MJ's Coffeehouse

I heard about the theater attached to this coffeehouse before I heard about the coffeehouse itself. For being outside of Harrisburg, it's actually pretty easy to get to from the city, just being a straight shot east on Rt. 422 in Annville. I like traveling eastward sometimes to go to coffeehouses because it gets me off of the I-15 arts corridor, and hence they seem to feel less "urgent" and more relaxed. Fewer hipsters and more people just looking for a decent cup of coffee on a quiet day. The artistic atmosphere of these places is usually more relaxed as well I think. Again, less of a "please oh please, artists come hither" vibe if that makes any sense!

Anyhow, MJ's has been here for a while. It's attached to the Allen Theater (which is old beyond reckoning) and is a real fixture in the community. For some reason, this little theater ranked in the top 16 theaters in the country as voted by Moviefone users, so they're doing something right out here! It's not much of a surprise really; the entire Hershey-Annville-Cleona area is known for the arts, but in a subtle fashion. This is an area that national acts come to before they think about Harrisburg itself. The Hershey notoriety and fountains of money make the area among the classiest places in Central PA. By that I mean it attracts forward-thinking people with ready cash. More power to them.

The coffee here was actually really good. It wasn't my favorite (seemed a tad blandish), but it was far above diner-quality. The atmosphere was really nice. I loved the glowing purple lights leading to the theater proper, and the rest if the decor was classy and understated...as things in the Hershey area often are. The best thing about it is that you can picture yourself sitting there by the big windows on a cold, rainy day and just enjoying your coffee while people-watching. I love when a town is both small and cosmopolitan. The phenomenon is rare, but it does exist. If you live here, go here.

Coffee: Two and a half mugs.
Atmosphere: Three and a half mugs.


Cute.

Cuter.

Not cute at all, but spiffy and fascinating. I like that better than cute.

Breads and Spreads

Ah, sweet freedom! Now that there are only three days left until my nice little Thanksgiving stay-cation, I feel like I can finally take a little time for myself and my coffee habit. I've been working some late nights this week, and have been drinking (and eating for that matter) pretty much whatever I can scrounge from my fridge or beg my mom to cook. I finally got down to Midtown again and went to another local coffee joint that came in with the whole "Midtown Revival" wave a few years ago. This is probably the last coffeehouse in my "Harrisburg Series" and from here I'm going to branch out to some nearby towns, especially northwards.

As for this little cafe...I really enjoyed it. It's not my favorite, but it was a nice break from going to the same places all the time. This place doesn't have music nights, but that's ok; it's good when a coffeehouse isn't a simple clone of other coffeehouses. The girls behind the counter didn't seem too overjoyed to be there, but it was a nice, sunny Saturday so I forgave that. I know I'd feel the same if I was cooped up indoors on a weekend. As well, I do believe that this coffeehouse may very well be the gravitational center of hipsterdom in Harrisburg, so a little attitude is de rigeur. There also was no soymilk for some reason. Really. No soymilk. The coffee itself was excellent though; it was strong and bold, but not the kind of 'strong' that rips your stomach lining apart. It was deeply flavorful, especially with cream and sugar, so I was happy.

Overall, it was a good, quiet place to get a cup of coffee in Midtown without having to deal with an overabundance of chatter and general noise. On a winter evening I'm sure it will be downright serene. I do hope it's still here then...the recession is giving the Midtown Revival a pounding it seems. Anyhow, if you're a Harrisburg resident, definitely check it out if only for the uniquely tasty coffee and escape from the rest of the city.

Atmosphere: Two and a Half Mugs (Three Mugs if you count the fish tank. It's rather impressive. Also a three if it's a rainy day; that just kind of goes with the quiet atmosphere.)
Coffee: Three Mugs

the outside...

the fishtank...
more fish and a goodly supply of literature...

Haute Chocolate Cafe

Well, this goes against my initial plan to stick close to home for the time being, but I just had to visit when I saw the name of this place: Haute Chocolate. If they're going to put in that much effort to come up with a cute name, it at least deserves a look, right? Well, this place definitely did deserve a look. It was pretty easy to find actually. There seems to be an area of West Reading close to Wyomissing that's really progressive, focused on catering to artists, and trying to be a safe haven for local small businesses. It really reminds me of Midtown here in Harrisburg. It's quite heartening to see that sort of thing in these small industrial cities that make up most of eastern-central Pennsylvania!

The cafe itself really isn't coffee-focused as much as it is snack-focused. They have a huge selection of hot chocolate including a pure-cocoa blend that tries to be close to the Mayan and Aztec chocolate experience (apropos, given the name of the cafe). I also took a pic that you can see below of their massive selection of what appear to be fresh breads. To me, fresh bread is something that adds to a coffeehouse. There needs to be some kind of food to sort of "ground" it, and nothing compares to fresh bread. That also adds sort of a European air to the place...which is of course where the coffeehouse culture truly came into its own. Another thing that adds atmosphere is their modernist-style, colored plastic chairs and tables they have scattered about.

The only real negative of this place was the fact that the selection of coffee and coffee accessories seems a bit limited. I didn't ask for a specific flavor, but there didn't appear to be much of a choice. The coffee was good, but if it had been nearly as exotic as their cocoa and breads it would have made the little place even better. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to save room for some hot chocolate next time! Be sure to check this place out when the snow starts falling.

Atmosphere: Three and a Half Mugs
Coffee: Three Mugs

Here are the breads...
And here is the seating...

Cafe Di Luna

Well, if you live in Harrisburg (or anywhere in PA for that matter), you're probably aware that it's been quite a rainy and dismal time recently. Well, I had a Thursday afternoon off from work, so I decided to spend that rainy afternoon going to a local cafe that I've been meaning to review ever since I started this blog. I'll just warn you ahead of time that the review will be quite positive indeed. I come here pretty often actually. It's in the same part of town that my primary job is, kind of in the epicenter of Harrisburg's Midtown "bohemian" scene.

The woman who runs the place is named Ambreen Esmail. If you love coffee and conversation she's definitely someone you should meet. The thing is, she's just as serious about her coffee as professional mixologists are about their liquor. It's a rare thing to see someone not taking for granted the subtleties of coffee bean flavor and the influences thereof. So anyhow, I just ordered whatever was "on tap" that day (a Colombian blend) in lieu of something fancy...but at this place, normal coffee feels pretty fancy because you know that whatever it is, it's blended by someone with over 10 years in the business. Experience really does count.

Ambreen's lived in NYC, and it shows in the ambiance. What I mean is that it's artsy without being kitschy and serious, but with time made for whimsy. The only thing that could really be improved is the surroundings. It's in the middle of the Midtown Renaissance area, and while it's great to have this place here, it would be even nicer if it were off the beaten path a bit more. If it were just a few blocks away from the center of commerce one could really calm down from the pace of the city. I don't know, maybe I'm just an anxiety-prone person. Either way, this place is an island of both sanity and genuine art in a place that is desperately starving for it.

Coffee: Four and a half mugs
Atmosphere: Four mugs

Here are some pics of the place...

Cornerstone

Yep, this is Cornerstone Coffeehouse over in Camp Hill. Really nice place actually. I come here sometimes because it's so close and so convenient. It's on the Market Street "main drag" here, the one that runs from Harrisburg on the east shore through Camp Hill on the west. It's a busy place and it's bigger inside than it looks like it should be from the outside. I learned it began in 1994, which many of you may remember was the age of the coffeehouse explosion here in the U.S. when it seemed like everything cool came out of Seattle. They have a lot of acoustic guitar players here on Fridays and weekends, but it's been a long time since I've personally gone to a performance here. It seems like this place gets a lot of regulars from the community around it...seemed sort of like everyone either knew each other or weren't surprised to see each others faces.

To be honest, the coffee is pretty average-seeming to me. Maybe it's too strong or I'm too weak. I don't know really; everyone else seemed to dig it. In fact, this cafe has won a few awards. The ambiance is worth it for certain, as long as you don't mind a busy, popular place. They do seem to enjoy giving a venue to local artists, which is wonderful because the art scene here in Harrisburg needs every solid ally it can get. Carpool if you come here during busy times early in the morning and on weekend evenings because the little parking lot was packed and nowhere near large enough to accomodate everyone! I'm glad that I did this though, making it the first visit of the post-vacation reboot. I've had several first-dates at this place so it kinda had that sentimental value.

Coffee: Two and a half mugs.

Atmosphere: Three mugs.


That was the outside. Sorry about my blurry phone camera skills!

Here's the interior. Very much packed.

Bit of a hiatus...

Been gone a while folks, sorry about that! This past week was the end of busy season at work, and the week before that I was on a 9-day vacation in Bethany Beach near Ocean City. Being back at work is not easy after that, suffice it to say. I've been on sort of a downer because of all the workload and such, and my car broke down which cost me a grand total of $500 that I kinda needed for other things like bills. All this consipired to keep me off of the road, away from my books. and focused upon the mundane like a good little cog in the machine. That time is over starting this Friday. I'll be (re) starting the PA Coffeehouse Tour with a review of a close place called "Cornerstone Coffeehouse." It's in Camp Hill and is kind of a local center of activity. Poetic justice, huh? Cornerstone will be the "cornerstone" of the relaunch of the blog. Tune in for it. Until then, I have 2 twelve-hour days in store. Have a latte (and a beer) for me.

Espresso Yourself in Newport

This past weekend I traveled up to Newport, PA. I was coming up to visit a former coworker of mine, and I remembered that this cafe was up here. Actually, I've known about it for some time, and I think I may have visited it once in the past, but it was a few years ago at best. What's interesting is how Newport has become sort of the Mecca of New Age culture in Central PA. Espresso Yourself seems to be an epicenter for it. I came on a music night-they have those every few Fridays-but you'll have to Google them for the schedule.

Newport's in the middle of Perry County, which doesn't exactly have the reputation of being either progressive politically, or the center of an art scene. I beg to differ. It's not right in your face, like the dozens of galleries in Harrisburg and Camp Hill, but if you drive along Rt. 15, you'll find that a lot of the small towns along the road and back in the hills are really starting to take the initiative and create their own artistic life. It's called the "Byway of the Arts" apparently. Who knew? Well, now I do and so do you! To be honest, I really like this kind of town because it proves that you can find nice little artsy towns east of the Susquehanna River. I love running across an isolated small town that makes itself a center of culture.

Oh, another cool thing is that someone up there puts out this magazine called the Holistic Health Networker. Seems to be a small operation, but the magazine distribution does get as far as Camp Hill, just west of Harrisburg. It's very New Age/Holism friendly!

Coffee: Three and a half mugs.

Atmosphere: Four mugs.

Here are some pics...

That's the entrance...

Here is the rack of teas...

And that's the interior on a quiet afternoon.

Ratings revisited

I just decided on a new system for rating future coffeehouses. I'm still rating on the same dimensions, but the actual rating levels are changed. Instead of the descriptions, I'm using rating by "mugs" (kinda like "stars" or "diamonds"...except they're mugs). Scale will go from a rating of one-half mug (for utterly horrific), up to five mugs for a place that is the paragon of what a coffeehouse should be. Well, there it is...I'll be updating my former posts soon, so watch for it.

Milkboy Coffee

I actually made this trip three weeks ago but wanted to wait until the blog was underway before posting about it. Wanted to make a hometown cafe first on the site! Now that that is done, I really want to spread the word about this place. It's in the center of Ardmore, which is in the Philadelphia suburbs along the Rt. 30 spine. Was a nice long ride through frantic rush hour traffic to get there, but it was worth it. I read about the place in a music magazine and heard they have live shows on weekends, so I thought I'd make an evening of it. Apparently they're also an indie record label.

The coffee and (and tea) itself were decent; I would rate it as "high-end normal", pretty much the fare I expected. It was the atmosphere, though, that was really pleasing. They were having some kind of acoustic music night, which admittedly most coffeehouses now have to the point of being an entrenched stereotype. The only difference was that this is Philly, which means that they were actually solid, veteran indie performers. One of them (GoldenCarr) actually was giving away CDs for free, asking only a donation of whatever I could give. That was nice. I know an artist has to make a living, but it's fun to be spared the typical hawking of "merch" that often takes on a medicine-show-esque feel at venues.

Here are some pics of the place...at least they didn't act too leery about me taking snapshots with the phone...




To be honest, it wasn't even the coffeehouse itself that really shone in the atmosphere respect, but rather the town around it. Ardmore is a lovely place. Lots of interesting people there, what with a continual and steady flow of hipsters from the surrounding colleges and the many settled-in, aging hippies! If it could be transported to the peaceful mountains of Vermont it would have been even better. I had an interesting run-in with one of the townsfolk...I was sitting on a park bench and suddenly heard a "hey, hey, HEY!" behind me. Turns out that was from a group of three police chasing some kid who apparently had just bolted from the courthouse. The kid whizzed by me with a frenetic but determined grimace on his face as the police chased after him and sirens started to wail. I thought about trying to help out by grabbing the kid, but figured that would make me both a criminal myself, and kinda a tool. Oh well; you're on your own, coppers!

Coffee: Four mugs
Atmosphere: Four mugs

St. Thomas Roasters

And so the Coffeehouse Tour begins! My first stop had to be something with emotional connection. This is the coffeehouse that my dad and I always stop at after a hike in the woods up on Second Mountain. I also wanted to start out this blog on a really positive note. This place has been here for a very long time and with good reason. They really know how to make a cup of coffee. They also know how to take care of their customers. Something that really stuck out to me was a minor detail that usually gets overlooked. They had non-dairy creamer on the shelf. Most coffeehouses don't do this; they either offer normal milk or soymilk if you're lucky. One of the owners of this place is a man named Geof Smith. He's a really nice person...he actually posed by the coffee bean processor for me. Yep, you heard right...they have a big silver coffee grinder. I thought that all of the big bags of beans in the lounge were just for show, but they're not! I took two photos of the coffeehouse...one of the exterior with the patio and one of the famous coffee grinder.



The next time I come here (and since it's so close there will be a next time very soon) I'm going to take in some of the music that happens here on Friday nights...at least I think it's mostly Fridays. It's mostly acoustic music from what I've seen, but it's mostly original artists, so that's definitely good. We have an overabundance of cover bands and such here in H-burg. Oh, and beware of the traffic. There's some construction going on near the place and the path to get there will be rather winding for a few months! Well, that was the coffee world's one freebee. The places I journey to from now on may or may not be of this caliber. We shall see...

Ratings
Coffee: Four and a half mugs
Atmosphere: Four and a half mugs

The Ratings...

I made the decision to sort of "rate" the coffeehouses, but I'm doing it qualitatively, not quantitatively. By that I mean I couldn't rate on a number scale. It seemed a little asinine to rate one coffeehouse or its coffee a 95 and another a 90. I know sommeliers do it with wine, but I really don't know how that works since taste is something so intuitive and individual. I'm a science guy at heart, and when I use numbers, they had better mean something substantive. So how will I rate them? On two dimensions-"space" and "liquids." Space refers to the artistic and cultural strengths of the coffeehouse itself and liquids refers to the overall tastiness and diversity of the coffee and/or tea at the place. I'll either rate it as "meh", "decent", "good stuff", or "awesomeness." Remember, this is all my opinion. I'm not a trained coffee-guy. I'm just a thirsty nerd.

So...What's it all about?

Hello out there, and welcome to my little corner of cyberspace. Since this is my first post, I should really say what this is all about and how it began. I'll do that as any good journalist (I'm a communications major) would...by using the 5 W's and 1 H. That is, Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.

Who: Name's Adam. I'm a bookstore lackey/amateur astronomer/reluctant hipster from Harrisburg PA.

What: Part travelogue, part tour, part excuse for excessive caffeination and travel on my part.

When: Right now and continuing for as long as I can gas up the car!

Where: All over Pennsylvania and beyond.

Why?: The most important question of all! The answer is because I can. It's that simple. Really. Ok, not really. I'm doing this for two reasons...I love the culture of the coffeehouse, and I want to share my love and respect for these little bastions of caffeine and intellectualism with the rest of the world (and inform people about some really good ones in the process!) Besides, most of the best ones in PA are mostly unknown...until now that is.

How: Gasoline, any free time from work, and a little help from my friends.