Review - Shot Tower Coffee

542 Christian Street
267.886.8049
Website, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Google Maps
M - F: 7 am - 7 pm, S - S: 8 am - 6 pm
Free Wi-Fi, Tables, Outlets

Shot Tower Coffee

Have you ever had what my friends affectionally call the "Ratatouille moment?" If you've watched the Pixar movie, the food critic Anton Ego has such a moment when he tastes Ratatouille made by the protagonist, Remy. I had such a moment today when trying coffee at my new favorite cafe. I've been visiting and patronizing various cafes around the city for the last 7 years and have sampled quite a number of them. People have routintely asked me for my favorite ones, and I've somewhat floundered when trying to answer. Philadelphia boasts a number of high quality coffeeshops but they all seem to have their pros and cons. If you're a regular follower of my blog, you might know that I evaluate a number of factors and characteristics when reviewing a coffeshop. The decor, ambiance, studying environment, availability of tables, outlets, and Internet, friendliness of the staff, price, and of course the the quality of coffee. Every cafe I've visited seemed to lack at least one of those qualities. Until today. After years of searching for the "best cafe in Philadelphia," I have finally found it. Without further ado, I introduce to you, Shot Tower Coffee, where every factor I evaluated was perfect!

Shot Tower Coffee is located in the Bella Vista neighborhood in South Philly. In fact, Shot Tower is truly a local cafe.  It's owners grew up in the neighborhood.  While it might be a little out of ways for most of my readers, if you're every in the neighborhood, this IS the cafe to visit. And even if you're looking for a cafe and you're not close by, this STILL is the place to go. Besides, Belle Vista is a great neighborhood with a number of great restaurants to try out too.

The moment I stepped into Shot Tower, I was very impressed by the clean, refreshing, and simple decor. The cafe is surrounded by huge window panes so there is tons of natural light. The owners, Mariel Freeman and Mat Derago must have read my mind when choosing their decor. It has a refined decor while at the same time avoiding one of the biggest problems of most cafes in the City: over-crowdedness. There's one large "picnic-style" bench in the middle of the cafe that seats 12, and there are about 11 bar-style counter spaces. There are also 4 outdoor tables. That isn't the most amount of seating, but the cafe is certainly very spacious and isn't overly crowded. The cafe isn't overly-crowded as there's plenty of seating unlike Elixr or Nook. It's spacious and isn't cramped unlike Spruce Street Espresso and Lovers and Madmen. It isn't dark-lit like Last Drop or Mugshots. The high ceilings and natural light doesn't make it seem like you're in a basement like OCF. It's spotless and immaculate unlike the grimy feeling you get in La Colombe or Ultimo. To round off the ambiance, they have a pretty nice music selection, which isn't overbearing or too loud. Most importantly, they don't just play super-hipster music like Ultimo.

As for a study-spot, it's perfect. There's tons of table and seat space. Plenty of outlets, and of course free Internet. In fact, my test reveal that Shot Tower has the fastest Internet of any cafe I've reviewed with a download speed of 9.30 Mbps, and an upload speed of 8.34 Mbps. My only criticism of this place would be the hours as it closes at 7 pm on most days.

As for coffee, this place doesn't take any shortcuts. They use 2 kinds of roasters: PT's (which is a Kansas-based roaster also used by Elixr) and Stumptown (which is a Portland-based roaster). I've tried a number of PT's coffee at Elixr so it wasn't that novel to me. But I was VERY happy to learn that they use Stumptown, which is growing in popularity due its wonderful coffees. And what makes Stumptown even more special is that there aren't that many Philadelphia cafes that use Stumptown. Stumptown has a variety of single-origin coffees and also several blends. They're also very famous for producing their "Hair Bender" blend, which produces some of the best espresso shots ever. After talking rather extensively with the very friendly and knowledgeable baristas, I settled on both a coffee and an espresso. They usually brew their coffee via drip (though you can request pour-over when it isn't too busy). The coffee was a single origin coffee by PT's from Ethiopia. It was a light roast with subtle notes of Blackberry and smooth composition. Very aromatic and not too acidic. It was truly one of the best cups of coffees I have had in my life. The espresso was also a single origin coffee from Ethiopia from Stumptown. Also very delicious. If you're big into espresso shots, you absolutely have to try Shot Tower. The espresso machine they use is the Strada model made by La Marzocco. If that has no meaning to you, let me just say it's perhaps the best espresso machine made by perhaps the best espresso machine producer. It costs around $20,000 and what makes it unique is that it has a variable pressure controlling mechanism that gives the barista who's pulling the shot ultimate control over the shot. I believe it's one of few such machines in the East Coast and I think it's also the ONLY one in Philadelphia. You have to check it out.

Most impressively, the coffee wasn't overly-expensive unlike Elixr. An 8-ounce cup of coffee will cost you a mere $1.25. If you're not a huge coffee drinker, they also have legitimate tea. They won't just fill up a cup with hot water with tea bags, but will actually steep the tea with real tea leaves.

To summarize, this cafe is just about perfect in every way. Perfect ambiance and environment. Awesome awesome coffee. Friendly and knowledge staff. Spacious and reasonably-priced. My only criticism is that it isn't open that late...but 7 pm is on par with many other coffee shots in Philadelphia. Therefore it is without any hesitation that I give Shot Tower the first ever "5-bean" rating and the title of "Philly Cacophony's Favorite Cafe!"

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