Coffee in the Big Apple

Coffee is an important part of many people's lives, including mine. Ahh, the satisfaction every morning of caffeine hitting your bloodstream, crossing the blood-brain-barrier and stimulating your central nervous system - banishing lingering drowsiness and increasing your alertness and mood. Of all the drugs to be addicted to, coffee's not to bad, right?

We are lucky in Australia to have a plethora of good coffee shops/cafes serving excellent espresso based beverages as well as pour overs. Its not just the big cities either - acceptable coffees, and, with some research great coffees, can now be had in many regional areas.

Historically, the US drank its coffee from drip filters or percolators in big mugs, and espresso based coffee was confined to specialist cafes and Italian places. Then the espresso revolution swept through, and big chains like Starbucks and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf took hold. Unfortunately, while they are capable of doing a passable espresso, as soon as the milk gets involved, things start to unravel. Firstly the servings are massive - the smallest latte at Starbucks, the 'tall' is 12 fl oz, while the largest (venti) is 20 fl oz, nearly 600 mL!! Secondly, the milk is not correctly textured - it is foamy and bubbly and looks like the Cataract Gorge after a heavy rain. Finally, the coffees are so weak, mainly because of the volume of milk involved. 

So, New York. Its somewhat of a latecomer to the espresso based coffee culture that is such a feature of Australia and New Zealand's big cities. However, it is catching up fast, and new cafes/coffee shops are opening up all the time that serve excellent coffee.

(from top, clockwise: Laughing Man Espresso in Tribeca (part owned by Hugh Jackman!), small latte, cuppuccino, cortado)

Here's a handy guide for navigating the coffee in NYC:

Lattes are typically bigger than in Aus/NZ - make sure you ask for a small (8-12 fl oz), or else you'll end up with something resembling a soup bowl. They are not always served in a glass, sometimes in a cuppuccino cup. 

Cuppuccinos are really just smaller lattes (6-8 fl oz), but with the same espresso content, so typically a bit stronger. No chocolate sprinkles to be seen.

If you like your coffee a bit stronger like me, you can either order a latte with an extra shot, or get a Cortado (4-6 fl oz), which is similar to our piccolo latte. They also go by Gibraltar. 

The good coffee shops tend to pull double ristrettos, so if you want a double shot as we know it, you will end up with essentially 4 ristrettos, which is the same volume as a double espresso. They gave me some funny looks when I confirmed that yes, I want 4 shots in my small latte, but it really isn't any stronger than a double latte back home. 

Here are some photos of a few of the dozens of cafes we have sampled in the last month and on previous visits. Rather than list them all, I've created a Coffee Map with all of the places that has received my tick of approval.

(Aussie-run Bluebird coffee in Lower East Side). 

(Little Collins in Midtown East - complete with a stolen street sign and cool bench-integrated espresso machine - another Aussie run cafe killing it over here)

(Gasoline Alley in Nolita. Bike hanging up - check, hipster looking barista - check, epic La Marzocco machine - check!)