Get your beans here! This is a list of specialty coffee roasters local to Philly that do single-origin light roasts whose coffeeshops are in or close to Centre City. This list is tailored to my preferences: I make coffee with an Aeropress at home, and I enjoy getting pourover coffee when I’m out.
🖙 Top picks • Good beans • Bigger chains • Coffeeshop‑focussed • Honourable mentions • Roaster only 🖘
Top picks
I’m a big fan of funky coferments and bright, juicy flavours, and these places often have such beans in their rotation.
Vibrant
Location: Rittenhouse Square and Locust | Lombard and 6th
Hours: until 16:00
They only have batch-brewed single-origin on the weekends, and they get pretty busy during the weekends. They now have a second location where they will do pourovers!
Elixr
Locations: 37th and Market | b/w 15th & 16th and Walnut | others
Hours: varies by location
This is perhaps the most well-known specialty coffee roaster in Philly, and many very nice coffeeshops will carry and brew their beans.
Pilgrim
Location: Main and Jamestown (Manayunk)
Hours: until 16:00
Relative to Centre City, they’re pretty far away in Manayunk, but it’s a great specialty coffeeshop if you’re in the area. I had a single-origin brew during the Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival, and an Aeropress brew inside the shop.
Good beans
These are other places I’ve bought beans from, with more typical processes for light roasts.
Top Hat
Location: 32nd and Walnut
Hours: until 15:00 (weekdays)/16:00 (weekends)
From time to time they have their single origins on batch brew, which is nice. They seem to be big on waffles, although I’ve never had one here. Since it’s on UPenn campus, there’s often a lot of students around.
Habitat
Location: 11th and Spruce
Hours: until 18:00
They usually have a single-origin on batch brew until they run out, and they do run out. Back in autumn 2023 they also had a spot at the Tuesday Rittenhouse farmers’ markets where they offered batch brew and pourovers (!), but they don’t seem to do that anymore. Their farmers’ market pourovers was how I started getting into coffee :)
Ox
Location: 3rd and South
Hours: until 13:00 (weekdays)/14:00 (weekends)
They have a single-origin on batch brew until they run out, but I’ve always been able to get a cup when I’ve gone, although they do close pretty early, so you might miss them if you’re an afternoon coffee person like me. I don’t think they offer pourovers though. A few other coffee shops in Philly carry and brew their beans, such as K’Far.
Bigger chains
These coffeeshops have more of a big-chain vibe, with several locations around Philly.
Reanimator
Locations: 47th and Pine | Susquehanna and Norris (Fishtown) | others
Hours: until 15:00
This might be a seasonal thing, but I recently got a single-origin brew at the Fishtown location. I haven’t noticed if the West Philly location ever did, but I have gotten a pourover there. Interestingly, I’ve also seen their beans at Revolver in Vancouver!
Ultimo
Location: 22nd and Catharine | 15th and Mifflin
Hours: until 18:00
Their Rittenhouse location closed and is now a Musette. The Passyunk location, at least, does do pourovers.
Rival Bros
Location: 24th and Lombard | Passyunk and Tasker
Hours: until 18:00
They usually have around three selections for pourovers, and the best part is the happy hour 14:00 – 16:00 where they’re a dollar off.
Coffeeshop-focussed
I would say that these places are more worth the experience of going into the storefront for a drink and a sit around.
Peddler
Location: 21st and Spring (behind the Franklin Institute)
Hours: until 17:00
They pretty much have the same four roasts all year round, and I believe typically offer two or three of them as pourovers. (They also have a really good spicy chai latte made in-house.)
Vamo
Location: 319 N 11th Street
Beans location: Mug Coffee & Clay, 8th and Federal
Hours: until 16:00
The roaster and the coffeeshop are separate, but coffeeshop uses their beans exclusively, and is a really cool place that also does pottery events!
Ace Outpost
Location: 4th and Fitzwater
Hours: until 17:00 (weekdays)/18:00 (weekends)
ngl I thought they were a vintage shop first with a coffeeshop attachment, and not the other way around…
Honourable mentions
Greenstreet
Location: 15th and Federal (near Ellsworth-Federal station)
Hours: until 14:00
Persimmon
Location: Frankford and Girard
Hours: until 15:00 (weekdays)/16:00 (weekends)
I believe they only ever have one roast of beans at a time, so by default their batch brew would be that coffee. The specialty drinks are really tasty.
Nook
Location: 20th and Chestnut
Hours: until 15:30 (weekdays)/13:00 (Saturday)
Their roasting setup is physically in this shop, and they offer an enormous selection of different beans and roasts. They also do have the specialty coffee by-the-cup, but I haven’t seen how exactly it is they brew it, because there’s no pourover setup and it’s an enormous 16 oz cup. Their light roasts have always tasted kind of burnt to me… I feel bad for saying it because the two people running the shop are really nice and I really want to like their coffee!
Roaster only / outside Philly
There are a few roasters further out or just outside of Philly with no storefront, but I’ve tasted their coffees at the Philly Coffee Festival.
Brainwave
Location: Roxborough, PA
Roaster location: Lansdale, PA
They have weird funky coffees that are really tasty! This would be a top pick of mine if they had a storefront.
Seekers
Location: Princeton, NJ
Their coffees are very good, and they’re opening a coffeeshop soon.
Nilaa
Location: Camellia Coffee House, Lansdowne, PA
They focus on coffee beans from southeast Asia. I’ve also had their cherry cold brew at Clark Park farmers’ market.
Cultura Coffee Crew
Location: Philadelphia, PA
They specialize in Colombian coffee, offering three roasts; the Cherry Bomb is my preferred one.
Traffic
Roaster location: Montréal, QC, Canada
Beans location: Forîn, South and 2nd
This is not a Philadelphian roaster. However, I really enjoy their beans, and there’s only one coffee shop around that carries them.