Hey - first off, I have no affiliation with them (other than a satisfied customer!)

I took a trip to this coffee shop today located on 8620 Germantown ave. Philadelphia, PA 19118
website is here: http://chestnuthillcoffee.com/

The shop is run by John Hornall (roaster + barista) and Sultan Malikyar (owner)

They have their own roaster upstairs and the espresso bar downstairs. The equipment consists of 2 commercial brew machines, 2 mazzer majors and a la marzocco (3 group I believe) espresso machine.

The first thing I noticed is the barista technique. They were quick, but extremely detail oriented. They did a great job at cleaning after each shot and wiping/purging steam wand after steaming (the "2nd best" place in Philly called la colombe [which in my opinion does not lie anywhere near this caffe] had the grimiest nastiest looking equipment I have ever seen)

I go to college at Drexel University located in center city philadelphia, so I took a 30 min train ride over to chestnut hill west on the R8 (only $6.75 round trip).

First I started off with a Macchiato:

Beautiful and it tasted as good as it looks!

Initially John was out on errands so I had a nice chat with another guy, Tom who was doing some roasting. He was incredibly knowledgeable and didn't seem at all bothered by the million questions I asked lol! (I even mentioned the forums to him, so maybe he'll see this)

Later on John dropped by and I started talking to him about roasting, brewing, his experience in competition, etc.
He was also really nice and even pulled a couple of shots for me which were also tasty.
I asked him about the WBC no leveling but softing tamping crowd and he told me that he levels and he trained all his baristas to also level. (I agree with him)

John was nice enough to sell me some greens which I am going to be roasting and will come back to show him my results [and taste them as well ]

If you are anywhere in the philly area I highly suggest you take the trip there - you will NOT be dissapointed

-Ilya

Thanks for the review, I've seen them before (they're the only thing in the area on espressomap.com) but have not made it down there yet. I'm heading down to the city this weekend and plan on doing a mini cafe tour if I have time, so hopefully I'll find somewhere as nice!

The Chestnut Hill Coffee Co. is excellent. Also, Chestnut Hill is a great area to walk around. Spruce Street Espresso is also excellent.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Don't forget to stop by this sunday during the Spring Festival Street Fair along Germantown Avenue, it'll be a blast!

See you soon!
CHCC

Been there quite a few times. It is a 3 group Marzocco Linea, if I remember correctly they run it at 203.5 for their espresso blend. Nice sushi shop across the street and cigar shop further in town. You just have to watch your speed through town. Not because the police will get you, but the cobble stone street will rattle your teeth loose. The old trolley tracks are an interesting addition as well. I swing by after work now and then when I am in town. I work in Conshahocken so it is just down the street. When I run out of home roast I swing by and pick up a batch of the house espresso blend. You get a complementary cup of coffee with a pound purchase.

Good stuff, passes my taste test.

John Hornall was previously one of the principals in Hines Public Market Coffee. It was a highly respected cafe and roastery in Seattle that closed its retail operation some years ago when gentrification resulted in the building where it was located being closed down.

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/232155_coffeehouse12.html

The Hines brand still lives on under the guidance of John Sanders and last time I checked you could get espresso shots from Hines coffee at 'Spro - the espresso/coffee bar located in the public library in Towson MD (about 45 minutes north of DC).

http://manseekingcoffee.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/sprocoffee/

Not surprised to hear that the drinks there are top shelf. I was in Philly several weeks ago and unable to get to Chestnut Hill on my abbreviated visit (was there only for a few hours) but I did visit Spruce Street Coffee and had a truly excellent espresso and machiatto - followed by an outstanding cup of Ethiopian made with a press pot. I believe they've been open for a bit less than one year under the current owners and are doing a terrific job.

http://onionbean.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/spruce-street-espresso/

In equally good Philly news you can soon enjoy Ultimo Coffee Bar at 1900 South 15TH Street Newbold (I'm clueless as to exactly where that is but it is in Philly).

Owner Aaron Ultimo worked with the folks at Spruce Street for awhile before leaving to launch his own venture and it is sure to be a welcome addition to the local coffee scene. Supposed to open very very soon.

http://ultimocoffee.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/lovers-and-madmen-opens-on-saturday/

We should be so lucky where I live but we're not...

I went to Spruce St. Espresso and also Love & Madmen today.

They both use counter culture coffee and I was actually dissapointed.

The people working were very pleasant, but the espresso and technique was a little disappointing.

At Spruce st the woman working the espresso machine was very nice and I chatted a little coffee with her, but when I commented on the espresso being kind of bitter she said "can't please everyone." Although this is true, it's not the best comment to make to a customer - needless to say, I won't be going there anytime soon.

At Love & Madmen, the macchiato I had was a little bitter (better than spruce st. IMO), and when I commented on this, the barista offered to make me a nother shot - VERY Nice of her (shows cutomer satisfaction comes first). The second shot was less bitter, but still slightly so.

I talked coffee a bit with the barista and she was generally knowledgeable, but not an "expert." She wasn't aware of terms such as basket, naked portafilter, updosing, etc.
I asked her why she whacked the portafilter on the counter really hard after tamping and she said it was taught that way by counter culture reps. I asked her to make 2 shots - 1 with whacking and one without, but she didn't want to (I understand, I was being a really annoying customer, but I was trying to teach her a little [which may in some people's minds not be the right thing to do] )

Another thing to note is that both shops leveled the coffee and both were several steps on top of La Colombe.

However, neither shop comes close to chestnut hill (I know I sound like I work there, but really am just an extremely satisfied customer). Chestnut hill wins on both technique and coffee knowledge. No matter the topics, the baristas there have an opinion and an interest.

Needless to say, even though my friends think I'm crazy, I will take that 30 min train ride to chestnut hill (yeah, it's that good!).

I'm going to bring a few friends next week to try to change their minds that all 'spro is bitter.
-Ilya

I'm going to try to hit up Beauty Shop Cafe, Brew Ha-Ha, or Spruce street this weekend when I'm downtown. Brew Ha-Ha is closest to where I'm going to be, so I'm likely to end up there. I'll report my findings!

At Spruce Street you might check on which CCC blend i being used for the shots that day. I'm not 100 % certain but I think they may switch among different blends. The day I was there the Aficionado blend was in use and I enjoyed it greatly. Earlier in the year (maybe late last year....) I had CCC shots at Everyman in NYC and tried two other blends. I didn't like either of them as much as the Aficionado (yes... I know it was anything but a fair comparison as there were two different shops and baristas months apart).

CCC provides very good espresso blends but even if perfectly prepared they are all quite different from one another.

The La Forza - said to be a Southern Italian style - is dark like a classic Pacific Northwest profile and has way too much roast flavor for me but is likely to cut through milk nicely for taller drinks. You can expect a straight shot or machiatto of this blend to have an undertone of bitterness that some like and others don't care for.

Toscano - described as Central Italian style - is lighter but still a bit too darkly roasted for my personal tastes.

Aficionado - which I tried for the first time at Spruce Street - is Northern Italian style. Lighter than hte others it happens to be a roasting style I have a strong preference for and Spruce Street delivered great shots of it when I was there.

YMMV and tastes are highly personal as well as subjective... but I was also totally charmed by and engaged in great coffee conversation with the manager Faith. Next time I'm in Philly it's first on my list (but I will also get out to Chestnut Hill next time).

I ended up at Spruce street espresso today, and had a great macchiato. It was so good that I had to have a followup shot which was equally as good. I chatted up the barista and asked him what they were serving that day, and he said they were using CCC Aficionado, and made it sound like they were making a perm switch from the Toscano. I did notice they had their dosers on their SJs open and the barista took the time to clean any stale grounds out of the doser with a brush before pulling my shot (it wasn't particularly busy). It was my first time there, but a most enjoyable experience.

Chestnut hill is next on my hitlist, it's not too far off my normal path.

Out of curiosity, has anyone been to any of the Milkboy shops up in the Ardmore area?