The NYC Caffeine Chronicles: Financial District Coffee Guide

Despite my frequent trips to New York over the years, I’ve never spent much time in Lower Manhattan — the Financial District, or FiDi, as it now seems to be known. I’ve taken a few trips on various ferries (to Staten, Liberty and Ellis Islands) and, of course, often arrive at the Manhattan end of Brooklyn Bridge, but otherwise, I’ve had little reason to visit. 

The NYC Caffeine Chronicles: Greenpoint Coffee Guide

I have spent a lot of time in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Williamsburg over the years, including a recent visit to a couple of specialty coffee shops there, but I hadn't really scratched the surface on its northern neighbour, Greenpoint, apart from to go to Five Leaves, a restaurant on the Greenpoint–Williamsburg borders. When carrying out some coffee research for my most recent trip to New York, I realised that there were several Greenpoint coffee spots worth a visit and I spent a happy — and caffeinated — morning there.

I took the East River Ferry from the Financial District all the way up to the India Street docks (which provides the above vista of the Manhattan skyline), a fast 15-minute journey, which brought me within a five-minute walk of the coffee.

Homecoming

I started my tour at Homecoming, which is located in the "middle-west" of Greenpoint on one of the main north–south drags, Franklin Street. I was attracted both by the prospect of coffee from San Francisco roaster Sightglass (a favourite of mine) and by the fact that Homecoming is a flower shop and lifestyle boutique as well as a coffee shop. The interiors are beautiful, the colourful flowers setting off the minimalist white tiling and light wood flooring.

The exchange rate being what it is, I allowed myself only to browse the shop briefly, before taking a seat at the little bench by the door. The cortado I ordered ($4) was really nice, the barista was lovely and there was a very calming, relaxed ambiance in the cafe during my visit. There are no filter coffee options, although there is a cold brew on the menu, if that's your thing.

116 Franklin Street nr Greenpoint Ave. Website. Instagram.

Búðin (CLOSED)

As someone who loves to spend time in Nordic cities, I was naturally drawn to the Nordic-influenced Búðin, which is half a block east of Homecoming on Greenpoint Avenue. The cafe has minimalist, industrial-chic décor: blue walls, metal stools and pendant lights. There is plenty of seating around the three sides of the large, central coffee bar and both smaller and communal tables along the side and in the back.

Búðin often offers coffees from Sweden, Norway and Iceland, and there were two coffees from the Swedish Drop Coffee available as a pourover: an El Salvador variety and a Gichathaini from Kenya ($5), which is the one I chose. The pourover was excellent, with the slightly tart and fruity notes of the Gichathaini coming through very nicely. There were quite a few MacBookers on a Monday morning, but with its welcoming, knowledgable baristas and warm atmosphere, Búðin remains a great place to enjoy top-notch coffee.

114 Greenpoint Avenue bet. Franklin St. & Manhattan Ave. CLOSED


Champion Coffee (CLOSED)

I saw a lot of beautiful espresso machines on this New York trip but one of the loveliest was the cerulean La Marzocco in Champion's Manhattan Avenue coffee bar. In fact, everything Champion do is beautifully designed, from the gallery wall next to the coffee bar to the retail bags of coffee beans. There is plenty of seating in the small-ish cafe and I read that there is also a lovely back garden but it was much too cold a day for that.

I had hoped to sample a hand-brewed filter coffee, but the coffee menu focuses on espresso-based drinks and so I stuck to my usual cortado ($3.75), which was on the long side but tasted nice. I already had lunch plans and couldn't sample the tempting selection of sandwiches.

1107 Manhattan Avenue nr Clay St. CLOSED


Upright Coffee

So petite that only a few people can stand inside at one time, I can confirm that Upright Coffee, further south down Manhattan Avenue from Champion, is indeed appropriately named. There are a couple of stools where you can perch by the front window watching the denizens of Greenpoint walk past but otherwise, Upright is standing room only (and not much of that).

Upright roast their own coffee and the coffee menu was, once again, espresso-based. If I had known pourovers were a rare breed in Greenpoint, I might not have loaded up on two cortados back in Manhattan! The cortado I ordered was also on the long side — the price was the same as for a latte and it probably approached a latte in volume. The coffee, though, was rich and smooth and worked well as a (not-so-)cortado.

860 Manhattan Avenue #2 nr Milton St. Website.


On my list for next time:

Odd Fox Coffee (984 Manhattan Avenue nr Huron St.). Website. When I was in Greenpoint — just last week — the airplane-themed Propeller Coffee occupied the shop at 984 Manhattan Avenue. I didn't have time to go in but it has now permanently closed and Odd Fox is its replacement.

Sweetleaf Coffee (159 Freeman Street nr Manhattan Ave.). Instagram. They also have coffee shops in Long Island City and Williamsburg.

Variety Coffee Roasters (145 Driggs Avenue nr Russell St.). Website. Instagram.

Boston and Cambridge Specialty Coffee Guide

Update (August 2017): Rather than creating a new guide following my return to Boston and Cambridge in July and August 2017, I've added the three new coffee shops I visited — Broadsheet Coffee, Gracenote and George Howell at Boston Public Market — to this post and map. Read on for more Massachusetts specialty coffee delights!

As I mentioned in my last post, I used to travel to Boston fairly frequently but hadn't been to the city for almost a decade until a conference took me there last week. I was just starting to get into specialty coffee back in 2007 and I don't think Boston had yet hopped onto the third wave, although I did find this photo in my archives, which I took at Caffè Vittoria — an almost-90-year-old Italian cafe (caffè, technically) in the North End — in December 2005. It may be my first ever 'arty' photo of a cup of coffee, although I hadn't yet got the hang of bokeh.

A Wintry Week in Boston

The main motivation for my current work trip to the US was to attend a conference in Boston. I have a soft spot for Beantown as it was the first US city I ever visited, on a family holiday back in 1993. I went back four or five more times over the next decade and a half but as work took me increasingly to San Francisco and DC, and the attractions of New York won me over, I began to neglect Boston and I haven't been back since 2007 (some of my adventures on my last trip are documented on this blog, the recent 10th anniversary of which I realised that I have forgotten to celebrate).

NYC III:Skyline Views, Greenpoint Gallivanting and a Musical Interlude

Monday was my last free day in New York before heading into our office and happily, the weather had improved greatly after Sunday's sleety wash-out. I donned my running kit and did another loop to Brooklyn via Manhattan Bridge and back over Brooklyn Bridge.

I stopped for coffee at the hard-to-find (but well worth seeking out) Voyager Espresso, which is located inside Fulton Street subway station (enter through John Street near Gold, and no, you don't need to buy a subway ticket). Voyager is rather futuristic looking with a circular central coffee bar and a stripped down menu: black, white or filter. I had an excellent Costa Rican piccolo and some avocado toast, and then headed back up to my hotel to pack and change.

After taking my suitcase to my work-organised hotel —the Hilton DoubleTree, a ten-minute walk from the Gild Hall on Stone Street — I went straight back out to catch the East River Ferry to Greenpoint. I've taken the ferry a few times before, mainly during the summer to get between Williamsburg and Lower Manhattan. It's fast, cheap ($4 for a single in winter) and offers a great view of the Manhattan skyline and all three bridges. 

The ferries run less frequently in the winter, however, and as I had just missed one, I decided to kill some time at Cafe Grumpy's new Financial District branch, which, conveniently enough, opened up right next to my hotel earlier this month. I had a very good piccolo, admired the sexy orange Synesso espresso machine, chatted with the friendly barista about the Reykjavik coffee scene (we'd both visited recently) and then went to catch the ferry.

The ride to Greenpoint, the northernmost stop on the Brooklyn side, takes only about 15 minutes from Pier 11. I was disappointed when I was told that, unlike in the summer, I couldn't stand outside, but when I stepped off the boat in Greenpoint into the incredibly strong wind, I began to understand. The East River Ferry docks in Williamsburg and Greenpoint are also great places to capture a clear shot of the Manhattan skyline, but after snapping a few quick shots, I sought shelter in-land.

I spent the next few hours exploring some of the specialty coffee shops of Greenpoint, which will be the subject of a future blog post. For now, though, here's a preview of one of my favourites: the Nordic-influenced Búðin (CLOSED).

My Greenpoint coffee tour ended near the northern end of Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, so I spent some time window shopping there before schlepping over to for lunch Bushwick (note: it's a very quick subway ride on the L train, but I usually prefer to walk). 

My destination was fabled pizzeria Roberta's, which I tried to visit with my family in October, but there was a two-and-a-half hour queue. There was no queue at all at 2 pm on a wintry Monday and I took a seat at one of the tables near the wood-fired pizza oven. 

The server started talking about the day's special — some kind of pimped-up porridge — but the margherita pizza was always going to be the only option. It was really good with creamy buffalo mozzarella and a thin but chewy base. I still don't think I'd wait for two-and-a-half hours for it, but it was delicious.

By this point, I had already had six coffees and didn't really need another but I was so close to Blue Bottle's new Bushwick roastery and cafe that it would have been rude not to stop by. I bought a bag of beans, which have been making my suitcase smell delicious. I can't wait to try it.

Back in the Financial District, the sun was starting to set over Liberty Island and I just had time to drop off my shopping at my hotel before meeting some colleagues at The Growler, a cosy gastropub on Stone Street. I had a lovely gin- and tea-based cocktail and a good burger with bacon marmalade. After dinner, I ended up walking all the way up to Madison Square Park to get a good view of the Empire State Building, which was all lit up in purple and yellow to celebrate the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

To vary my morning running, I decided to jog through Battery Park and up the West Side to Canal Street before looping back towards my hotel. It was extremely cold but at least the wind had died down. I soon warmed up after an El Salvador pourover and some banana-nut bread from Cafe Grumpy. It was then time to head into the office, where I was met with an incredible view both of the Manhattan skyline and Liberty Island from the 46th floor. By golden hour, the views were even more impressive.

After work, one of my co-workers and I decided to go for Galentine's Day cocktails at BlackTail (CLOSED), a cool Cuban-themed bar in Battery Park (coincidentally, BlackTail popped up in London for three days last week). The cocktails were spectacular, although rather more potent than I was expecting. They also give you an "amuse-bouche" mini daiquiri as a palate cleanser; how wonderful! We sat at the bar so that we could watch the expert bar-tenders work their magic. The drinks weren't cheap but it was a great experience.

I then had a date with Le Poisson Rouge, a music and cabaret venue in Greenwich Village, where, for three days only, they were putting on Cruel Intentions: The Musical. Cruel Intentions is a guilty pleasure of mine: it's one of my favourite trashy '90s movies and I watched it so many times that I used to be able to quote large portions of the dialogue. 

It's also a very New Yorky film and I've been to a few of the filming locations, including the Ukrainian Cultural Center on the Upper East Side, which serves as the Valmont house. The musical was great fun, anyway, with plenty of bonus '90s songs (from N-Sync and Natalie Imbruglia, to Meredith Brooks and TLC) thrown in to complement the classics from the soundtrack (Placebo, Counting Crows and The Cardigans, to name but three). I've seen a lot of shows in New York over the years, including some on Broadway, but this was one of the most fun experiences.

On Wednesday morning, I checked out of my hotel and then went for breakfast at Bluestone Lane's second FiDi location on Water Street. The cafe is Instagram-ready with Bluestone Lane's signature white espresso machine, teal and green accents, and foliage. My piccolo and avocado toast were both very good too. 

After something of a caffeine crisis on Tuesday afternoon (there was no good coffee in my building), I decided to get in another coffee before going into the office and went back to Black Fox Coffee on Pine Street, this time trying a pourover (an Ethiopian Kayon from 49th Parallel, which was one of the best pourovers I've had in the past few months). After a morning of meetings, I just had time to grab a bagel from Leo's (tasty and huge) before catching the subway to Penn Station for the next part of my trip.

NYC II: Beating the Sleet

On Sunday morning, the beautiful sunshine of Saturday was long gone; in its place a cold, unrelenting sleet. Undeterred, I walked down to the Wall Street branch of one of my favourite mini-chains, La Colombe Coffee, to get some breakfast while I awaited the outcome of the Hamilton ticket lottery. Even on wintry weekend in February, I figured that I was unlikely to get a ticket but it was worth a shot.

NYC I: Snow Business

From balmy Barcelona, I landed in nippy New York on Friday afternoon (technically, I returned to London first but only for long enough to swap my sunglasses for snow boots and return to the airport). 

I was worried that Winter Storm Niko might spoil my plans to spend a long weekend in New York before two days in my company's NYC office, followed by a few days at a conference in Boston. Indeed, my original flight to JFK was cancelled but I was rebooked onto the pricier flight I had wanted to take in the first place. We took off an hour late but magically landed on time and, thanks to the automated portals at JFK, I got through immigration very quickly but then had a long wait for my suitcase.

I took the subway into the city, which is, I learned, a bad idea on a snow day and it was a slow journey. Although I sometimes stay in Midtown when I'm with my family, when I'm travelling alone or for work, I usually try to stay as close to Soho as possible. 

My company's office has now relocated from Soho to the Financial District, however, and so I'll be staying there for the work part of this trip. I didn't plan to stay in the FiDi, as it is now known, for the weekend too but it turns out that this part of town is not particularly popular with tourists on weekends in February (who knew?!) and I got a great deal on a room at the Gild Hall Hotel on Gold Street. 

After checking in to my comfortable, sleek room, and accepting a glass of champagne from the friendly guys on reception (why not?!), I went straight back out to meet a friend from work. We took an Uber Pool up to Harlem for dinner, a slow, if entertaining, ride during which we were joined by a series of fellow passengers, none of whom seemed to be able to find the designated pick-up point. 

We ate at Red Rooster, a fun and lively spot for American comfort food. I had meatballs and a side of cornbread, and the food was tasty if a little expensive. I took the subway back downtown and then trudged through the thawing snow to my hotel for the best night's sleep I had had all week.

I was up early on Saturday and went for a run to clear out the cobwebs. My hotel was only a few blocks from the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge but, as usual, I ran up to the Manhattan Bridge instead, crossing over into Brooklyn and returning over Brooklyn Bridge to make the most of those amazing views. No matter how many times I walk or run across Brooklyn Bridge, I still always take dozens of photos along the way. 

Back in Manhattan, I went for breakfast at Black Fox Coffee, an antipodean-style coffee shop on the ground floor of a fancy residential building on Pine Street. Black Fox is a large and airy space and serves coffee from several cult roasters, including Portland-based Heart and Vancouver-based 49th Parallel. I had a cortado from Aussie roaster Small Batch and a slice of walnut-banana bread. As usual, I will do some more detailed coffee posts when I'm back home.

I returned to my hotel to shower and change and then headed back out into the snow. I should note that although the snow was cleared from the pavements and roads pretty quickly, there were still mounds of snow and ice at the kerbs and in the parks at this stage. 

The next coffee shop on my list was closed, so I waited until I got to Tribeca before I had my second coffee, a Counter Culture pourover at Gotan, a cosy cafe on Franklin Street. The breakfast menu looked great but I just had the coffee, which was very good.

Soho itself could perhaps have been renamed SnowHo. The cobbled roads and pavements were still pretty snowy and I narrowly missed having a large chunk of ice fall on my head, which meant I spent most of the day looking upwards in a suspicious manner. 

I spent some time shopping in Soho, joined a march for Planned Parenthood in Washington Square and then walked up into the West Village. I stopped for a quick cortado at Terremoto Coffee, a petite but perfectly formed coffee shop on West 15th Street, which has a beautiful copper espresso machine.

I walked along the High Line for a few blocks before descending at West 20th Street to go to a restaurant called Cookshop for brunch. I had a bloody amazing BLT Mary (yes, with bacon) and a delicious fried egg sandwich. You can see the High Line from the restaurant and it's a great brunch spot (booking is advised). 

After that feast, I needed to do some more walking and, after popping into a favourite shop of mine, Story, I climbed back onto the High Line, following it all the way to its northern extent at West 34th Street.

I spent the rest of the afternoon shopping around the Flatiron District, stopping by the lovely Rizzoli Bookstore, and several of my favourite clothing retailers, before looping down into the East Village. The Coffee Project, on East 5th Street, is most famous for its 'deconstructed latte' and has been on my list for a while. 

The small cafe was bustling when I arrived and I had to wait a little while before I could nab a seat in the window. I did, of course, order the deconstructed latte (a shot of espresso — a Brazilian/Guatemalan blend roasted in Brooklyn — a shot of 'raw' milk and a mini latte). It was fun to try but I'm not sure I'll be regular piccolo/pourover order just yet.

Brindle Room in the East Village is rumoured to have one of the best burgers in New York — if not the world — and I had been wanting to try it for some time. I couldn't get a reservation until 8.15, though, so I returned to my hotel to drop off my shopping and rest my feet for a while before heading back out. When booking my hotel, I hadn't quite factored in having to return to my hotel more than once during the day — those 25-minute hikes to get to Soho soon start to add up, but there are worse cities to walk around in. 

As for the burger, well, it really was rather good: juicy and meaty, and served with American cheese and caramelised onions. It was on the small side, but that suited me fine as I was still recovering from brunch, and they also gave me a couple of complimentary doughnut holes (one with salted caramel, which was wonderful). Brindle Room itself is a lovely, relaxed gastropub on a quieter street in the East Village. The Canadian family sitting next to me had only good things to say about the poutine, too.

NB: Although I have my DSLR with me on this trip, I only have my work laptop, which lacks any photo editing software, so the images on this trip are in their 'raw' (jpeg) form.