Review - The Last Drop

1300 Pine Street
215.893.9262
Yelp, Google Maps
M - F: 7 am - 10 pm, S - S:  8 am - 9 pm
Free Wi-fi, some tables, broken outlets

The Last Drop

[Editor's note: this review was written by a guest blogger, Miriam.  I apologize for the unoriginal photograph.  Miriam doesn't own a camera so I instead used an image I found online.]

Hidden in a small corner on 13th and Pine, rests a mosaic café, dimly lit filled with somber music.  As I scurried into the café to shelter myself from the stabbing cold wind, I was kindly greeted by the sweet aroma of coffee.  I scanned the room quickly, to find few tables and chairs, a bar and few stools peppered by young adults furiously typing away.  Gripping onto my laptop, I searched for an open table and a nearby outlet to plant myself on for the next hour.  Nature called, and before I too was going to start furiously typing away, I needed to find the bathroom.  I could not see any sign that obviously screamed out “BATHROOM” but instead saw a sign pointing downstairs that read “ATM”. My gut told me that relief would be found downstairs. I was surprised to find that there were more tables and lots of outlets on the bottom floor…but it was deserted. As I waited for the man who screamed “I’ll be right out!” from the toilet, I had plenty of time to examine this ground floor.  Standing there alone, I got chills down my back.  Though I knew people were upstairs, and someone was down here (though he was buy and probably would not be able to come to the rescue), it felt like the basement of an abandoned home.  The carpet I was standing on felt grimy, dirty and I had the urge to wipe my feet from standing on it.  Graffiti decorates the walls of the ground floor and also the bathroom.  I made sure not to come into direct contact with anything.

I scurried upstairs and got in line to finally get a chance to judge the quality of the coffee served.  I asked the cashier what flavors the cupcakes were, he said he did not know.  I asked him what type of coffee they brewed, and his answer was “Phoenix”.  I asked him if they didn’t brew La Colombe (since bags are sold on location) in which he responds that only the espresso is La Colombe.  He must have noticed that I wasn’t too happy with this answer, so he quickly reassured me that he thinks Phoenix is under the same company.

I took the first sip of coffee and quickly realized that it was weak and had been probably sitting inside the percolator since 7 am.  I felt like I was drinking black water.  I planted myself under the brightest bulb I could find making sure I had a nearby outlet.  As I decided whether to sit on the wooden chair, or the cushioned bench, I noticed that the cushion on the bench looked like it had seen better days… for obvious reasons. The outlet didn’t work and the longer I sat there, the dimmer the room seemed to get.  Local musicians were sitting next to me chit chatting about business, sipping on some drinks and all I could smell was the stench of cigarettes.  As a conclusion, the one good thing about it is that it’s open late and you can get a refill of coffee for $1.  If you’re into dark rooms, depressing music, terrible coffee and graffiti filled bathrooms; then The Last Drop is for you. But if you have any respect for the beauty and simplicity of coffee and seek for an environment that is inviting and warm then this place will definitely not have you drinking their stuff until the last drop.

I give it 1.5 beans out of five.  As always, comment below!