Coffee nerd blog

New York City is certainly “The City” when it comes to the sheer quantity and quality of specialty coffee you can find in the area. Within the bustling noise of tourists and locals lie a surprising abundance of coffee shops who source and brew their coffee with utmost care. In August, 2024 and in January, 2025 I jumped into the coffee jungle that is the streets of New York City to explore the most renowned specialty businesses of the city. While I cannot offer a freshly-baked guide to all of the city’s nifty coffee scene after a five-day-long adventure, I will guide you through some of the most acclaimed coffee establishments that I had the privilege of setting my feet in.

la cabra (Soho)

La Cabra Soho Location

284 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 

La Cabra, an acclaimed roastery coffee brand based in Copenhagen, opened their first US location back in 2021 in Bushwick. Two years later, it expanded its business to the bustling high design area of Soho, to “introduce you to a new interpretation of La Cabra.” It is at this location on Lafayette St. that I got introduced to a brand-new chapter of the Nordic roastery.

The first thing that greets its visitors in Soho is a long line extended far away from the shop’s entrance. This may intimidate some guests, but the line moves fast as the baristas efficiently handle the rushing wave of clientele looking for iced oat latte and matcha. Once you step inside the place after a five-minute wait outside, you are immediately embraced by warm atmosphere with wooden walls, sleek counter tops, and pastries with dangerously alluring smells. A barista with a heavy bag under their eyes greets you, swiftly typing in your order with practiced ease. I got a Colombian natural coffee, brewed hot with Hario V60, with a pain au chocolat.

I must say that I absolutely adored that cup of coffee. On the nose, it smelled intensely sweet, almost like a stewed fruit syrup. What surprised me was the roastiness that followed through in my first sip; I did not expect for a Nordic coffee to have such a strong roasty flavour. But it was certainly a pleasant surprise. The roasty note managed to take the center of my tasting experience, successfully maintaining the balance of the cup whilst other flavours came in with high intensity. The overall profile of the cup was characterized by intense sweetness of dark berries and plum, soon followed by a refreshing burst of sourness that made my coffee taste even more like fruit juice. It even had the hint of tartness at the end, as if I was biting into a handful of freshly harvested blueberries. The mouthfeel was extremely juicy as well, which paired perfectly with a fruity flavour combination. I would say, in terms of color, the cup was a refreshing pop of dark purple and magenta splattered on a perfect canvas of roasty flavour.

The cup, however, was not without its own shortcomings. They serve your filter coffee with a warm cup and a server full of brewed coffee, so that you can pour your brew into the cup yourself. I believe this is a great move on their part, allowing customers to enjoy their coffee in various temperature settings. But when I sipped my brew after it was sufficiently cooled, the bursting zest of fruitiness I initially fell in love with was nowhere to be found. The cup was mild, bland, and noticeably empty in flavour. One thing I put great priority on when tasting specialty coffee is flavour consistency, and it was disheartening to taste a cup so delicious lose its flavour so rapidly.

Still, despite its lack of consistency, I would definitely recommend a cup of La Cabra’s filter coffee if you find yourself in NYC. The flavour was immensely fascinating, the combination hitting the perfect sweet spot between the sweet and the sour of dark berries. Immaculate professionalism of baristas and the cozy atmosphere only adds to the whole experience. If you fancy a lovely cup of specialty coffee, a visit to La Cabra will certainly make your day.

sey coffee

SEY COFFEE

18 Grattan Street • Brooklyn, NY

Nestled in the uniquely stunning neighborhood of Bushwick, SEY coffee is known for its lightly roasted, carefully brewed cups. They have some serious principles when it comes to the brewing of specialty coffee: extremely light-roasted, washed beans brewed with Aeropress. A local barista from Loveless Coffee, another lovely local business I highly recommend in Bushwick, described it like this. “When you put the roast level in the scale of one to ten, our coffee lies somewhere between four and five. SEY, on the other hand, roast their beans at level one or two.”

Walking into the seemingly humble concrete building, you are immediately struck with two things: the striking beauty of their biophilic design, and equally striking number of people in the space. The entire place is carefully adorned with vines and shrubs, adding natural comfort to the otherwise industrial interior design. They even have a huge picture window on the ceiling to let all those warm sunlight in. Their design scheme, which skillfully combines the industrial brute with a natural touch, creates a welcoming environment to enjoy your cup.

However, you must note that the peaceful atmosphere is often filled with clattering noises of conversations. The place is almost always packed with patrons, so much so that sometimes you have no choice but to wait for more than half an hour for someone to leave their seat. So if you are looking for a local hole-in-the-wall to sit down for hours to read a book, write a journal, or maybe have a nice conversation, SEY might not be the best option for the day.

Now let’s have the big conversation: how is the coffee? I have one good thing and two terrible things to say. To break the good news first, their coffee is meticulously selected and carefully roasted to bring out some great flavour profiles. The Ethiopian washed coffee I ordered had an amazing note of peach, red berries, and a soft touch of citrus and white flower. The peach note laid the ground of the brew with the much-needed sweetness, while the other notes added fun, little pops to the cup. The overall composition of various flavours were remarkably balanced as well. From taste alone, you could actually notice that they have sourced quality beans from reliable producers.

However, my experience soon turned sour – both figuratively and literally. I found my cup of Ethiopian coffee slightly under-extracted. I could taste the characteristic sweetness and sourness that comes with under-extracted brews. I initially figured that they were parts of the original flavour profile, but I could not believe that the unpleasant astringency at the tip of my tongue was an intended part of my tasting experience. The card they gave me with my cup suggested that it had a distinct note of watermelon, which I suspected was similar to equally distinct notes of under-extracted coffee. Moreover, I noticed that the overall intensity of flavours were extremely weak; it felt as if I was helplessly grasping at those wonderful notes of fruit and flower over a thin, opaque veil. The experience was rather frustrating, since I knew for my experience that the coffee, with notes of peach, citrus, and flower, held enormous potential as most good Ethiopian coffees do.

While I was excited to taste the classic combination of delicate notes, I am not confident that I would visit SEY Coffee after my last experience. Another thing I personally place high value in specialty coffee is flavour clarity, and SEY’s washed brews failed to deliver exactly that. While I would not advise against checking it out when you happen to be in the neighborhood, I will not spend $17 for an under-extracted cup of coffee again.

Want more?

This post is the first of the two-part series on the short coffee adventure that I had in NYC. If you want more of this story, feel free to tell me in the comments!

And I strongly advise you to read Liz Clayton’s wonderful article on The Sprudge, where they guide you through the buzzing scene of specialty coffee in Lower Manhattan, with up-to-date information about trendy multi-roaster cafes. I will leave the link down below.