Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Company

Alabaster Coffee Roaster & Tea Company in downtown Williamsport runs direct-trade sourcing with farmer relationships the owners maintain, and pays fair wages on the production side. The room is hip industrial with a raw brick wall, natural-wood tree-shaped tables, and a cavernous interior that reads modern, comforting, peaceful, and chill. The Community Tap Blend donates proceeds to local organizations, which is the kind of move that tells you what the operation believes in. There's also a mail-order roastery program for customers who don't live nearby.

Order the rosemary latte as the signature unusual move, or the lavender honey latte if you want something slightly safer. The orange cardamom seasonal latte rotates in and is worth catching. For the bean program, the Sabra signature blend, the Huehuetenango blend, and the Rwanda roast all rotate through the bar. The batch brew coffee gets serious treatment, not the warmed-over pot you'd find at a chain. The affogato is the dessert move.

Who it serves: laptop and remote workers settling in for long sessions, coffee enthusiasts and bean buyers who want to talk about origin, out-of-town visitors with friends in Williamsport using it as the meet-up spot, and tea drinkers (the tea program is treated with the same seriousness as the coffee side, which is unusual).

Three honest notes. Parking is sparse, with metered street parking the only realistic option. There's no dedicated outdoor seating, so cabin-fever customers should plan around that. And dogs aren't allowed inside, which catches dog owners off guard given the otherwise warm community-focused programming.

The tree-shaped tables, the raw brick wall, the Community Tap Blend, the rosemary latte. Alabaster has built itself into downtown Williamsport with a specific aesthetic and a specific ethics, and the mail-order operation extends the reach to customers who can't get there in person. Direct trade, fair wages, donated proceeds, and a serious bean program. Worth the walk from wherever you found parking.