Good Brotha’s Book Cafe in Harrisburg serves a need in the community’ with literature, coffee - pennlive.com

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Stefan Hawkins hopes his new Harrisburg cafe exposes the community to not only good coffee, but inspiring Black literature.

Good Brotha’s Book Cafe opened on Jan. 18 at 1419 N. Third St. in the city’s midtown neighborhood with books, coffee and pastries. It is the first black-owned coffee and book shop in Harrisburg.

“I wanted to show that representation matters because a lot of times our youth doesn’t see themselves in books, they don’t see themselves reflected in movies,” Hawkins said. “So I wanted a space where kids could come and see books that look like them.”

The cafe is an extension of Good Brotha’s Book Club started by Hawkins and his friends, mostly for young African American men in the community.

“The statistics show that a lot of Black men don’t read. Well, we want to push back against that and show that at least the Black men in Harrisburg do read,” he said.

The shop’s shelves are filled with a variety of books by Black authors, ranging from “Training for Triumph” to “Parable of the Brown Girl” and “The Coldest Winter Ever.” Hawkins said he hopes to push the importance of literacy and education and possibly help the Harrisburg School district create book clubs.

The co-owner of House of Vegans in Harrisburg opened the cafe at the former Dalicia Bakery, which relocated to Mechanicsburg. Good Brotha’s is located across the street from House of Vegans.

“It’s a good place to come and it’s a good place to meet a lot of people,” Hawkins said. “Grab a good cup of coffee, a pastry, a good book and just hang out with us.”

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For the coffee, Hawkins reached out to a California roaster to brand Fifth Acres Coffee Co., selling a variety of roasts and flavors. The company’s name borrows from the neighborhood where Hawkins grew up at North Fifth Street and Hall Manor in Harrisburg, referred to as South Acres.

Coffees range from “The Hill,” a medium-dark roast, to “Midtown Midnight,” a medium breakfast blend, and “Stella’s Groove,” a dark roast.

The coffee is sold by the cup but within the the next week or so also will be available at the shop to buy by the pound to go. (It can also be ordered off Fifth Acres’ website.) Cakes by CC provides the baked goods including brownies, muffins, cookies and cheesecake. In the near future, Hawkins said the cafe will roll out a fuller breakfast and lunch menu with items such as sandwiches.

“I’m kind of tweaking the lunch menu to some standard because I’m a vegan and I own House of Vegan. I want to cater to vegan-ism and a lot of these meat eaters,” Hawkins said.

The cafe is open 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday. It’s closed Sundays. Phone is 717-710-3690.

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Good Brotha’s Book Cafe in Harrisburg serves a need in the community’ with literature, coffee - pennlive.com
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