened about a year ago, putting it right in the middle of the timeframe of explosive country coffee growth.

Often, we’ve found on this Journey that these rural coffee shops have represented a melding of cultures. This cafe exemplified the phenomenon. The angular, modernistic architecture was a work of dignified beauty. The cream paneling, dark brown finishes, and Edison lighting would be cutting-edge even in the context of the capital city. Out here, the contrast with the bucolic surroundings was stark. I saw no Bible verses on the walls, but you could all but see them in the hearts of the modest young people working here. Laptops sat open at desks as the sun rose on fields outside.

Another standout characteristic: This place is clean. I mean, really clean. Even the restrooms. I’m not talking about the spotlessness of sterility. Rather, it’s the cleanliness of care on display here. Could it be that the work ethic of the farmer and the existential grounding of spirituality are necessary to sustain modernity and modernist institutions like the coffeehouse? I would make the claim that it does. I would go further, and say that this melding represents a golden opportunity to distill the best of both cultures. Deploying modern technologies obviously isn’t changing how these quite spiritual folk present themselves or behave toward others. The rural surroundings don’t alter the fact that Timber Creek’s partons are a cultural cross-section of Central Pennsylvania. This cafe isn’t a juxtaposition. It’s a synthesis.

The coffee was also something of a surprise. It’s neither local nor chain. It’s from Ohio! I’ve never had anything from CrimsonCup Coffee & Tea before, so I had no idea what to expect from it. One good sign: They founded a program called Friend2Farmer. Friend2Farmer seeks to deepen the concept of sustainability in coffee farming by ensuring that farmers receive a fair share of the actual coffee sales. The founder of CrimsonCup (Greg Ubert) got the idea after working with small farms in Honduras and Guatemala.

As was the case in several other locations, the blend was a mystery substance. Let’s put on our thinking caps: We have a provenance in Central America. It was called Amanda’s Blend. It was intended to be a medium roast, but the mouthfeel was that of a light roast. I’m going with the idea that this was at least primarily a Central American coffee. The package did advertise the blend as smooth and nutty. It was certainly both of those things but in measured quantities. If the roast had been darker, I would contend that those notes probably would have been more pronounced, but that’s just splitting hairs. This was an excellent blend, but I believe it was meant to be a breakfast blend.

So, if you’re planning to make your way through the eastern Pennsylvania countryside, it’s worth making a pit stop at Timber Creek. One more thing: A local informed me that Myerstown is home to one of only three postcard museums in the U.S.A. It was closed when I stopped by, but I am far from giving up.

Where we go next on this Journey depends upon how much sleep I get over the next few weeks. Coming up on weekends, there will be festivals, so expect an alignment of goals. Some will be far afield, ranging from Maryland to northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA). There’s bound to be coffee, even if only a coffee truck. For the record, that’s fair game. Coffee trucks, I mean. Roadside craft coffee posts are big in the Pacific Northwest, and putting the concept on wheels just seems like a natural evolution. It’s still a place for congregation, conversation, and caffeination.

Until next time, keep yourselves caffeinated in the manner you see fit.