Fully equipped with Wi-Fi, a professionally-trained staff and a menu chock full of unique caffeinated products, locally owned Caffeination on 21st and Chestnut welcomed the public for its grand opening last Saturday.
“Prognosis is good!” said Mitchell Cohen, owner and graduate of the American Barista and Coffee School of Portland, Ore. It was lunchtime, and already the café had the cozy and relaxed atmosphere of a well-established neighborhood coffee shop. “We try to keep a lot of our products local,” Cohen informed me as he bade me try one of the chocolate-chip muffins. “We get all of our baked goods from Baker Street Bread Co. in Manayunk, and they’re absolutely delicious.”
He wasn’t kidding. But along with tasty sweets, Caffeination also brews two types of tasty coffee supplied by Morning Star Coffee Inc. in West Chester, Pa. There’s the House Blend, a medium to dark roast coffee from countries all over the world, and also the owner’s personal favorite: Yirgacheffe, an award-winning variety that comes only from the small Ethiopian town it’s named after. “It’s believed to be the first place where coffee was ground,” Cohen explained, “The coffee trees [there] have gigantic coffee ‘cherries,’ which tend to be naturally sweeter.”
But even if you’re not a coffee fanatic, there’s no need to fret. Caffeination also offers a truly unique option for tea lovers: the Red Tea Espresso. Having won “Best New Product” at last year’s national Coffee Fest, this tea espresso is a caffeine-free and antioxidant-rich alternative for making lattes, cappuccinos and frappes.
Stop by Caffeination for breakfast or lunch, and ingest one of their muffins, scones, bagels or paninis. They offer caffeinated everything from lollipops to lip balm. And if you can’t find the caffeinated product you’re looking for, be sure to ask Cohen himself; he’ll be happy to find the best way for you to ingest your “legal drug of choice.”
