Best coffee in New York
Perk yourself up with caffeine and a pastry at these coffeeshops and espresso bars.
Thu Jul 12 2012
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Photograph: Lizz Kuehl
Abraco
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Photograph: Jolie Ruben
Iced coffee at Cafe Pedlar
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Photograph: Caroline Bell
Cafe Grumpy
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Joe the Art of Coffee
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La Colombe Torrefaction
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Photograph: Jolie Ruben
RBC NYC
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Photograph: Courtesy of Ninth Street Espresso
Ninth Street Espresso
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Photograph: Michael Kirby Smith
Blue Bottle Coffee
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Photograph: Alex Strada
Toby's Estate Coffee
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Photograph: Samantha Miller
Stumptown Coffee Roasters
New York's dizzying landscape of coffeeshops, baristas and cafés may make you want to give up and settle for a bodega-sourced buzz. Thankfully, we’ve cut through the noise to bring you this list of the best coffeeshops and espresso bars in New York City. Did we miss your favorite place to caffeinate? Join the conversation in the comments.
Abraço
- Price band: 1/4
This international coffeeshop and espresso bar draws on Spanish, Italian and Middle Eastern traditions. Snacks like olive-oil cake, cured-olive cookies and pain perdu with sweet ricotta are offered alongside espresso drinks made from Counter Culture Coffee beans.
- 86 E 7th St , (between First and Second Aves)
Cafe Pedlar
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
This Cobble Hill café—a partnership between Frank Falcinelli and Frank Castronovo of Prime Meats fame and Stumptown Coffee—serves espresso drinks and homemade German and Austrian desserts, including a pretzel knot with Brie and Vermont butter.
- 210 Court St, (at Warren St)
Café Grumpy
- Price band: 1/4
Husband-and-wife-owned Cafe Grumpy might have an extensive drink menu, but the baristas' utter dedication to the almighty bean is no less intense. Clover coffee machines hum nonstop, brewing fresh individual cups off the ever-changing bean menu-the baristas will talk up a storm about the coffees if you let them-and pastries are available from Blue Sky, Balthazar and other bakeries.
- 13 Essex St, (between Canal and Hester Sts)
Joe the Art of Coffee
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
Coffee devotee Jonathan Rubenstein now serves grade-A espresso at five locations of his boutique-coffee chain. In addition to espresso-based drinks, a single-cup, drip-coffee bar dispenses a rotating selection of brews, while baked goods from companies like Ceci-Cela and Donut Plant provide just the kind of snacks a coffee drinker needs. And for real bean aficionados, Joe offers classes at the Waverly Place, 13th Street and 23rd Street locations.
- 405 W 23rd St, (between Ninth and Tenth Aves)
La Colombe Torrefaction
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
This Philadelphia-based coffee company roasts all of its beans—which are often sourced through direct trade—and sells pastries from Ceci-Cela and homemade ones from pastry chef Kate Jones.
- 319 Church St, (at Lispenard St)
- 71 Worth St, (between Broadway and Church St)
Ninth Street Espresso
- Critics choice
This bright café—an offshoot of the East Village original—is
inside the Classic Stage Company building. Baristas prepare artisanal espresso, alongside a selection of pastry from Balthazar.
- 700 E 9th St, (between Aves C and D)
Blue Bottle Coffee
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
Before this Williamsburg coffee bar and roastery came along, the only place in New York where you could find San Francisco’s famed Blue Bottle Coffee was at Gramercy Tavern. Now caffeine fanatics can sample the company’s shots of espresso and cups of joe—made to order from freshly roasted, mostly organic beans—without dropping a wad of cash on a dinner. Iced-coffee fans in particular should take note: Five contraptions from Japan slowly cold-drip Kyoto-style brew, while those who like to add milk should consider the stronger New Orleans-style preparation, fortified with chicory.
- 160 Berry St, (between North 5th and 6th Sts)
Toby's Estate Coffee
- Price band: 1/4
In Australia, coffee snobbery is a national pastime, and this boutique brand—call it Sydney’s Stumptown—is the bean of choice in many of the country’s serious cafés. Founder Toby Smith put in time at plantations in Brazil and Guatemala, boosting his cupping and business skills, before breaking out on his own in 1998. From an 11-pound roaster in his mother’s garage, Smith grew the company to include seven locations across Australia and Singapore, a barista training school, and more than 600 accounts at other restaurants and cafés. Toby’s Estate Coffee joined Williamsburg café-roasteries like Oslo and Blue Bottle with its own 3,000-square-foot shop, boasting a shiny custom-made Probat Burns P25 roaster from Germany and a dedicated cupping room. For the New York location, Smith brought on fellow Aussie Deaton Pigot, an Intelligentsia alum who holds a coveted position as one of the judges of the Cup of Excellence, a renowned competition that awards the best coffees from select countries each year. Here, Pigot will roast the high-grade, shade-grown beans—coffee raised slowly and sustainably under a tree canopy—that Smith and his team source from small farms in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America.
- 125 North 6th St, (between Bedford Ave and Berry Sts)
Stumptown Coffee Roasters
- Price band: 1/4
- Critics choice
Portland, Oregon's artisan coffee company's first café in New York offers espresso-based drinks as well as French-press and cold-brew coffees. Pastries are supplied by Ceci-Cela and the folks at Frankies, Prime Meats and the Breslin.
- Ace Hotel, 18 W 29th St, (between Fifth Ave and Broadway)
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