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Airy atmosphere, great coffee, made-to-order crepes, carefully curated books, and perfect mood music happily collide at Pressed Coffee & Books. It’s a forward-looking spot with a reverence for the past.
Step through the door of this light-infused coffee shop and feel your shoulders drop a few inches. The sound of milk being foamed blends with the ambient soundtrack, and the colorful books in the back room compete for your attention with the pastries on the counter.
Opened in 2018 by Abby and Bobby Weaver, the shop is in the former home of John O’Hara, the early 20th-century author of the best-selling novels Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. (He’s also credited with helping to invent The New Yorker magazine style of short stories.)
‘We had no intention at that time of creating a bookstore,’ says Abby, ‘but when we looked at the property and found out its history, the book part just made sense. I love that there’s this piece of history integrated.’
When we visited, we relaxed into perfectly foamy lattes (made with beans from Passenger Coffee Roasters in Lancaster), a savory ham-and-cheese crepe (the gluten-free option was delicious), and a just-the-right-amount-of-sweet muffin.
The bookshop’s gently used titles have obviously been selected with care. Our consideration stack was quite tall — we settled on a copy of Appointment in Samarra with a cool retro cover.
Around the corner from the shop is a statue of John O’Hara and several historic buildings are just a stroll away, including the Frank D. Yuengling Mansion — a Tudor-Jacobean style house built in 1913 by the Yuengling beer-brewing family — and the Necho Allen Hotel with art deco mosaics of coal mining life on its exterior walls.
The founders of the shop are committed to helping revitalize Pottsville’s historic downtoan area. ‘We always said that if we were going to live and work and play here, then we wanted to have the cool things that we saw in other cities accessible here, too.’
For opening hours and event calendar, visit the Pressed Coffee & Books website — and be sure to follow them on Instagram.
Top image courtesy of Elizabeth Blythe.
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