The event is Open Mic Night hosted by Represented Theater Co. every third Wednesday of the month. First let me tell a little about T-bar. The place is out of this world. It is positioned perfectly on the corner of 12th and Sansom St. Its large glass windows wrap around the room looking out onto both Sansom and 12th giving a perfect perch for people watching from any corner of the room. They offer 70 varieties of aromatic and wonderfully infused steeped teas a variety of tea lattes,pearls (bubble teas or boba) and tea fizzes (tea & herbal based extracts stirred with a little bubbly to give you a crisp, refreshing flavor or with hot water/green tea to give you a full-force tonic)

Here’s a link to their tea menu. I sampled the Black Currant sweetly bitter black tea with black currant pieces and leaves. It was absolutely amazing. When you go there make sure you say hello to the owners Susan and Julia.

The Open Mic Third Wednesday, hosted by Represented Theater Co. is meant to be an alternative to the rock band open mic nights lodged at other venues around the city. It focuses on fostering a nurturing environment for poetry and alternative forms of art media such as spoken word and stand up comedy, though musicians are also welcome. Darnelle Radford is a board member for Represented and personally hosts the event with a mixture of background music and witty comedy. If you go make sure you say hello to him as well. He’ll be the late 20’s black man dressed to kill.

There were a number of very interesting artist there and we were graced by a famous city poet David W. Wannop. David is a blind poet and published author. He came with a large book of poems on white braille paper and read his most famous work “Arctic Fox”. The crowd went wild. The other guest including myself read from poems and books we’ve written, read, known and loved in our lives.

Philly Car Share was also there hosting a meet up and giving out T-shirts and coffee mugs to those who participated in the open mic event. All in all it was an amazing event and the people were wonderful. I recommend this venue to someone looking for an in town alternative to Starbucks and or coffee in general. It is locally owned and operated and supporting this business supports the gayborhood. The environment is clean and quiet. Its a perfect spot to work on a term paper, people watch or just grab a cup and relax. You’ll find the staff and their prices inviting. Look for future events at this location. I have this pinned as an up and coming culture hot spot.

For this article I’m going to break down my rating system so followers of my column know what goes into my critique.

1. Environment-10
2. Staff-10
3. Patrons-10
4. Prices-8
5. Product Quality-10
6. Over all Experience-10

Final Score: 9.66 or 10

My rating for the T- bar was a perfect 10. Go see it, love it and enjoy it.