Farmer & Co — Restaurant in East Marlborough Township

My wife and I moved recently to Coatesville; my travels to and from work takes me along route 82, from downtown Coatesville almost to highway one, near Kennet Square.

This is a distinctive trek, from the bleak blasted Mad Max environs of Coatesville’s steel mill, through expansive rolling hills of various horse farms, and tiny Horton Foote towns like Unionville.

Daily, as I travel 30 miles an hour through Unionville, and slow down toward the blinking lights of a sign noting I am approaching a school zone, I pass a particular building, actually a house, identified by a sign: Farmer & Co.

At first , I assumed it was some sort of insurance company.

Over time, passing this house day after day to and from work, I finally noticed the three placards below the sign ; Coffee. Market. Garden.

Really.

It was only a matter of time.

From that day, I would pass Farmer & Co., and wonder.

Could this quaint little house actually have … a decent cup of coffee ?

It took me months more to just … put my car’s left hand turn signal on, and turn on to Cemetery Lane, and park at Farmer & Co.

I was not alone. There were six other cars already there.

As I walked through the entry, I was immediately facing a community board.

One post was from The Chocolate Club .

I turned to the right and …wow - A Chemex drip coffee maker .

That’s what I use.

I ordered the one thing that would tell me everything about Farmer’s brewing and production process - a cappuccino .

A review thus: the frothing knitted as tightly as a Scottish Highland sweater, the espresso smooth , with tone and no washout - ever so slightly under strength, but then again , I would as soon drink filtered rocket fuel, so it is clear that most would find it remarkable, on the delightful side of just bitter enough.

In the future I would simply order a third shot to my particular taste .

Wow again.

And then wow again; as I waited for the production of my cappuccino, I wandered into an adjacent room to find a veritable trove of single origin cacao bars . How could this be, that proverbial lightning could strike twice - a selection of single origin cacao bars …in Unionville ? And a credible , articulated cup of coffee in the same place ?

This changes everything.

Now I am going to have to get up particularly early, just to give myself options to stop in before I arrive at work, particularly if I am having a challenging work week.

I will need this little gift to myself.

By the way, I purchased two cacao bars to compare : Moka Origins’ Ugandan 72% to Triangle Roaster’s Ugandan 70% semuliki [ both were forestero beans, the workhorse bean ] .

I also purchased a 100% cacao content bar; only one has made me cry thus far: Claudio Corallo’s 100% bar… stay tuned. I will let you know if this one also makes me cry.

By the way, I was introduced to the owners’ [ Jessie and Soren- reason enough to stop in ] potted cacao plant; As I recall, its name is Wilbur .

I am rooting for Wilbur, who currently suffers from burnt leaf edges. Cacao plants do love steamy conditions, and I bet Wilbur prefers to be placed next to the frother.

If you do visit Farmer & Co., do try to say hello to this plant- I believe it needs a bit of encouragement this far north of the equator.

For goodness sake, don’t do what I did, and wait forever before simply stopping, and going inside . You have to slow down, anyway, for the elementary schoolchildren.

This is really truly really...

Sometimes when a coffee spot is in a very aesthetically pleasing setting like this, they phone it on on the coffee or the food. Not here. I’ve been here 7 times now over the past 4 months and every time the house coffee has the best coffee I’ve really ever had. The sandwiches are hand made and delicious, and so are the baked goods, my fav is the brownie. They have some excellent quality, setting appropriate artworks from local artists available to buy. On the grounds is a lovely working herb and vegetable garden they use for ingredients in their products, they have a cooler that offers local deli products, and the historic house all of this is set in has been preserved and kept in great condition. And to top it all off the staff there is super friendly, attentive and on top of everything. I can count on one hand the number of shops I’ve seen get every aspect right, and this is one of em.

You’re going to pay ~25% more at Farmer & Co. than at a chain, but you’re going to get 100% better start...

I went here for the first time yesterday and it was very cute with a lovely big spot of outdoor seating and picnic tables. The staff was very friendly and the coffee was good although I would have gotten a different drink (I had the smoked sea salt maple and it was a bit too salty for my personal taste) but I saw plenty of others while I was there love the taste. The food is also very good but the place is definitely pricey, a muffin (though again I say very good) was $7 …I have been to a lot of nice cafes and this was a first for spending that much on something like that. If I am in the area again though I...