No Regular Joe: Coffee Roasting Comes to Brooklyn

I knew the iconic Greek deli cups long before I have lived in this city, and it seems now that I do, they are becoming a more and more infrequent sight. New Yorkers’ reluctance to give up harsh, or weak, or burned (but unpretentious, fast, and cheap right?) bodega coffee is surely giving way to culinary tastes beyond mere drinkability.
Now, it’s no secret that North Brooklyn is home to great coffee—the likes of Variety, Café Grumpy, and especially Gimme Coffee have been serving the neighborhood a quality product for years—and with the success if so many gourmet cafes it’s not surprising to find more coffee hot spots springing up in the neighborhood. Recently, I visited two new cafes to the neighborhood. One of the most interesting things about new neighborhood cafes is that a lot of them are using coffee that is roasted right here in Brooklyn.
The process of coffee roasting changes the chemical properties of the “green” coffee beans causing the bean to change in color, taste, and smell. In other words, all the flavor comes from the roasting, so it’s the most important step in coffee creation.
The new Lucky Shot café on Driggs at the corner of McGolrick Park occupies the old Brooklynski space. It’s just a whole in the wall café, really. There is very little seating, but the space is sunny and pleasant and decorated with art by local artists. The coffee roaster of choice is Stumptown, the Portland, Oregon based roasting super star that has recently opened an out post in Red Hook. Stumptown was a leader in the “third wave” coffee movement that took hold on the west coast and promoted sustainability and the elevation of the art of the espresso drink. The coffee is rich with strong hints of chocolate. Though certainly delicious, it is so strong as to be a bit cloying sometimes leaving me with feeling that I need to chug some water. The café uses a French press to brew its regular coffee drinks, which captures more of the coffee’s flavor. Always look for French pressed, with the coffee’s direct contact with the water more flavor and essential oils are captured, so the coffee is just plain better.
Cup café just opened on the corner of Norman and Lorimer, and is easily spotted by its parrot green exterior that carries over once inside. It doesn’t seem like they have gotten their act together entirely with seating inside consisting of two parallel benches, but the customer service and coffee thing they have down fine. The roaster of choice at Cup, I was excited to hear, is Kitten Coffee, which is New York based and roasts in Bed-Stuy. The coffee is at once light and rich, and even a little bit sweet. Though not a standard espresso descriptor, the coffee was refreshing; I could have had another straight away. This is a coffee-only establishment; there is no food as of yet.
These two holes in the wall may not yet have a place for the neighborhood’s café crowd of freelancers and the fun-employed to sit on their laptops all day, but as a place to pop in for a quick cup of joe before heading to work or the park, they sure beat the corner deli. And as for coffee roasted in Brooklyn, I’m glad to see native brews coming to the fore, and see the potential for a rich, diverse, and local blossoming of coffee culture. No Folgers in this cup, thank you, I’ll take Brooklyn born and raised!