About
Why ‘Ancestor’?
The legacy of coffeehouses as we know them first emerged in America in the early 17th century. They were popular gathering places to discuss art, philosophy, literature and free thought. We chose the name Ancestor because we want to connect with that legacy, providing a space for the community to share in life over a great cup of coffee.
At Ancestor Coffeehouse and Crêperie, we are passionate about providing exceptional hospitality and customer service and creating high-quality drinks and crêpes. We prefer to source our ingredients locally when possible, and we make all drinks and crêpes to order.
Our coffee beans are freshly roasted by our sister business, Sonder Coffee Company, at our second location in Campbelltown at the Snitz Creek Brewery.
From the entire Ancestor family, thank you for spending time with us and being part of our coffeehouse heritage! We look forward to serving you and invite you to share our space while enjoying community and conversation!
– The Stammel Family
Swatara Coffee Co.
We acquired Swatara Coffee Co. in May of 2023. The opportunity came unexpectedly, and we immediately felt it was the right decision. The Noll’s built a very strong foundation and team, and we feel blessed to be able to continue their legacy. We look forward to serving you at the Annville & Jonestown locations!
Sonder Coffee Company - Our Story
This is my Dad and me.
This picture was taken our first day roasting on our very own coffee roaster back in March of 2017. People always ask me how I got started coffee roasting. And I tell them that it all began with an air popcorn popper on our deck, as it always does.
Well, we soon (accidentally) destroyed the popcorn popper with overuse – roasting coffee, in any form, is a lot of fun.
After that, we decided to move to the big leagues and bought a little 1lb Fresh Roast air roaster. We learned a lot from using the Fresh Roast because we could track temperatures on the computer. You can’t do THAT with a popcorn popper!
After that, it all spiraled very quickly out of control. I told my Dad, “I want to do this for real. We need to get a roaster – a big one”. It didn’t take long to convince him that corporate life is irritating and stressful. Coffee roasting is certainly not.
A few months later, we were flying to Ponderay, Idaho for our first roasting class at the Diedrich manufacturing site, where we learned to roast on a 10lb roaster. Now we were REALLY in the big leagues. We learned a ton and ordered our roaster (Big Blue, as we would name him later) right then and there. Waiting was agony! But our roaster arrived in pristine condition (after having been built to order) in March of 2017.
We quickly got to roasting and tasting in preparation for the opening of the coffee shop. I have never consumed so much coffee as I did when we were working on the proportions for the house blend. Shaking slightly and very dehydrated, we triumphantly declared that we had found the perfect blend!
We have been growing ever since and are learning something new with every roast. Coffee roasting is quite an adventure. Each bean is different, and we enjoy finding the perfect roast to give people the best-tasting coffee possible.
Come visit us at Ancestor Coffeehouse & Creperie (Campbelltown location) to see Big Blue and try the coffee that all started with a popcorn popper.
We are a small batch artisan coffee roaster. We chose a smaller roaster so we could control more variables to have a consistent high-quality product.
