Are you in Philadelphia looking for a good coffee spot? Are you a SUNY Buffalo student looking to get involved in the Alternative Spring Breaks? Good thing you have a caffeine-addicted, civically motivated journalist to tell you the best of both! Let me take you through the four service projects that were included in the University at Buffalo Civic Engagement Alternative Break, and the six coffee shops that this writer gave up sleep to go to (in the name of science, of course).
The first day of the program didn’t include a service project, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t include a café. The first coffee shop I tracked down is Old City Coffee, in the heart of—shockingly—Old City. Located at 221 Church St., Philadelphia, PA 19106, this charming coffee shop kicked off the trip with strong espresso, house-made syrups, and an old-timey interior. I personally tried an iced vanilla latte with whole milk and found it quite delightful. In addition to their location on Church St., they also are posted up in Reading Terminal Market. There, I tried their oat milk matcha. While it was perfectly fine, I would much more enthusiastically recommend their lattes over the matcha.
Day two kicked off the service projects, with two out of four partnerships happening on the same day. But what do two service projects mean? Two coffee shops! The first café is also located in Old City; at 18 S 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106, you will find Menagerie Coffee. This cute spot holds a good amount of seating, the exposed brick walls and hardwood floors giving it a cozy and welcoming interior. If there is a single thing that I—a professional coffee snob—would recommend from this spot, it would hands-down be the iced chai that I tried on my third(!) visit to this café. The latte was a little too weak for my taste, and while the almond croissant was good, it was nothing compared to their chai. While most coffee shops simply mix concentrate with milk to get their iced chai, this coffee shop shakes theirs with cinnamon, which levels their drink up more than you might expect.
After this visit, the SUNY Buffalo group hopped on a bus to a public school to help reorganize their library. Unfortunately, many public schools in Philadelphia are so underfunded that they don’t have the budget for a library—or librarians. This school had student and teacher volunteers help keep their library alive, and UB was more than happy to help. After three hours of reorganizing shelves, restacking books, and very enthusiastically writing recommendations for books, we were off to our second project of the day: volunteering with the League of Women Voters. Here, we were taught about the history of the Quakers in progressive movements and the dangers of the SAVE Act before doing our part to prevent it by making calls to the New York Senators imploring them to use their voice and their vote to keep their constituents represented in democracy. After this, I found myself at a coffee shop located at 700 West Ave, Jenkintown, PA 19046. Their unique lattes stood out, as I tried their rose vanilla latte and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you’re unlike me and not looking for coffee at 5pm, no worries! This café also sells ice cream and other sweet treats for your after-dinner cravings. This is another spot I would highly recommend if you ever found yourself in the area.
The third day of our trip was the coldest, but did that stop this reporter from getting yet another iced drink? Of course not! This morning’s coffee run was my favorite of the entire trip, and if you are going to take one recommendation from me, let it be this one. At The Franklin Residences, Building 834, Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19107, you will find Passero’s Coffee Roasters, one of the oldest cafes in Philly and my personal favorite. Here, I ordered a vanilla iced latte and a cinnamon roll, and both were exquisite. With checkered tile and hand-written menus, the interior is cozy and welcoming, giving the feel of a small-town, local spot. The service project that accompanied this incredible coffee was at FDR Park, at the very south end of the city. Here, the students froze their fingers making and installing wire cages to protect sapling trees from the deer that were trying their darndest to stop this park from furthering its ecosystem. In doing so, we were able to protect trees that will hopefully live far longer than us.
However many wonderful cafes there are in Philly, there are some that were a bit of a letdown—one in particular. The next morning brought this unfortunate time at La Colombe Coffee at 100 S Independence Mall W #110, Philadelphia, PA 19106. The coffee was sadly a tad too bitter and weak for this reporter, not quite my cup of tea (or perhaps more appropriately, coffee). This day also brought along UB’s last service project, at the Share Food Program. We students spent our day in a warehouse stacking pallets of non-perishables to help this program, aiding in serving over 7,000 of Philadelphia’s senior citizens.
The last coffee shop that was visited by yours truly was Olivier CafĂ© at 50 S 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106. While their espresso itself wasn’t quite up to the level of Passero’s, their creativity more than made up for it. Served in a very sturdy, reusable cup, I immensely enjoyed their Nutella latte. Similar to many of the other cafes, Olivier’s had a very comfortable interior that gave me a chance to catch up on editing some articles and writing a paper, because the life of an English major does not pause for spring break. Â
With that, I rest my case (and my keyboard) on my opinions of the coffee shops that were visited in Philadelphia. You can take my recommendations—or not—but one that I do want to leave you with is the importance of civic engagement. If you are a UB student, I highly recommend the Alternative Spring Breaks as a way to get involved. In the world and context that we live in today, every volunteer, every voice, and every action counts.