Coffee in NYC

[coffeeinnyc]

French Press at Stumptown

No photo this time but I FINALLY got to go to the brew bar for stumptown's 8th st location. 

  Chose their only kenyan option. Asked about the recommended brew method and the barista pointed to the french press. The dark notes that you get with a french press balances the bright notes. I wasn't a huge fan because I actually enjoy the unbalanced bright fruity flavors that you get from a kenyan coffee.

  I also got to try their nitro cold brew. I thought it was a gimmick but it really was smoother. Kind of amazing.

  I will definitely go there again. :D 

[coffeeinnyc]

Cappuccino at Joe 

  They are roasting their own beans and it tastes awesome. The milk was foamed pretty perfectly and it tasted mega sweet. Joes pro

[coffeeinnyc]

Hot Coffee at Joe's Pro Shop

  I got in a bit late at Penn Station so I got to go to Joe's Pro Shop again. They had three different single origin coffees and I went with the Kenyan from Heart Roasters. Heart Roasters has been impressing me. A lot of well known local places has started carrying Heart and I can see why. 

  The kenyan was bright and acidic, just the way I like it. Very little after taste and strong flavors. It was brewed on a v60 and the clarity was fantastic. 

[coffeeinnyc]

Hot Coffee at Stumptown on 8th Ave

  Decided to walk down 6th ave today to get to class and stopped by Murray's Bagels for an everything bagel with cream cheese. Pretty good, but the everything bagel wasn't super fresh and there was too much cream cheese. At least the cream cheese was delicious.

  Got a small hot coffee at stumptown. As usual their prices are significantly higher than other third wave coffeeshops. $2.50 for a small coffee (cappuccino size) seems excessive. Coffee was good, but not great. I would love to go to their brew bar but they're only open 9-5. 

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Mud Truck and Iced Coffee at Gregory's Coffee

  Mud coffee is pretty well known around NYC to have pretty good coffee by regular coffee drinkers. And to a point, they're right. They make a pretty good version of "normal" coffee. It was bitter and strong and what people would expect from a "good cup of coffee." But for me, it was very bitter and not very flavorful. *Note: I am a horrible hipster person*

  Gregory's coffee was a cold brew of Los Lajas. Like last time, this was pretty great. Clean tasting, bright flavors and very little of the syrupy aftertaste. I wouldn't mind it being a bit more viscous but this just tastes good. I would not mind having it every day.

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Joe's Pro Shop

  Today's iced coffee came from Joe's pro shop, one of the main retailers of higher end coffee gear in NYC. They have a very small coffee operation there and are more of a retailer and classroom for coffee brewing knowledge. 

  Their cold brew is fantastic. It was bright and acidic with little bitterness. It did not taste like a traditional cold brew. Very little chocolate-y flavors. 

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Doughnut Plant (with Coconut Lime doughnut)

  Last time I was at Doughnut Plant, I saw that they changed their roaster from Intelligensia to Dallas Bros. Coffee. Not sure if that was because Intelli opened their own location, they thought Dallas Bros was better or because Dallas Bros were cheaper, but they did change it and are touting it pretty loudly. On their media pages, they are talking about doing coffee/doughnut pairings.

  The coffee is really nothing special. It is called a cold brew but I did get a lot of bitter notes comared to other cold brewed coffees. Not particularly yummy but not horrible either. I would not go out of my way for it. 

  The doughnut is delicious. Like any other doughnut.

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Gregories Coffee

  I was very skeptical of gregory's coffee. They seemed like they jumped on the banwagon of third wave coffee wuthout understanding it. BUT, I was presently surprised. the coffee was nice and slightly bright. They seemed to be preparing for a retail focused store (grinders, brew machines etc) upstairs.

[coffeeinnyc]

Hot(!!) Coffee at Third Rail Coffee

  Got a small coffee there (it is really small). Came out really really hot. Had to wait a while until I could drink it. And when I did, it was very disappointing. The last few times I had hot (and cold) coffee in the other location, it was pretty amazing. It was not good this time. It just tasted like mediocre coffee at any cafe thats scattered around NYC. 

  Oh well. Maybe it was a fluke. I'll be there a bunch of times so I should get a decent sample size.

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Cafe Grumpy

  Cafe Grumpy has changed significantly since the last time I've been there. They changed their drip coffee station from two Clover machines (one of the few cafes that arent starbucks to carry clover machines) to four v60s. Their iced coffee is no longer hot coffee over ice but a standard cold brew. Not sure why they decided to change but they probably had a good reason.

  Their cold brew was from a Guatemalan coffee. It was really really sour at the begining but mellowed out as I drank more. I don't think it was as good as Third Rail's or Stumptowns. :(

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Ports

  Ports is one of my favorite cafes in NYC. Its tiny but the baristas and owners are knowledgeable and its a very clean and well designed space. It isin't really a laptop/hanging out space (or I would be there more often) but for hanging around for a few minutes, it is awesome. 

The last time I've been there, they used to do rotating roasters but it seems that they've changed to just using Heart Roasters of Portland exclusively. They make their cold brew with their espresso blend, which is a mix of Guatemalan and Ethiopian coffee. The coffee was great. Not bitter but very chocolately. 

They also have something that they call a cold brew latte. Its a cold brew diluted with milk. Something that I make a lot at home. It is probably great but its $6!

  I also picked up a vanilla bean and blackberry jam from Doughnut Plant, which is on the same block as Ports. I have never been disappointed at their doughnuts and today continued that streak. Went great with the coffee.

  PS. If anyone has any recommendations of great coffee places that I've missed that is between Penn Station and 9th/Broadway, please let me know. I think I've been to almost all of them and some of them I am actively avoiding (Birch Coffee).

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Intelligensia at the High Line Hotel

  Standard cold brew at intelligensia. I am pretty sure that the barista did not put enough water to the concentrate so I got a very strong cup of coffee that was a bit more bitter than it should have been. Again, good cup, more interesting than the other good cups I've had but not as good as Stumptown and Third Rail.

  That said, intelligensia might be the most hipster coffee place that I have ever been. They have their own branded sugar and stevia packets and they also have their own branded soy milk because "we don't trust others to do a good enough job." But their coffee is good and their little outdoor patio is cool. I will probably come back if I am near the high line.

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Third Rail Coffee (x2)

  I ended up getting 2 cups of iced coffee today at two different Third Rail Coffee locations. 

The first cup was from the new location and it was different from yesterdays. This one was way more chocolatey tasting. Very similar to Stumptown's coffee but with a slight acidity. Very very good. This was very good for a cold brew. 

The next cup was from the original location and again it was different from the first cup of the day. This one had a vanilla-y flavor in the mid-flavor(?) before dissolving to the standard chocolatey after taste. Again, very good coffee.

The new location is also very close to app academy, so I think I found my new coffee place! :D 

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at [**Third Rail Coffee**]

  I've had GREAT coffee many times at Third Rail Coffee. They've been one of the most consistent so far in terms of straight taste even though they seem to rotate their beans quite frequently. 

  Got their iced coffee today (as every day). I was pretty surprised that they decided to use Hair Bender from Stumptown for their cold brew blend. They said even though it is commonly used for espresso and is more darkly roasted compared to other "non espresso" blends, it works great either as a cold brew or espresso or even a drip.

  Pretty sure this is placebo, but this iced coffee was the best I've had. It beats actual Stumptown's cold brew due to its slight acidity. My guess is that they did a hot bloom before the actual cold brew but  I am pretty sure its all placebo.

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at La Colombe Torrefaction

  Todays iced coffee was the most interesting in recent memory. Compared to the standard cold brew coffees I've been having, this was significantly different. First I thought it was just a weird tasting coffee, but you can taste the bitterness from an espresso in there. When I looked it up to see if they added a shot of espresso to their iced coffee, it seemed that they did. 

  The mouthfeel of this coffee was way close to my preferred mouthfeel, which is more viscous than traditional watery iced coffee. The espresso gave it a much more interesting flavor compared to the recent mediocre, boring iced coffees I've been having. 

  I wore my La Marzocco shirt to the cafe and the barista made a comment on it :D

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced Coffee at Think Coffee on Bowery

The iced coffee at think coffee is from their standard coffee blend.

The current Think Blend contains: Ethiopia, Kellensoo Brasil, Minas Gerais, Fazenda Nossa Senhora Aparecida Nicaragua, Finca Santa Isabel Mexico, Finca Bella Vista

Mouthfeel was a bit off but I think I am expecting too much from iced coffee. i keep expecting somehting like a pourover or french press mouthfeel. Much thicker and viscous.

Again, like the others, not bad, not great. It had very little varietal tastes but had some bitterness. Still not as good as stumptown. I really need to go to Cafe Grumpy again one of these days and see if their iced coffee is as good as I remember.

[coffeeinnyc]

Iced coffee at Everyman Espresso

I don't remember much about this place. It looked nice, the barista was attentive and they're not open till July 25th.

Their iced coffee was also hot over ice. Again, even with hot over ice, very little varietal flavors but instead of only roasty flavors, there was some bitterness. Passable but not highly recommended.