The #Yoasis: Ox Coffee’s Backyard
There’s nothing wrong with you whether you do or don’t feel some kind of way about what some people call third wave coffee but which we’ll call, arguably far more accurately, MFA Coffee. We can make the case for this analogy in greater depth some other time, but one of the many ways it works is that, once school is out for summer, MFA Coffee simply turns back into the beautiful blunt instrument that is iced coffee, and iced coffee of any kind is almost never not good. It needs no wave, it needs no diploma. It simply is.
Located on a suddenly very of-the-moment stretch of 3rd Street between South and Bainbridge, Ox Coffee seems to be proudly, unabashedly MFA Coffee. And more than most, they seem to know what they’re doing; they even teach classes. Ahem. But like any beleaguered TA, come summer, they like a backyard hang as much as any Parrothead on the scene. That’s where today’s #yoasis comes in: If you walk through Ox’s narrow shop, hang a left at the backroom, walk out the door and turn right, there it is.
This is a very nice yoasis indeed, and spacious, too. Nice gravel, a big tree, plenty of tables and chairs, with a wooden back fence and fetching mural by Sean Spellman of the band Quiet Life. (Their song “Live Wire” still gives full Levon Helm-sized feels.) Importantly, it is never anything remotely close to being crowded, though the risk of these yoasis posts is surely going to be blowing up the spots we mean to merely elevate. This may be the finest semi-secret backyard spot since Wedge & Fig’s backyard, but who’s counting?
Well, we are, actually. Ox Coffee, you have made a fine yoasis. We thank you for it.
The #Yoasis is a series of posts on this site that seek to inform the reader of places in an increasingly bustling where one may encounter a sense of calm and tranquility. Philadelphia is full of Places We Can’t Understand, and we have written about those, too; as a counterpoint, a #yoasis is place in Philly that the body and spirit understands intuitively, and feels at peace. If you’ve got a #yoasis you feel comfortable sharing with us, please do by emailing us at tips[at]philebrity[dot]com.
