The Philadelphia-based ReAnimator Coffee plans to open a location in Mt. Airy, potentially by March.

Co–owners Mark Capriotti and Mark Corpus started ReAnimator Coffee in 2010, roasting coffee in Capriotti’s basement. In 2013, the pair opened their first retail location in Fishtown.

Since then, they have expanded to five locations in Fishtown, South Kensington, Port Richmond, South and West Philadelphia. Mt. Airy will be their sixth location, opening in the neighborhood Capriotti has called home for the last 10 years.

“I live [in Mt. Airy], I love the neighborhood, and I think it has a good potential customer base for Reanimator Coffee,” Capriotti told the Local. “What I really like about Mt. Airy is [the neighborhood feel]. All of our locations are in the neighborhoods of Philadelphia. We don’t have a location in Center City, not that Center City is not technically a neighborhood, but there’s more business traffic in Center City than maybe some other parts of the city.”

He added, “We really like being in the neighborhoods of the city, and just sort of establishing ourselves as or hopefully establishing ourselves as part of the community.”

The process of opening a Mt. Airy location began around a year ago, eventually settling on a location at 6509 Germantown Ave. at the intersection of Upsal Street and Germantown Avenue.

ReAnimator Coffee will join an emerging corridor of businesses between Upsal Street and Gorgas Lane. ReAnimator Coffee will be directly next door to the Frosted Fox Cake Shop and a couple of blocks from Adelie Coffee House, Downtime Bakery, and the Grocery Outlet.

Capriotti said, “Frosted Fox has been there for many years. They’re really great, nice people have a great business, and we’re really excited to be next to them.”

The product

Roasting their own coffee, Capriotti highlighted ReAnimator as offering “specialty coffee.”

“Specialty coffee is something that started coming about probably 15, 20 years ago, where there were a lot of people who got interested in focusing on what I would call the intrinsic flavors of a coffee bean itself,” Capriotti said. “So that can mean roasting it a little lighter so you bring out more of the flavors of the coffee bean itself and less of the sort of roasty flavor which you get as you roast the beans darker.”

At ReAnimator, the focus is on the coffee and specialty drinks. They offer food and pastries, but they come from wholesale bakeries like Au Fournil.

Capriotti said, “We have a pretty extensive menu of specialty lattes, and then we do seasonal stuff. And of course, we offer pour–overs of our single–origin coffees.”

They also offer a rotating selection of their coffee blends for sale at their locations, allowing customers to purchase and brew at home.

Hoping to open in March, Capriotti explained they have a lot of work ahead of them.

“We’re just excited to sort of bring our version of a coffee shop to that area,” he said. “And we’re hoping that the people of Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy, and Germantown like it, and find it to be a nice, fun spot to hang out at.”

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@chestnuthilllocal.com.