Yesterday, I came to Philadelphia for a quick overnight trip to have a meeting with a customer. The only real alone time I would get to walk around and explore would be early Thursday morning before my flight, so I walked around Center City and Rittenhouse Square before getting into an Uber going to the airport. In the last several weeks with the hot weather and my obsession with having cold brew / iced coffee in the morning, I was definitely in a coffee mood. So I did a quick search for places walking distance from my hotel where I could get a unique coffee drink. I found a place that was about an 8-minute walk from my hotel. It was completely nondescript; if I didn’t map it or look it up, there was little chance I would have stumbled upon it, especially since it was barely marked from the outside and was in an alley.

I walked inside the cafe, and it was huge. Even though I travel quite a bit, because I am so used to the small, cramped spaces and limited seating in New York, I still always marvel at the space inside cafes in other cities. The floor space was so wide, and the tables were large with lots of walking space between them. I ordered an iced strawberry oat milk latte plus an almond croissant from a local nearby French bakery. The oat milk was blended with pureed strawberries and infused with beet juice, and it really complemented the espresso well. I love finding unique drinks like this when traveling, even on short notice.