Madis Coffee is Making Moves in Historic Philadelphia

Inside the new Madis Coffee shop and roastery in Old City Philadelphia. All images courtesy of Madis Coffee Roasters.

Philadelphia’s Madis Coffee Roasters recently graduated beyond a single cafe in University City with the opening of a second shop in the heart of Old City, with plans for more in the works. 

The approximately 4,600-square foot new cafe and roastery inside the historic Curtis Publishing building was designed to blend Philadelphia’s industrial heritage with classic European coffeehouse charm. Black steel skeleton walls and floor-to-ceiling glass panels flood the roastery with natural light, giving customers a front-row seat to production roasting.

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“Our design inspiration centers around comfortable seating and thoughtful flow, making it easy to come solo or catch up with a friend,” Madis Coffee Roasters Marketing Director Eleni Navrosidis recently told Daily Coffee News. “To truly enjoy the nuanced flavors of specialty coffee, you need an environment that’s aesthetically clean, comfortable and calming.”

The cafe space is filled with elaborate finishing touches, including custom millwork across the walls and ceiling, and precision metalwork throughout. Several of the interior details specifically relate to the production and brewing of coffee. 

“One detail we’re especially proud of is the lit cutout beneath our espresso machine, which showcases the water filtration system, an often overlooked but crucial part of how espresso is crafted,” Navrosidis said.

Madis Coffee Roasters was founded in 2022, opening its inaugural cafe near the campus of Drexel University. Strong support from locals and students fueled the 2024 expansion to Old City.

Navrosidis, who represents the younger generation of a small ownership team, described the brand as both “people-first” and “design-forward.”

“The Drexel cafe is warm and intimate. The Curtis [cafe] is airy and production-forward,” she said. “Yet both share the same design DNA: our signature palette of espresso brown, cream woodwork [and] metal, and a focus on experience, quality and craft.”

Both locations offer similar menus, with numerous gluten-free and vegan options. This summer’s 100% vegan drink lineup ranges from classics like an espresso tonic to Instagram-worthy concoctions such as the Blue Zone (oat milk and blue spirulina) and the Blush Latte (almond milk, dragonfruit and pink papaya).

The menus do diverge occasionally to appeal to the different local crowds. Navrosidis said the Lancaster Ave. cafe near Drexel caters to college students with fun grab-and-go items like stuffed doughnuts, while the Curtis cafe offers “a more diverse and refined selection, tailored to the surrounding mix of office workers, local residents and families enjoying the nearby parks and cultural institutions.”

Inside the Curtis, espresso is ground by either a standard Victoria Arduino Mythos MY75 or the World Barista Championship Athens 2023 model before extraction through a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle Maverick espresso machine. A Mahlkönig EK43 grinds for Fetco batch brews. All coffees are roasted in-house on a Ghibli R15 machine. 

Navrosidis said the company currently turns to importers such as Volcafe and Cafe Imports for high-quality green coffees, while establishing a direct-trade relationship with a women-led farm in Colombia. 

“The response from the community has been amazing,” Navrosidis said. “We serve [Curtis] building tenants every day and also cater to the surrounding office teams, so there’s always a nice balance of familiar faces and new ones walking through our doors.”

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As the new cafe settles into its rhythm, Navrosidis said the company has immediate plans to expand public and private education and training programming at the roastery, which may also soon find a heavier production load with additional Madis openings. 

“We’ll launch a third cafe in Center City this fall and a fourth in Northern Liberties Philadelphia sometime in late 2025,” Navrosidis said. “Long-term, the vision is a tight regional footprint of cafes that double as community spaces, plus a training lab to mentor new baristas and home brewers.”

Madis Coffee Roasters at the Curtis building is located at 601 Walnut St #L10 in Philadelphia, PA. 

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