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Old City Coffee
Rating Details »
Category: Coffee & Tea [Edit]
Reading Terminal Market1136 Arch St
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 592-1897
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
14 reviews for Old City Coffee
I alternate between La Colombe and Old City for my whole beans. Balzac and San Francisco blends are what usually end up in my bag. And speaking of bags, if you bring back the bag you bought your whole beans in, you can re-use and they offer $.10 off your next order. Okay, it's not a lot, but I feel a little better since I don't waste another container every time I go back (and we go back regularly).
You can usually catch me carrying around a cup of their coffee when I'm doing my regular grocery shopping around the market -- I have to give my cafe au lait a while to cool down a bit because it's a wee bit too hot for me. Hey Starbucks, you'll never get me to call it a Caffe Misto no matter what your marketing gurus try to put over on the general public. (I only go to Starbucks when faced with no other options).
I think I just found my second favorite coffee place...maybe third, only reason being its in the middle of reading terminal market - its so noisy and unrelaxing there. The coffee on the other hand is soooo good. I found this coffee place when fellow derby leaguer becky t. showed it to me this weekend during the philly roller girls decoration of derby. That day I got iced coffee, it was one of the best iced coffees I've ever had, dark and delicious. I returned today and got a regular coffee, honestly I liked the iced better, but maybe I'm just in an iced coffee mood still.
The fellow working behind the counter each day was super friendly and remembered me from the weekend surprisingly. We had a little chit chat about the derby event that weekend and I went on my travels back to work. Even though its kind of a trek from 17th and arch I think this is my new place when I don't feel like sitting and reading a book on my lunch break.
This coffee is the bomb. I am partial to this location because I can run off the train, grab a bunch of stuff from the market, and hop back on the next train home. The employees here are really joyfully mellow in my experience. I also dig their Colombian Fair Trade Medium roast. I may jsut give up on my regular Trader Joe's coffee for this more expensive stuff- because they fresh roast it and grind it for you and I PROMISE it will make your whole domicile smell just HEAVENLY. Sigh.
Stopped here after having your standard below-par cheesesteak at the Market a few minutes earlier. Yeah, this is definitely one of the only coffee places at Reading Terminal, so I'll give Old City it's dues there. Even though I'm being mellowed by some folk music as I write this, I can't find too many more compliments from my brief run-in with Old City Coffee.
The regular coffee, which I forgot to ask about, tasted like Turkish. It had that thick, deeply earthy flavor, which I could tolerably groove on, though I don't necessarily request (I like my coffee smooth, accessible to the throat-streams).
Three big faults: wait staff was prompt but hardly entertaining. A cafe is all about conversations at the register! The guy who served me looked like the manager, too!
Second: no milk bar. I couldn't add any appropriate amount of cream and therefore I was forced to deal with their subjective handling of the situation. Great.
Third: the huge container of sugar water. It sits right there in front of you like a menace. I felt like civilization was slowly going down the tubes, and that isn't supposed to happen, especially at a covered market, after having eaten a Philly Cheesesteak, and in the midst of an ultra-fat buzz.
Consistently tasty, high octane coffee. They discount for being green (i.e. bringing your own cup), which is a big plus to me and I always get prompt service with a smile.
I was surprised to learn this is the only coffee place in the entire Reading Terminal Market. It would be nice if they added a seating area, but it's pointless if they do not serve food.
This is my style of coffee...dark, roasty, & empowering in flavor. No matter how much cream or sugar you add, it still is strong..stronger than any Colombian roasted coffee I've had in the area.
I'd give this place 5 stars for the coffee alone, but I deduct a star when one of the servers shuffled the tip box in front of me. Normally I do throw down a few change in there, but the suggestive behavior was a little offensive.
Back when I worked at Reading Terminal their coffee was the life blood that kept me going on morning shifts. the strongest part of waking up! after trying it again I'm glad to see that the coffee hasn't lost it's kick.
It doesn't always offer the best service. and it doesn't have the variety of most other coffee joints (your in the terminal though so you can get all that stuff elsewhere easily enough). but it definitely always hooks up a consistent cup of joe that serves it's purpose.
Pretty good coffee. But then again I can't tell from a Maxwell House to a Folger's. Kidding!...
I'm not a coffee connoisseur. So I'm just going to say that I love this place for the convenience and for the ultra fast and awesome service. I like to go around the back and get my drink from their smaller outlet. The staff are friendly and helpful. When they couldn't produce a receipt for my drink, they offered to give me a receipt from the next sale they do. And they actually remember to do so.
Can someone try their biscotti and let me know how it is? I can't get over how ginormous they are...
I am reviewing this place as a coffee roaster ONLY. They don't really seem to be set up for full barista service, and I have a really hard time thinking of this place as an actual cafe.
Seriously, buy coffee from this place, practice good coffee habits like grinding it yourself immediately before brewing, and behold. Unlike other roasters in the area, they actually know what light roast means, and they're not trying to riff on the burn-everything-to-hell starbucks roast for every single roast.
They do sell cups of coffee too, I guess.
The service here is pretty standard when it comes to coffee service.
My only beef is with the quality of their whole beans--I've given them a couple of tries with two different medium roast coffees spaced about six months apart and I've been mildly disappointed. My most recent try was with 1/2 lb of decaf columbian ground at home, brewed with a manual drip and Brita-filtered water. The aromas were not exactly what I expect from beans purchased at a specialist coffee roaster--wet cardboard, dull nuttiness, and a harsh acidity.
C'mon Philly...where's the good stuff in this city? I just might have to ship my beans in from Chicago or Baltimore....
Good service and an OK cup of coffee.
I still prefer Wawa over any and every cup of coffee.
Good, strong coffee. Perfect when paired with a pastry from one of the market's excellent bakeries. Take home a bag and enjoy the experience at home.
The Cafe in Old City (on Church near 2nd Street) is good, too.
Following a lame dessert experience elsewhere, it was nice to get a warm, yummy Americano here to keep my hands warm while walking around in the cold. Service was fast and efficient at this busy coffee counter. I don't dig the fact they add the cream for you - I really only ever want a drop, but I guess having self-service milk & cream would be impossible to maintain with the amount of traffic they get. Good cup of coffee that stayed warm all the way through running up the steps of the museum pretending to be Rocky.
Back in the day I used to be addicted to their rocket-fuel-like iced coffee. I don't think they've cleaned the machines since then. Their coffee works better than baby laxative, but I do appreciate its guts. Worse yet, the staff is officious. I'm not a fan of shopping local and getting some sad approximation of the Starbucks treatment. I'd prefer my barista to sneer into my java rather than dish out a perfunctory greeting. But that's just me. I also enjoy when coffee shops plays Sabbath. I only go to Old City when a strong cup of coffee is an absolute necessity.
