Blue Bottle – New York (US)

Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with the US specialty coffee scene will most likely have heard of Blue Bottle at some point. This Oakland, California-based business was founded by former freelance musician W. James Freeman on the principle that his customers would enjoy only the freshest and highest quality coffees  out there and that they wouldn’t be older than 48 hours after being roasted. These days Blue Bottle is one of the fastest growing independent specialty coffee businesses with locations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo. I recently had the pleasure of visiting their Mint Plaza location in San Francisco where I enjoyed a perfectly prepared Ehtiopia Suke Quto. Read my San Francisco write up here.

The final stop of my US and Mexico tour was New York and on a stunningly sunny day, I popped down to the Blue Bottle roastery in Brooklyn where I got a little tour by Location Manager Felipe and had the chance to chat with Head Roaster Joe. The gorgeous space on Berry Street is more of a work space than a café, which is manifested in the limited seating at the front and large roasting lab and packing space at the back. Still, people come and in and queue to get their daily caffeine dose in the form of an expertly preperared espresso-based drink or drip coffee. In fact, the drip coffee set up is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen. I counted a total to 10 Bonmacs that were almost all in use simultaneously.

As Felipe and I made our way around the back area, I had the chance to sip on a beautiful Kenya Gikirima, which they only recently started offering. This particular roastery is responsible for roasting and distributing Blue Bottle coffee to all of their New York outlets as well as a number of local accounts such as the renown Grammercy Tavern.

It was also interesting to observe the clientele that visits this coffee shop. I saw a few extremely fashionable characters with stunning winter coats, tourists, local residents and people who work in one of the many funky businesses in the area. Considering the wonderful transformation that this part of Brooklyn has undergone in recent years, it should therefore not come as a surprise that a brand like Blue Bottle should set up shop here. Stumptown also has a large roastery in New York and Integlligentsia from Chicago runs a few stores in town, including a location in the Urban Outfitters on Herald Square.

When it comes to coffee experience, it is hard to beat Blue Bottle’s commitment to craftmanship although it has to be said that the smaller outlets like the Mint Plaza store in San Francisco have a better set up for experiencing their complete coffee offerings. I am still enjoying their delicious El Salvador Aida Batlle Kilimanjaro though at home in Amsterdam. Truly exquisite!