If you have followed Berks County Eats long enough, you know that I don’t drink coffee, but I love a good chai latte. It doesn’t matter if it’s a traditional spiced tea like those offered at places like Zaytoon and the former Greenhouse Cafe or if it’s an Americanized sweet drink like those served at Becca’s Coffee or Crave Cafe.
After trying the bananas Foster chai from HoneyPop, I may have a new favorite.
HoneyPop is a mobile drink trailer specializing in coffee, tea and dirty sodas. The small converted camper debuted in the fall of 2025, and owners Erin and Meghan invited me to stop by and try a chai – and some of their other signature drinks – at one of their events.
When HoneyPop set up at our local Easter Egg Hunt, I made it a point to stop by.
I was originally going to have my standard chai with oatmilk, but when they mentioned their bananas Foster version, I couldn’t say “no.”
The drink was out in short order, and it looked amazing with whipped cream, caramel drizzle, cinnamon and banana chips on top. After I put the lid on and took my first sip, I could confirm it tasted as good as it looks.
There is nothing traditional about it. Whatever tea they used took a back seat to the banana and caramel. Basically, the word “chai” was just an excuse to not call it a dessert. Either way, I will order it again and again.
Along with the chai, my oldest son, Jakob, got a s’mores hot chocolate topped with mini marshmallows and chocolate syrup. It was extra creamy thanks to the melting marshmallows. And it was deliciously sweet. Jakob approved.
He also approved of the “shark bite,” a kid-friendly soda that included sprite, blue raspberry, cherry and a gummy shark. The kids don’t normally get soda so I wasn’t sure what Jakob would think, but the fizziness was toned down by the add-ins making it a smoother drink. He let me have a sip, and it was a little too sweet for me. But Jakob enjoyed it, and I guess that’s why it’s on the kids menu.
Julie got to try the Island Time, a dirty soda featuring Sprite, peach, pineapple, vanilla and cream. The cream and vanilla made the drink smooth while the peach and pineapple popped in every sip. (Also, they added a peach ring for us, just for fun).
In addition to the drinks we tried, HoneyPop offers cold brew, boba, refreshers and a rotating menu of specials.
As of this writing, kids’ drinks are $6 each, dirty sodas are $7, and cold brew, boba and chai are $8.
We enjoyed everything that we tried, and we will definitely be looking for the camper trailer at events all year long.
A good lunch spot has to have four things: good food, quick service, reasonable prices, and a cool vibe.
Crave Cafe in Sinking Spring continues to check all the boxes.
Though the cafe got a new owner in late 2024, the cafe is still delivering in all the areas that have made it a favorite over the last decade.
We first visited Crave in 2015, and with Julie working just five minutes away, we have visited many times since.
Our most recent visit came in January 2026. We arrived for an early lunch – around 11 a.m. before the rush was in full force and still found only a couple open tables (they were a lot more scarce by noon). The fireplace is still the focal point of the main dining room, but a second dining area provides more seating in the room behind it.
We got in line and were quickly called over to a second station to place our order before taking our number back to a table for two along the wall.
The temperature in the room tends to run a little cold, and I was quickly reminded of it as we sat waiting, but it didn’t take long for our food to arrive and I was no longer thinking about anything except lunch.
I always have a hard time choosing between their paninis and flatbreads, but on this visit I opted for a panini – The Dunk. The sandwich comes with chicken breast, tomatoes, mozzarella, pesto aioli and balsamic glaze.
At it’s core, it’s a Caprese salad with the balsamic, mozzarella and tomato all working together to create a familiar flavor profile. But the pesto aioli adds nuttiness and earthiness to the dish while the chicken makes it heartier and more filling. It’s relatively simple but very satisfying.
For her meal, Julie did a soup and sandwich combo with a hearty tomato soup and a grilled cheese with the addition of bacon. Julie loves bacon and it gives the grilled cheese an added crunch and savory notes.
Both meals are between $12-15, but Julie got a matcha and I got a hot chai. Both came served in mugs from the cafe’s eclectic collection – mine a stubby US Air Force mug, hers a tall blue and white. The chai is a typical sweet style tea latte that has little resemblance to a true chai but is no less enjoyable. The matcha had the distinct green color and sweet-yet-earthy flavor to it that was a perfect go-with.
Lunch for two typically costs around $30, but we were around $35 for this one with our drinks. Sure, you can find places where we can eat for closer to $20, but it’s more than just the price – it’s the combination of everything. The price is fair, the food is good, the service is on-point, and Crave continues to be one of the coolest lunch spots around.
And we’ll keep coming back.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Very Good Ambiance: Very Good Price: $$
Crave Cafe 4600 Penn Avenue Sinking Spring, PA 19608
There is always a buzz around a new restaurant when it opens. The trick, however, is keeping the buzz going weeks and months after the opening.
We have seen a lot of new restaurants open in Berks County in the past few years, but none have been able to sustain the buzz quite like Sinking Spring’s Crave Cafe.
Crave Cafe opened at Green Valley Nursery in November 2024, in the strip of stores off Route 422 behind the Charlotte Shoppe. It’s nearly invisible from the road, but that doesn’t stop the dining room from filling up every day at lunch.
The ambiance is truly unique. In fact, every table is unique. Each one has its own set of chairs, different styles, different colors and different sizes.
A pair of parlor chairs sit in front of a large stone fireplace. Highly sought-after, they are, at the same time, the most appropriate and most out-of-place chairs in the cafe.
Orders are placed at the counter where the cashier is set up with an iPad that’s connected to a cash drawer and credit card machine. We took our number and retreated to our little table for two (we made sure to save one before ordering, just in case).
It wasn’t long before our drinks arrived. Normally I don’t spend the money (or the calories) for a drink, but being at a cafe, I felt obligated.
But instead of coffee or tea, Julie and I both went for frozen: a mango smoothie for me and a frozen hot chocolate for her.
Mine was good, but I was a little disappointed to see the syrup flavor going in when I was hoping for fresh fruit. Julie’s frozen hot chocolate did not disappoint, however. She happily slurped it down and was nearly finished by the time that our food arrived.
Both of us opted for the soup and sandwich combo. For me, it was a bowl of chili and an Italian chicken panini.
The chili thickened as the shredded cheese on top started melting. It had a good balance of flavors: not too spicy, a little sweet and plenty meaty. A bowl of it with some bread would probably make a nice meal on its own.
My sandwich was excellent. The Italian chicken came with grilled chicken breast, spinach, sun-dried tomato, mozzarella and basil pesto aioli.
Chicken and spinach poked out the sides of the sandwich along with the mozzarella that melted mozzarella that was oozing onto the plate.
The meat wasn’t the most flavorful I have had, but it didn’t need to be with the strong flavors it was paired with. I love pesto anything, especially when paired with sun-dried tomatoes. The mozzarella did well to keep everything together and hold most of the sandwich inside the grilled pita.
Julie’s chicken and basil soup was the soup of the day for our visit. With little pastas and chunks of tomato, it looked like a pasta e fagioli, but there were no beans. Instead, the brothy soup was lighter with the basil providing light notes to go with the chunky ingredients.
For her sandwich, Julie went with the turkey bacon avocado. Turkey doesn’t have a lot of flavor to start which allowed the bacon, tomatoes and chipotle aioli to shine through. Likewise, the avocado took a back seat to the stronger flavors it was paired with. Overall, everything blended well together for a hearty and filling sandwich.
The soup and half-sandwich combos are very reasonably priced, but with the addition of our frozen drinks, our total came out much higher than it normally would for lunch at about $25.
Crave Cafe continues to generate buzz more than a year after it first opened. The relaxed atmosphere helps set it apart from other go-to lunch spots in the Sinking Spring area.
But it’s the food that keeps filling the tables at lunchtime.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Good Ambiance: Excellent Price: Reasonable
There have always been plenty of places to eat along Route 73 between Fleetwood and Boyertown. But the one thing that’s been lacking is a good coffee shop.
Sweetie’s Back Porch Cafe lives up to its name, with a location “out back” behind Bella Italia Pizza, Hometown Dental, and Clear Flow Water Solutions. The cafe has an unassuming entrance – a simple white door against the green warehouse-like facade.
But walking inside, everything changes. The narrow stairway opens into a more spacious dining room with wicker-back chairs at round tables. Tall-backed wicker seats with tan cushions are along the wall.
A second room offers more casual seating with a pair of couches and two kidney-shaped coffee tables.
On my first trip, I grabbed a corner spot along the wall and set up with my laptop. I arrived around 8 a.m. The restaurant wasn’t empty, but there was still plenty of seating available.
I ordered a breakfast croissant and a hot chai latte.
It didn’t take long for my chai to arrive. Served in a large brown mug, it was sprinkled with cinnamon. It had a pleasant spice to it, warming on a cool winter’s day, though I would gladly drink it anytime.
The croissant arrived five minutes later. It was halved with sausage inside and cheese melting out of it. I’m usually not one to order a breakfast sandwich, but Sweetie’s has a fairly limited menu, especially for breakfast. The breakfast sandwich – with choice of meat and either a croissant or bagel – is the only real option outside of toasts.
But I found the breakfast sandwich to be enjoyable, especially the buttery, slightly sweet croissant. And the sausage was the right choice for the meat. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was good food done right.
When I came back in late February, it was for lunch and their namesake Back Porch Bowl. The dish starts with a base of rice that’s topped with sliced beets and sweet potatoes, mango and feta cheese.
Beets are not high on my list of favorite foods, but the combination of the slightly bitter vegetable with the sweet mango was very good. Add on the creamy, tangy feta and it was a surprisingly complex, but delicious dish, one that I would gladly order again.
Instead of a chai, I ordered a blueberry matcha, one of three blueberry drinks Sweetie’s was offering to support one of the local school clubs. The blueberry syrup was made in-house and was excellent. And with sweet cold foam on top, it was a great indulgence.
My first visit totaled around $12 while my second was closer to $20, but I felt like it was still a good value for my money.
And others must agree because the cafe was much busier this time with people eating in and orders coming over the phone consistently while I was there.
It’s great to see it, too, especially in a part of the county that needed a place like Sweetie’s.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Excellent Ambiance: Very Good Price: $$
Sweetie’s Back Porch Cafe 1064 Memorial Highway Oley, PA 19547
Frystown feels about as far away as any location in Berks County. The village, located in the western tip of the county, is one of the smallest in the county with only about 400 residents.
It doesn’t feel like the kind of place that needs a coffee shop, but that’s where I found The White Magnolia Coffee Co.
White Magnolia started as a mobile coffee trailer based in Myerstown, Lebanon County. In June of this year, the business took over the former Baked Sweet coffee shop and bakery on Frystown Road.
The coffee shop was certainly doing great business while I was there. It was the day before Thanksgiving, a day off for many, which likely added to the crowd. With no spaces on the main lot, I followed the signs for additional parking to a secondary lot behind the building. The dining room wasn’t filled to the brim, but there weren’t many open tables. And I had two groups ahead of me in line to order breakfast.
The dining room felt spacious for a coffee shop with between 8-10 tables plus two counters with tall stool seats. I didn’t notice until I was ready to leave that there’s a second dining room in the back with more low tables and one high table with a live-edge wooden top.
At the front of the room, large windows on either side of the door let in the natural sunlight. Next to one window, guests could sit on a pair of wicker chairs with a small table in between. At the other window, a brown couch with tan cushions sat next to a toy kitchen where kids could play.
Throughout the room, the white-on-white motif brightens the space, even on an overcast day. Behind the order counter, a white menu board is affixed to the white wall. On a side wall, a triptych of white canvas with black floral print offers words of wisdom: “The whole world is a series of miracles, but we are so used to them that we call them ordinary things.”
Not wanting to take seating away from the larger parties, I grabbed a chair at the counter next to the barista stand where I watched a constant flow of drinks being mixed, steamed, and poured as I waited.
That included my own cinnabun chai. It was one of the featured specials for November, and I just couldn’t resist. It was sweet with cinnamon and sugar, definitely a bit of an indulgence. Because of how busy it was, it took about 20 minutes from the time I arrived until my drink was at the table, but it was absolutely worth the wait.
I had barely taken my first sip when my food arrived. I had ordered the farmhouse breakfast, a bowl featuring home fries, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cheddar cheese, sauteed peppers, and sauteed onions topped with garlic aioli and chives.
The presentation was gorgeous as the white bowl came out on a small black tray with a little side cup of fruit (strawberries, grapes, and blueberries). It looked delicious, and the first bite did not disappoint. It was a hearty dish with flavorful elements – the potatoes were seasoned and the sausage and bacon added savory notes. But the aioli was what really made the dish. I love garlic, and you probably have to if you’re going to love this dish as much as me because the aioli was definitely garlicky. But I thought it turned a very good dish into an excellent one.
And even though it was busy, I didn’t feel rushed as there were always seats available. So I lingered for a while, working from my perch at the bar while I savored my meal.
It was a little pricey at $25 for the drink and the bowl, but I didn’t feel cheated. The bowl was $16 and the drink was $8 (it was $2 more than a regular chai) plus tax. I would gladly pay that again for a quality meal like I had.
Frystown may be a bit of a hike, but I would gladly make that drive again for another farmhouse breakfast.
BCE Rating Food: Excellent Ambiance: Very Good Service: Good Price: $$
White Magnolia Coffee Co. 429 Frystown Road Myerstown, PA 17067
While I have a great setup for my work-from-home, sometimes it’s good to get out of the home office. Not only does a change of scenery help, it’s a great excuse to grab a table at a local coffee shop.
And when it comes to places to work away from home, Rooted & Grounded Cafe has moved near the top of my list.
The cafe is situated at the corner of Lancaster and McArthur Avenues. While the rest of the block have homes set up on a small hill with stairs leading down to the sidewalk, Rooted & Grounded is at street level, cut out from the embankment.
Out front, a church pew serves as a bench seat. Inside, Ephesians 3:17 is scrawled across the wall above the fireplace (the Bible verse also serves as the Wi-Fi password). The passage is where the cafe takes its name.
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The cafe is also one of the coziest in the area. Greens in hanging planters come down from the ceiling, and there are two large leather chairs by the fireplace for relaxing. But there’s also plenty of seating for me and my laptop on those days when work-from-home means work-from-anywhere.
I have visited the cafe for both breakfast and lunch, and it is a popular place, especially for families with young children. What was a small closet in the corner is filled with wooden toys to keep toddlers occupied before and after their meals.
The wait for food and drink doesn’t take long though. Drinks, like my chai latte, come out quickly.
I really enjoy the chai at Rooted & Grounded. I wouldn’t call it “authentic,” but it’s spiced and not as sweet.
It pairs well with a breakfast panini, which I tried on my first visit. I ordered a sausage, egg, and cheese which was made up of a sausage patty, scrambled egg patties, and plenty of melted cheddar. It made for a good sandwich, nothing extraordinary, but a good, filling breakfast. (Other options include pancakes, scrambled eggs, and yogurt parfaits).
When I came back for lunch, it was a different story.
I ordered the special apple maple bacon panini which featured apple slices, apple butter, cheddar cheese, and bacon with maple syrup for dipping. This was an excellent combination, a sweet and savory mash-up that went from very good to great after I dipped it in the maple syrup.
It’s the perfect sandwich for fall. (And it pairs pretty well with a chai, too). It also has me excited to try more lunch paninis in future visits.
The breakfast panini was $9 while the lunch special was $12 – it came with a side of chips. With the chai, my meals cost about $13 and $16, respectively. That feels like a fair price to pay, especially with the friendly counter service and quick arrival of my orders.
I’m going to keep coming back – adding punches to my frequent visitor card – and enjoying more chai, more breakfast, and more lunches at Rooted & Grounded Cafe.
BCE Rating Food: Good Service: Very Good Ambiance: Excellent Price: $$
Rooted & Grounded Cafe 1400 Lancaster Avenue Reading, PA 19607
Downtown Reading has nearly everything you can ask for in its restaurants. There’s incredible fine dining and greasy spoon diners, authentic cuisine from Puerto Rico and amazing Asian fusion.
And in Salt & Light Cafe, it has a unique coffee shop on Fifth Street in the heart of the city.
Salt & Light opened in April 2023, sharing a building with the Hope of Nations Christian Center. A large painting along the wall inside reads “Salt of the Earth. Light of the World” with a black and white outline of the city’s skyline.
The seating is cozy with a few comfy chairs, a couple tables along the opposite wall, a line of seats along a counter by the window, and outdoor seating for the warmer months.
Salt & Light’s menu is limited – plenty of hot drink options but the food is limited to assorted baked goods and crepes.
As always, I had to start with a cup of chai with oat milk. It came in a to-go container (which was convenient because I was still nursing it when I finished my meal). It was a nice spiced chai (I always get mine with oat mlk) and I appreciated that they went the extra mile with the logo on the cup.
The star of the show, though, was the crepe. I opted for one of the sweet choices – the cinnamon roll crepe.
It was stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar and cream cheese – and it really did taste just like an actual cinnamon roll only lighter. The crepe was done perfectly and the whole thing just melted in my mouth with every bite.
The crepe felt like it took a little while to come out, but it was worth it in the end for a freshly prepared – and delicious – brunch.
And the prices at Salt & Light are very reasonable, too. My crepe and chai cost less than $15 combined.
Overall, I was very impressed, and I’m glad to see another community hub pop up in downtown Reading.
I’ll definitely be back.
BCE Rating Food: Very Good Service: Good Ambiance: Very Good Price: $
Salt & Light Cafe 134 N. Fifth Street Reading, PA 19601
