Author Archives: coffeehouseguy80

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…

Well, here we are almost at the end of summer. It’s gone by really fast for me, and part of the reason for this is that I have been doing a lot of traveling. Most of that has been down to Baltimore (because it’s a much easier drive than Philly) and most of the traveling to Baltimore has been for science fiction and fantasy conventions. Yep, I’m a nerd. Have to declare it plainly lest you think I’m a hipster just because of the blog and the love of art and coffee. It’s a common mix-up, don’t feel guilty. This last one was two weeks ago and was called Shore Leave, owing to its Star Trek theme. William Shatner was the guest at this event. Insanity ensued which I won’t detail here.

Anyhow, the first of these conventions was in May, and I visited a coffeehouse on that trip, so I thought that I would repeat that success this time around. That turned into a real adventure. For such a populated area, there were few options other than Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. I’m serious; in Cockeysville and Hunt Valley, there are no independent coffeehouses on the map. I drove all the way to Pikesville on the hope that a place called the “Milk and Honey Cafe” would be open. It was open, but they served absolutely no coffee. By that time it was three in the afternoon and I was in full-on panic mode. Well, panic muted by a lack of stimulant that is. When I gave up and just settled in to the hotel where the convention was, someone overheard my plight (I was venting quite loudly at the time to anyone who would listen) and told me that there was some little place in a plaza across the street that might still be in existence.

I drove across the busy highway, desperately hoping that this place, whatever it was, would still be open. It actually was, and boy was it better than expected. Granted, I don’t heap expectations upon a place stuck in a tourist plaza, but this was a genuinely nice joint. It had a hustle-and-bustle feel to it, but that’s only to be expected given where it was located. The coffee itself was good; not to Ambreen’s level of distinction at the former Cafe di Luna, but certainly better than the generic stuff spewed out at a deli! They even had non-dairy creamer as an option. The best touch to the coffeehouse was a chalkboard hanging on one of the walls where tourists could write where they came from or where they want to visit. This really impressed me because they’re owning the fact that they’re inundated by tourists just passing through the area. Instead of trying to be something they’re not, they are embracing their role without snark. Now that was as refreshing as the coffee.

Oh, by the way, if you’re wondering why there are no photos yet…it’s because I got a new iphone and for some reason it won’t sync to my gmail account, which means that I can’t even send myself my own photographs. Lame. Oh well, tech support should have it sorted by the end of the week and then I’ll post a few goodies, including that travelers chalkboard. Until then, stay caffeinated.

Well, if you’re searching for a good coffee shop in Harrisburg, you may have noticed over the past few years that it’s been getting harder and harder to find an independent, non-chain coffeehouse in this city. A bad economy, civic financial and crime woes, and a migrating youth population are all likely to blame for this; less foot traffic and less liquid capital mean less money to spend on luxuries, and so all of the hip little stores and restaurants downtown have to divide up the customers. Many businesses that started out here late last decade are no longer with us. The most recent casualty of this has been Midtown’s own Cafe Di Luna.

Yes, earlier this month, one of Harrisburg’s best coffee providers packed up her bags and closed up shop. Ambreen Esmail, owner of the chic Cafe Di Luna on Third Street in Midtown has moved away to Atlanta. It’s a sad day for coffee lovers here in Central PA; Ambreen was (and continues to be) someone who is totally dedicated to her craft and to the people who were lucky enough to call themselves both her regular customers and her friends. She’ll still be plying her trade down in the south, where there’s more foot traffic and where she’ll have the support of her family, many of whom live down there. I can understand that for certain; my family is of paramount importance to me, and the idea of being thousands of miles away from them, even to make my fortune, does not sit easily with me! Cafe Di Luna will possibly have a brick-and-mortar store down there, and Ambreen told me that she will start doing some coffee bean sales online I’ll let you all know more when I hear from her again. Until then, keep calm and carry on caffeinating.