The smell of coffee beans, the sound of conversations between friends and the clang of baristas at work fill Lit Coffee Roasters, located near the intersection of Third and New Street on Bethlehem’s South Side.
After nine years of business, the shop has seen its busiest September yet.
The uptick this season comes after two other coffee shops have closed in recent years on the South Side: Saxby’s and the Starbucks formerly on East Third Street.
Though with house-made pastries and specialty coffee, the shop offers a variety of delicious reasons for its customers to return.
When it is time to order, customers are met with a display case which consists of Lit Coffee Roasters’s pastry selection: biscuits, scones, sourdough bread, babka and homemade pop-tarts.
Lit Coffee Roasters’ owner Dan Taylor said all their baked goods are made in-house by Michael Joyce, the baker who owns Bub’s Breads. Lit Coffee Roasters has been partnered with Monocacy Coffee Company since its opening, which provides specialty roast coffee and loose-leaf tea.
“When we opened, we sort of partnered up as two businesses,” Taylor said. “Monocacy Coffee Company was our roasting company partnered up with Melanie Lino, who was our baker at the time and has since gone to open up From Lino over in West Bethlehem.”
But for Lit, it’s not just the pastries and coffee that keeps their business thriving.
The store has a front room with couches and a main area that includes tables, chairs and their main coffee shop, with plenty of space for studying, catching up with old friends and even creating new art for the walls.
Anisa Hosseini, who recently relocated to Bethlehem, sits down at the coffee shop’s back table with her drink, ready to start on an assignment at her favorite study spot.
Hosseini moved from Texas and now attends Moravian University as a graduate student studying fine arts.
She said her program is small, with only one other student. Her classmate, who has lived in Bethlehem her entire life, invited Hosseini out for a cup of coffee before class as a way to get to know each other.
“Lit Coffee Roasters was the very first place that I went to meet somebody for the first time,” Hosseini said. “I was blown away by the quality of the coffee and the overwhelming sense of community that you get here.”
Hosseini said Lit quickly became a go-to place for her and her classmate to come, grab a coffee and study.
When Hosseini would visit Lit, she said she noticed the baristas were on a first-name basis with their regulars. Hosseini said when you step through the door, you can feel the sense of community the business creates.
“Even though I feel very new to it, I like feeling that warmth,” Hosseini said. “That energy to me is very comforting, and very quickly I feel like I’m becoming a part of it.”
Walking into Lit, customers are greeted with posters that line the walls, filled with upcoming events, promotions for political events, and other events happening on the South Side.
Poetry, crocheted hats, earrings and prints for sale decorate the tables next to the coffee counter. Shelves display coffee pots for purchase, along with local newspapers and other pamphlets.
Moving toward the back of the shop, David Junior, a local Bethlehem artist, sits at a long rectangular table with markers sprawled around him. He’s drawing pieces to add to his collection that fills one of Lit’s walls.
Titled “Long Trip Home Public Journal,” Junior’s work is a collection of artwork that covers the east wall of the coffee shop. Junior’s work has been displayed at the coffee shop for nearly a year now.
Junior said when he moved back to Bethlehem from Texas in July of 2025, he stopped by Lit and shared his idea with the team.
“I change (the public journal) every six weeks.” Junior said. “I don’t have a singular focus, I just make a lot of them.”
Junior said he doesn’t like his art to be obvious and tends to lean into innuendos. He believes the viewer should do the “work” and take what they want from his artwork.
Coming from a big city, Junior said he understands the importance of third spaces.
“I like coffee shops in general,” Junior said. “You get ones that are very cut and dry, more in and out and not very welcoming. I love hodgepodge furniture and weird stuff on the walls. That’s what a coffee shop should be.”
Taylor said artists are very important to the shop and he makes a point to showcase local artists and sell their works whenever he can.
Outside of regular store hours, Lit Coffee Roasters hosts local bands and artists to showcase their music, often in partnership with other businesses.
Lit customers can also browse through a box of records provided by a local record company and learn about new releases.
In late September, Lit staff organized a “Sonic Pizza Party” with Bub’s Breads and had multiple bands perform, including The Sleeves, William H. Travis and Past Nurture.
On Oct. 22, Lit Coffee Roasters welcomed Philadelphia-based artist Jason Calhoun.
“We’ve always wanted to be like a place where either new artists or local artists could display their style,” Taylor said. “It’s always been pretty important to us, between art on the walls and just hosting musicians and just being a place for art in the community.”
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