Author Archives: coffeehouseguy80

Hello again everybody. It’s been a while since my last post, I know. Two things happened. First, we started busy season at the bookstore where I work, so that cut down on both my free time and my free energy. Second, I’ve been putting more energy into my poetry writing over the summer while it’s actually still nice enough out to go running around to readings every week.

This coffeehouse I actually found by accident while I was driving across the river into Camp Hill. It’s a fairly new place apparently, and it certainly looks new! I have honestly never seen a coffeehouse this clean and polished. It’s in a nice little plaza right off the highway. Not exactly my idea of bohemian, but I thought I’d give it a try anyhow.

It was as clean and polished on the inside as it was on the outside; there are even offices visible from the seating area. But the seating area is very comfortable, which made up for it. I must say I’m biased because sometimes I like that streamlined, modern design. The Feng Shui of it just has a way of setting me at ease. It seems like a place with a whole lot of potential, especially if they have music nights here; in fact it was odd just how much potential this little coffee shop seemed to have. It doesn’t have the atmosphere of a place that’s stuck in a west shore plaza.

The new house blend was the real takeaway from the experience though. It’s something I never had before called “California Gold.” It had this really odd-but-great flavor that was really memorable. There was a distinct fruitiness to it that I just couldn’t place in terms of specifics. I remember that citrus-spiciness well, and also the overall lightness of the blend.This one gets an ‘A’ for true originality.

All in all, this seems like the kind of place I’d hang out with before a day at the office, or where I would make some business plans while on the go. I will be back!

The snazzy outside…

Just inside…

Nice chairage…

the innovative houseblend…

Oh, I thought this would be a good time to let all my regular readers in on a secret plan that has been in the works for some time. I’m planning on branching out and starting a new blog that will combine coffee…and politics! I haven’t yet settled on a name for the new blog, but it will be an independently liberal sort of weblog, from a Progressive, Modernist perspective. Wait, what does that mean? Well, most liberal blogs seem to have a very new-left, 1960s, hippie outlook on life, focusing mostly on issues of social liberalism. Mine will be more reminiscent of old-fashioned, Roosevelt-style Progressivism, focusing on working-class issues and how science and new technologies are being used to solve the worst crises of our day. True progress in other words. Indeed, I believe that true progress must represent an evolution beyond ideology.

What does all this have to do with coffee? Well, think about it. During the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, when things like reason and empathy were being used to fight back against feudalism and fundamentalism, a lot of these ideas were formulated and discussed in the great salons and coffeehouses of Europe. Coffeehouses and intellectualism have gone together for well over 300 years now, so I figured that there will be no problem combining my coffeehouse journey with some revolutionary thought! After all, revolution still happens in coffeehouses every time there’s an open mic night, and some poet drops radical words on the gathered crowd.

Because of their link with the Enlightenment, coffeehouses have a radicalism that goes beyond left and right. Let’s face it; the cultural relativists on the left, as well as the libertarians and religious people on the right share one thing in common: a lack of reason. So let’s transcend the toxic memes together by embracing some true change. Let logic and love carry the day.

This was another coffeehouse that I visited while I was on a completely unrelated mission. I needed coffee on my way to a company where I was looking to invest some money. High risk, high yield. The fun but stupid stuff that I really shouldn’t be doing. Long story short, it turns out that their headquarters is in Maryland, but at least I got hooked up with people who knew how to get to the people I needed to get to. Does that make sense?

So I was in downtown Lancaster trying to find this little coffee shop that one of my friends really talked up called Square One. They’re an independent roaster, and their reach is impressive. Their website was pretty gorgeous, and apparently they sell multiple varieties of coffee to local interests.

The actual coffeehouse storefront was much smaller than I expected, and a lot more low-key. It was pretty all right (even though traffic in the booming downtown Lancaster is utterly terrible), but kind of understated. I asked if there were any music events or poetry held there. Not a word about anything anytime soon. That was kinda sad, especially given the really nice location of the venue. And boy was it hipster-y. I mean it was the hipster-est place I’ve seen in a long while. The head guy balked at me taking his picture and was dodgy about me taking any pictures at first. I hate free advertisement too.

Anyhow, I had their house blend of the day, and I really did enjoy it. The price was even a little less than what I’ve found to be the “average.” The flavors were nice and subtle and slightly buttery, though not as strong and rich as I usually like. But that’s just me. They do obviously know what they’re doing, though on the whole I favor St. Thomas up in Linglestown. If you’re down in Lancaster, it’s a nice little cove, with plenty of space to study privately, which is definitely a pleasant thing. Check it out!

Outside…

Tables…

Good beans…

Interesting…

Hey all! Happy Solstice, or Juneteenth as it’s being called in some places. Anyhow, instead of finding a new coffeehouse this month, I revisited an old favorite to see what they were up to. This is the St. Thomas Roasters coffeehouse on Linglestown Road in Linglestown PA. It’s always been one of my favorites. Since Cafe Di Luna shut down a year ago, I think that this place has hands-down the best coffee in the Harrisburg area. One fortuitous trip reminded me of why that is.

I stopped in about a week ago, and the owner was just starting to fire up the massive coffee grinder and roaster that sits in the back of the room. The sound was very distracting, but it was worth putting up with a bit of noise to see and smell the action that fuels this gem of a cafe. Enjoy the view. I got a few good shots of the whole operation going down.

Loading coffee…

Loading coffee…

So have you ever tried very hard to find a place via online maps only to find that they know surprisingly little about the place you’re trying to get to? Did you ever have that problem compounded by  meeting the only locals who have no idea what part of town they are in? That was my experience in downtown York, PA trying to find Green Bean Roasting Company. For me, getting to a place is less than half the fun. I know, I know, bad mentality for someone going on a journey to anywhere. On the whole, I’d rather just cut to the chase and catch my quarry…the elusive little coffeehouses like this one, hiding in the nooks and crannies of the countryside.This day I was actually on a different journey entirely and just needed some coffee. I was headed down to Baltimore to attend Balticon, an annual science fiction and fantasy convention that happens every Memorial Day weekend. Oh yes,

When I finally found it, the cafe itself was very nice. It was the kind of place where you could plop yourself down on the couch and do whatever studying or other intellectual work you have to do that day. The leather couch was beckoning to me and if I didn’t have another seventy miles to drive that afternoon I might have just taken a nap right then and there. I get the feeling they might have let me too. The girl at the counter gave me their Green Bean blend to try that day; a mixture of light and dark beans. It was recommended as a breakfast blend, and that was a good assessment! It had a rather light beginning as I swirled it in my mouth, but finished with a lingering, robust “nut” flavor that I couldn’t put my finger on. Very well done Green Bean. You gave me something new.

My one disappointment was that they never have live music or other events there. A shame, because it’s such an inviting space. It’s one of those coffeehouses that I could see making a great den for artists and poets. The conspicuous Tom Wolf sign hints that the owners or operators might have a political bent to them. That’s cool. After all, coffeehouses have always birthed political discourse since the European salons of the Age of Enlightenment.

All in all, I’d come back here if I was in York. I’d come here a lot with a coterie of poets. It’s clearly an oasis of quiet and clearly not part of the local “scene” which can be a very refreshing thing. Wherever artists are not is just one more place where artists could one day be, especially if the environment is welcoming in that subtle way. You know what I’m talking about. I get a nice little vibe from this nice little place.

From across the street…

I saw the sign…

Another good sign in my opinion…

Homey decor…

Wow. This place really brought back memories. Backdoor Cafe, you see, is located in downtown Carlisle. Why is that important to me? Well, Carlisle was always on the road between my house and Shippensburg. When I went to Shippensburg University I was constantly commuting through Carlisle, and this little coffee house was one of my favorite hangouts back in college days. I had a few friends who went to Dickinson College, so little Carlisle ended up being the hub of my social life for a while. This cafe has been a hub of the Carlisle social scene for quite some time, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it survived the recession intact.

It’s called the Backdoor Cafe because…well…you enter in the back of the building, even though it looks like there’s a perfectly good door in the front. The original door is actually still tacked up on the brick facade when you walk back to the real entrance.

Inside, the cafe is pretty dark, but I like it that way; it’s a bit cavern-like, but then again it just comes across as cozy on a rainy day. Carlisle is a college town, and the cafe’s atmosphere really fits that. It’s a place you’d come to socialize after class or sit by the windows and do homework and just relax. That’s the best way to describe the darkness of the place…chill.

The coffee was deceptively good. What do I mean by that? Well, when you come in and look at the coffee being brewed, it’s not brewed in a fancy system and put into decanters like most coffee at college-town cafes. It’s brewed in two pots, orange and brown, like you’d find at a diner or fast food restaurant. This wasn’t fast-food coffee by any means though. It was a nice, perky, mild (a bit too mild for my taste) blend that I didn’t have much time to learn about…but did take a photo of before I ran out the door to the comic book convention that was the primary mission that day. Yeah, a lot of crazy stuff happens in Carlisle.

The false front…

what’s left of the old front…

the new real front…

art…

new beans…

This was a fun place to review. I remember when this coffeehouse went by another name…the Crimson Frog! That’s what it used to be called several months ago. I knew its former incarnation well; that’s where, for a while, the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel held its readings. Crimson Frog was a perennial hangout for people from both shores, owing to both its frequent poetry and music nights and its bank of public computers.

In September of last year, all that changed as new ownership took over. Gone are the computers and the music nights as well…at least for now. In its place is a coffeehouse that seems less about art, and more about the art of coffee. Unlike Crimson Frog, M & M roasts its own beans. I spoke briefly to the owner Linda and her friend Betty about their favorite blends and their plans for the future. She said that the blend they’re particularly proud of right now is their dark roast called “Jamaican me Crazy” and as for entertainment…well, they already have bands booked for the 14th and 28th of March. Seems like after a winter of adjustment, they’re finding their niche here in Central PA.

I drank a mix of the house blend and the decaf, deciding to save the Jamaican for another day and just sample their typical fare. I really enjoyed the lightness and complexity of their breakfast coffee. If it was evening, I would have preferred something a bit richer, but this was a wonderful breakfast blend that spoke to the care that the owner obviously puts into the roasting process. I really can’t wait to see what develops here, especially if they start catering more to the music scene around here. If you’re on the west shore, check it out!

The entrance.

Start with a threat.

Funky architecture.

Beans a go-go.

This month I didn’t really go far afield for my coffee. I hope you all understand; it’s been freakishly cold here in our corner of America, and my car has barely been able to start a few mornings. As well, it’s been busy season at the bookstore where I work. We supply used textbooks to students for low prices, so we have been swamped as the new academic semester began, meaning some long, or at least stressful and busy days for me. I’ve been lucky to have enough energy to get to work and back, let alone go on much of a bean-related trip! I have plans to venture west to Carlisle and east to Reading, and hopefully into parts unknown in the next two months as the days get longer, if not actually much warmer.

For now, I’m just going to let you know about a new kind of coffee that I found at a local shopping center purely by accident, which has become my go-to coffee for those days when I’m afraid to venture outdoors! It’s called Peet’s Coffee, and it hails from Berkeley, California. A pretty appropriate source if you ask me. After all, coffeehouse culture has always been the epicenter of social change, and if there’s one thing that Berkeley is famous for, it’s activism.

As usual, when I’m trying a new coffee, I get the house blend first. I think that gives a very good first impression of what the coffee is “about”; what it’s makers are trying going for in terms of style. I took it as a very good sign that the exact date of the roasting of the beans that went into that particular batch is noted at the bottom of the package. Shows a lot of class. What I get from this house blend is something that’s not quite as buttery and smooth as, say, Eight O’ Clock coffee (a family favorite that I’ll talk about another time), but certainly not as bold or bitter as Seattle’s Best. It’s a good, mid-range, not-too-earthy flavor that goes very well with fresh cream (which cuts down on a bit of acidity and lets the full flavor really come out.

Well, I hope that was informative and showed you a nice potential drink to keep you warm and satisfied on those long winter mornings when a trip to get coffee feels like commuting to work! See you in February with some more updates.

My new friend.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a joyful Yule and Solstice. That cover everyone? This is looking to be my last entry of the year. It’s been a really busy two months, with Thanksgiving and Christmas so close together this year, and New Years Eve right around the corner. So many family events, so much inertia when I’m laying in my warm bed! Since I did have a week off of work though, I finally had the energy and the free time to visit what may be the last really local coffeehouse that I’ll be reviewing for a while. Oh don’t worry there will still be regular updates…I’ll just have to travel a bit farther afield for new cafes.

This is a Camp Hill/Mechanicsburg coffeehouse that I’ve heard about for some time. It’s a local spot, mostly frequented by people traveling along the Carlisle Pike on the west shore of the Susquehanna. It’s a humble looking place from the outside, located in a very small plaza right off the main road. A little post-industrial, but hey, that’s Central PA.

When I got in, it was much warmer than I expected from the outside. It’s really inviting, if rather small. No sign of any local music, but the coffee itself was quite good; once again I found a place where they distinguish between “strong” and “good” coffee. That’s always a good sign. The Colombian was quite tasty. I was also impressed by the fact that they open at 6:30 in the morning during the weekdays! Nice to have a place that I can be sure is open way before I go to work.

The staff was nice, especially given that they were working the holiday week, when many of us have off. In fact, a friendly accessibility seems to define the feel of the shop. If you’re part of the morning commute across the west shore heading up through Market Street, I would recommend this place for certain. They did just recently re-open in August, so I’ll be keeping my eye on the development of this nice little cafe. Until then, I’ll see you in the new year. Stay thirsty.

Tables and chairs…

more tables and chairs…

friendly signage…

I found this coffeehouse while I was on a special, unrelated mission. I was visiting a local bookbinder in Grantville to get some PDF files that I had printed off (about a roleplaying game that I like) made into a book. I left in the afternoon after work and hadn’t had my coffee yet, so I did a quick search to see what was around after I got finished, and I finally found one coffee shop…but it was not what I expected!

Google maps, which had been anything but helpful in finding the bookbinder, said that the only local coffeehouse that didn’t have “Dunkin” or “Donuts” in the name was located inside of a farmer’s market. Skeptical of that, I asked one of the people at the bookbinding service about it, and they said the same thing. Now, you can probably imagine my misgivings; a farmer’s market is an unorthodox location for a cafe. More typically it consists of some old dude giving out styrofoam cups of boiling-hot, bargain-basement brew. Still, I was jonesing for some caffeine after a long drive, and really had no other option but to see what was up at this marketplace.

Once again, it was proven that the best discoveries are made by accident. The outside of the market was utilitarian-looking at best, but on the inside…the place was first of all a tchotchke-lover’s paradise! There were large, wooden stands and mini-rooms where all sorts of things were being sold. Homemade bread, organic food, homemade candy, and plenty of clothes and curios were scattered around the room. It’s the kind of place that makes you say “yep, we’re in the rural Northeast all right.” Oh, and there was also a rather awesome coffee shop too, right where the bookbinder folks said it would be.

The coffeehouse itself, called The Bean Cuisine, was run by two folks named Dave and Vanessa. There were really nice people (in fact, during our conversation about the shop, they offered to help me set up my own coffeehouse because…well, because they like helping people. It was that simple.). I tried their house blend, and I really enjoyed it. I use the word “earthy” way too much, so I’ll just describe it as deep and complex, but not as bold as many dark roasts. I got some kind of nice strong flavor that was bordering on chocolate, with not even a hint of citrus. I like. I asked Dave if they were planning on moving to Grantville proper anytime soon, like Google maps said they were. Strike two for Google maps. I will definitely make a return trip to this place, despite it being about 20 miles from home. It’s worth the trip. On my way home I was driving west in the middle of the afternoon, and the sun was shining through the turning autumn trees as I sat there sipping my memento from this interesting adventure, considering in the back of my mind Dave’s offer. It’s funny how when the magic works, it really works.

The first sight.

The promise of coffee.

The delivery of coffee.

The cafe.

Told you there were tchotchkes.

This little adventure started with a rain-soaked drive down to York to meet a friend for a drink…and ended with a cancellation by that friend and an even more rain-soaked drive back to Harrisburg. In between those two things I had a rain-date…with coffee.

I heard about Macklin’s from a random online search, and almost bypassed them. It said “Macklin’s Cupcakes and Coffee,” so I figured that they were probably just a deli or bakery that happened to also occasionally keep a pot of coffee warm. That’s usually my experience with a place that says “and coffee” in the name! Well, you know that didn’t happen, or else I wouldn’t be posting about it.

The place is owned by a guy named Mack Farquhar and his wife and it’s been open since September of 2011. Pretty brave of him I think to have started a coffee shop of all things right in the middle of the Great Recession, but it seems to still be going strong. In fact, it seems to be kind of a local fixture; they have music there some nights and the locals seemed to be clustering in there during the downpours that were hitting just as I walked through the doors.

The coffee they had held a surprise…it was a blend from St. Thomas Roasters up in Lancaster! It was great to see someone contracting from a local beanery like that, especially since it was probably my favorite coffeehouse to visit so far. I chose a blend made up of the regular house coffee cut with a little bit of the decaf. The regular was the Lancaster blend from St. Thomas and the decaf was Guatemala. As you might expect, the coffee had quite the earthy flavor. I regret that I didn’t have room in my stomach for a cupcake after stuffing myself with spaghetti prior to heading out into the storm…but that’s just a good reason to come back again right?

The only downside of this coffee house is the location. It’s in a shopping plaza that is incredibly busy on a Saturday night, and almost impossible to find via Google Maps! Once you get there though, the shop is kind of off in a quiet-ish corner of the mall and the owners did a capital job on the interior, making it really warm and inviting. Definitely a beautiful alternative to a rainy day…or a cancelled night out.

Random interior shot…

Some good eats…

Some good art…

I saw the sign…