The Perking Point

We were looking for a quiet place to study and were thrilled to come across this «non-​profit, community minded» shop. It was a relatively quiet atmosphere, large space, and variety of café offerings. We spent a few hours there studying on our laptops and I was able to make a lengthy phone call without disturbing the atmosphere which was nice. This place seems to be an extension of a local church, and I imagine it is a great place for like-​minded people to gather. Although I had a nice experience, I will most likely look for a new coffee house without religious undertones to spend my time at for the future.

Coffee was fantastic so were the breakfast sandwiches.
Little odd there was a church service going on in the back with people trying to recruit you in the dining area.

I have gone many times and have been consistently impressed by everything. Great shop!

It’s a great atmosphere! Baristas are very friendly and give great recommendations for drink/​food combinations! They have a great maple spice latte and breakfast sandwiches. Highly recommend!

Perking Point is amazing! Friendly baristas. Great atmosphere. Make sure you try the cold brew!

Even better lately! Management is trying more new pastries and coffee brews (fresh cold brew). More events are happening as well. High school and college music students and local professionals are putting on more shows. Stop by this growing and community minded business!

Perking Point coffeehouse is a nonprofit, community-​minded business, and in that regard, is set apart by its focus on excellence. The coffee is some of the best in the area, and the teas (by Upton Tea) are phenomenal. They make fresh, made to order breakfast sandwiches (with real eggs!), and panini and melts for lunch. The service is always friendly.

A mutual friend of ours wanted us to teach her some Blogging 101 and Twitter tips, so she offered to meet up with us and treat us to dinner — so we decided to kill two birds with one stone as they say, and go to a new place we’ve never been so we could not only give her some pointers, but also review a new place at the same time. We decided to meet up at a central location for all of us, which was Hummelstown, and chose a coffee place that was already on our list, Perking Point. This coffee shop is located in a strip mall close to Hershey Park, so it’s quite easy to locate, which makes it the perfect place to meet up with people so I’m glad we utilized this place in that way.
We all met up at Perking Point around 5:45 on a Wednesday night, and headed inside. When we walked into the coffee shop, the first thing that hit me was the smell of coffee, which immediately makes me love a place and makes my heart do flip-​flops. It smelled so good in there, like they just roasted some coffee beans. After looking around for a bit, we took all of our materials: camera, laptop, blog materials… etc, and took them to the back of the room and set them down at a large wooden table. That way we would have ample space for discussion, as well as taking photos of our food and drinks. Perking Point has a wide variety of table sizes to choose from, as well as couch seating, so you can easily find a space that works best for you.
After looking around for awhile and settling in, we decided to finally order, so we walked up to the counter and discussed among ourselves what we wanted to order, and we even asked the employee at Perking Point quite a few questions about the food and drinks there; he was very nice and chatty with us and answered all of our questions with enthusiasm. You could tell he enjoyed interacting with customers and he enjoyed his job. That always makes a huge difference to the places we visit.
There was a wide variety of coffee and teas to choose from, and quite a few sandwiches too. Our friend, Monica, went with the Leaf Me Alone breakfast sandwich which consisted of egg, spinach, pesto and cream cheese on a bagel, with a vanilla latte. Katie chose the Margherita Melt sandwich topped with sun-​dried tomatoes, pesto and provolone, also with a vanilla latte. (If anyone needs to know where the best vanilla lattes are, she would be your girl, she’s tried them all!) I went with the Bird ‘N Bacon sandwich, which was turkey, bacon, spinach pepperjack and ranch dressing, along with an iced chai to drink. I did ask the employee if they made their chai with tea bags or syrup — and they make it with syrup. I asked this because I like iced chai’s made with syrup, but Katie likes them made with teabags (which Little Amps does). Our total for 3 sandwiches, and 3 drinks came out to $ 31, so around $ 10.34 per person.
All of our sandwiches were really great, even though we thought they were a little on the pricey side for what they were, but they were all very well made and delicious. You could either get a side of chips or a banana with your sandwiches, which we all went with the chips. The presentation of the sandwiches were well above-​average for most of the places we’ve been. They were served in cute baskets, with checkerboard paper, and the sandwiches all looked so neatly made — like they were made for a magazine photo shoot (the employee did not know that we would be taking pictures of the sandwiches, or that we were bloggers there to review). The vanilla lattes; however, were pretty average — nothing to fawn over. Just your regular vanilla latte. We really appreciated the latte art though, as usual. And to be fair they were better than some others we’ve had at other places. My iced chai was pretty great though, not one of the best ones I’ve ever had, but it was still great and I would most definitely drink another one. I almost got one to go, but my hands were pretty full already since they were armed with blog materials and my laptop.
One thing we didn’t know when we first arrived here, was that the Perking Point is also a church. There is a very large room in the back for this, which is kind of a distraction at first, but they have some sound proof floor to ceiling glass doors that close off the church from the rest of the place, which was really appreciated. We could still do our thing in a relaxing and quiet environment, and they could do still attend their church group. It’s a very unique feature to this coffee place, I don’t know of any other joint church/​coffee places around.
Overall, I think this is a great little coffee place to not only hang out with a few friends, but also to get some work done, or have a small business meeting. We sat and talked at this location for a little over two hours with no interruptions or distractions. It was a quiet and relaxing environment for us, with good food and very friendly staff. I would definitely go back.

It’s a clean establishment with great coffee and staff. I attended a birthday party there in the rented space in the back. I keep going back every since then.

Good coffee but don’t appreciate Jesus being involved in my latte. Either its a church or its a coffee joint, but it can’t decide.

Local coffee shop located in a strip mall. Kudos to free coffee on Sundays courtesy of the church services held in the back, which can be a little disconcerting for the nonreligious. Typical coffee into the carafe set up. If only these small places would drip or press to order, our lives would all be measurably improved!

Great service and clean café.
The Cappuccino and Americano were great!!!
Didn’t try anything else, but I’d definitely recommend this place if you’re in the area.

The inside of this coffee is is adorable. Smooth, delicious coffee and drinks. The staff is also warm and welcoming!

This morning I decided to stop in for some hot cider. When I arrived, there were a few people that had been served already and two came in after me.
There appeared to be only one employee working. I know for certain there was only one making drinks. My service was excellent, but given that I ordered 3 drinks the service was slow for the other two customers. One actually left.
The drinks were very good, but, I probably wouldn’t have waited in line either.

Great coffee, had the pumpkin spice frap, much better than the Starbucks version. Nice atmosphere too.

Great service, cozy atmosphere, courteous staff, awesome coffee. We were gang of 6 friends after a long day at Hershey Park wanted to chill out with some coffee. The place is perfect for groups and glad we found it. If you are in the area and want to try some gourmet coffee, look no further. We had the german cake mocha and it’s highly recommended. On top of coffee there are options of sandwiches, cakes. We had a grilled chicken sandwich and a banana cake which went along well with our coffee.

Great locally-​owned coffee shop in the Hershey, PA area. The drinks are well-​made and served a ready-​to-​drink temperature. This is a great local alternative to Starbucks if you are looking to do some work, read a book, or visit with a friend.

Good food and very friendly service. Entertained with music played by a gentleman named Randy Cain. Nice relaxing setting.

Nice place. Not many specialty coffees, but the chai latte I had was excellent. I like how there is both table and couch seating. Very clean. The coffee shop is affiliated with the Cross Point Church, so there is worship music/​religious convos in the background if that bothers you, however it is not that loud.
Overall, I enjoyed my time here since it had great coffee, was relatively quiet, and had plenty of seating. I will definitely be back.

The Rt 39 area around Hershey has needed a new coffeee shop for a while since Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are both inside the Hershey outlets and slow to get to. The Perking Point fills the need perfectly. It has been open for a few weeks now and the barristas seem to have perfected reproducible quality in the lattes they serve to point where I realized I had completely stopped going to Starbucks. We particularly appreciate the fact that, unlike Starbucks, they have a consistent commitment to fair trade and organic products. The One Village coffee is all fair tarde and the Organic Choice tea is both fair trade and organic.
The auditorium at the back of tne shop seats a 100+ is a welcome addition to the community with Friday open mic for local musicians and Monday Night Football in HD on the 155″ screen. Well worth a visit.