For those who have been reading for a while, you know I’m mildly obsessed with finding good coffee, which is no easy feet in NYC. I recently read an article in the NY Times, where Oliver Schwaner-Albright writes:

“A friend returned recently from San Francisco and raved about the coffee. But then he said the cappuccino at Gimme! on Mott Street in Manhattan is every bit as good.I strongly feel that the West Coast wins when it comes to coffee. It not only has great roasters, cafes and baristas, it has a sophisticated coffee culture, where patrons know what they’re drinking and won’t accept an inferior drink no more than they would buy stale bread. New Yorkers are sadly lacking those standards. Not only will a New York cafe charge $2 for a burnt espresso in a paper cup, a New Yorker will pay for it, drink it and come back the next day.

But at my friend’s urging I went to Gimme!, and was duly impressed. The $3 cappuccino (organic milk is 50¢ extra), was delicious, but even more telling was when the barista apologized for taking so long: she didn’t like how the first shot came out so she threw it away and made a second. It was one of the few times I’ve seen a New York cafe strive for excellence.

Was it as exceptional as what I’ve had in California? Not quite. But it was awfully good, and now ranks among my three favorite cappuccinos in Manhattan.”

Seeing as how I agree with most of what Oliver said (I too had my favorite cup of coffee in SF at Philz Coffee), I went to try Gimme Coffee Gimme Coffee, although my focus was more coffee than cappuccino. The coffee (their Platinum Blonde) was good, not great, but I drank the whole medium sized cup instead of throwing it out, which is saying something.

Like this article, I find many tauting the favorite spots for cappuccinos and/or espressos but what about just a good cup of coffee? So, I plead to New Yorkers; I’m a native, myself. I welcome any suggestions, preferably in NYC and accessible by subway. More importantly, I beg beg beg of you to stop forking over $2 or more for bad coffee. Don’t accept mediocrity, brunt and acidic stuff, left out for too long. We need to take a stand or we’ll never get the good stuff.

posted by jessica at 05:13 PM Filed under Coffee, Tea, and Dessert, Drinks, Restaurants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.