The retail operations of Philadelphia roasting company Greenstreet Coffee are verdant once again with the opening of a new South Philadelphia cafe just blocks away from the Greenstreet roastery.
Helping bring the cafe to life is a vivid mural by artist Nicole Saltzer, whose work also adorns an outside wall of the roastery and the brand’s swirling packaging design. The new mural depicts the full cycle of coffee production, from the farm to the roaster to the cup.
Custom shelving and curved seats around the 15th Street cafe subtly reinforce the shapes of coffee beans. Natural wood tables, benches and local art add warmth to the industrial vibe established by concrete floors, exposed ductwork and the metal panels on the front of the bar.
“I wanted the space to feel modern and bright, but still welcoming,” Greenstreet Coffee Co-owner Chris Molieri told Daily Coffee News. “I worked with Andrew Jevremovic of Octo Studio on the design build process and really loved his vision of incorporating organic shapes mixed with modern materials.”
Behind the bar, baristas craft espresso using a Synesso Cyncra machine paired with a Mahlkönig K30 Twin grinder. A Mazzer Mini grinds decaf, while a Mahlkönig GH2 breaks beans for batch brews in a Fetco Dual Extractor.
Opened on Nov. 18, the 550-square-foot, 28-seat cafe represents something of a return to standalone retail for Greenstreet Coffee. The company continues to maintain retail hours at its Philadelphia roastery, where a a Diedrich CR25 machine cranks out fresh roasts, yet Molinieri decided to close the company’s other shop last year.
The former cafe in West Philadelphia, which opened in 2021, was damaged by a fire that started in a residential unit upstairs.
“I made the difficult decision to close the shop due to the uncertainty of how long reconstruction would take,” Molieri said. “I think there’s a collective feeling from a lot of hospitality businesses in Philly that 2020-2022 were years of survival mode… After I closed West Philly in 2022, I knew I wanted to find the right space and right time for the next retail shop. I love that we already know our neighbors here, and this space was freshly built to be a coffee shop. It feels like everything has come together so well.”
Greenstreet Coffee Co. is located at 1205 S 15th St in Philadelphia. Tell DCN’s editors about your new coffee shop or roastery here.
Howard Bryman Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
Tags: Andrew Jevremovic, Chris Molieri, Greenstreet Coffee, Octo Studio, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Point Breeze, South Philadelphia, West Philadelphia