Have you been to the Open Source Hub Space yet? If not, this week, you’re in for a treat. From Wednesday, October 7 through Sunday, October 11, HubBub Coffee is popping up in our space, with hours from 11 am – 2 pm. Emily Kovach from HubBub Coffee chatted with me earlier this week, and after you’ve read our interview, you should stop by The Graham Building, get coffee, a snack, and free wifi, and check out all of the Open Source  projects, events, and tours happening over the next month!

Carly: Tell me a little bit about HubBub Coffee.

Emily: HubBub started in 2005 as a dream. Our founder Drew Crockett was a college student at UPenn, studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. While exploring that city, he kept encountering these coffee kiosks that were peppered along the streets, which he was totally charmed by. When he got back to the States, he kept wondering why he couldn’t find anything like the coffee culture he experienced in Australia. So in 2009, after graduating and a working for a few years on Wall Street, Drew opened HubBub Coffee as a shiny red truck, parked on 38th & Spruce Streets.

Right away, the truck developed an eager following. Philadelphia’s specialty coffee and food truck scenes were each starting to blossom at that time, and we were at the forefront of both! The HubBub truck was Stumptown Coffee’s first Philly account, and there wasn’t much in University City by way of truly great coffee at that time. Plus, people just loved the fact that there was this full service café inside a food truck. Encouraged by the success of the truck and the support of his fans and friends, Drew went on to open our first brick and mortar shop at 1717 Arch Street in 2013, and then two more shops in 2014: one in University City at 38th & Spruce (right across from where the truck used to park!) and the other on the Main Line in Radnor, PA.

So, what started as a one man operation in a truck is now a 30 employee operation with three shops. But our mission is still totally true to our origins: connecting people through unique coffee experiences, offering enthusiastic, non-snobby, and expert service, and making sure our guests are only eating and drinking the most delicious stuff!

Carly: And what got you interested in the Hub Space for Open Source?

Emily: We were approached by the Open Source folks about vending at the Hub, and were intrigued. Of course, we’re aware of all the amazing things that Mural Arts has done with and for our city, and we’ve heard so much cool stuff about the happenings surrounding Open Source. Anything related to art, innovation, and connecting people piques our interest. And setting up a pop-up shop at the Hub just seemed like a great chance to be in the middle of it all. Plus, we always enjoy the chance to make new friends and spread the coffee love to different corners of Philadelphia.

Carly: Are you trying out any new foods or drinks in the Hub Space? What should we look forward to?

Emily: Our set up at the Hub Space will be nice and simple: we’ll have hot coffee, both regular and decaf, and our cold brew coffee, as well as a selection of locally made snacks. Our cold brew is definitely something to look forward to. The weather forecast for the week is looking sunny and (relatively) warm, so a refreshing iced coffee could really hit the spot! We are so stoked about our cold brew – our team has spent a heroic amount of time fine tuning both our custom bean blend (which we roast in partnership with our friends at ReAnimator Coffee) and the brewing process. We are crazy for cold coffee, and take it just as seriously as hot coffee.