It seems rather daunting to try to pick the best coffee shop in New York City, but the point of this coffee series on Live and Let’s Fly is to offer tips for great coffee rather than pick favorites. Toward that end, if you’re in the financial district I found a great little coffee shop during my last trip.
Great Coffee In New York City
I was calling on a “friend” near the World Trade Center and had time to stop for coffee before heading back to the airport.
Coffee is always just a few paces away when you are in New York, but not necessarily good coffee. Here, I was fortunate to find a little hole in the wall called Hole In The Wall Coffee (actually, it was a very nice café and not a hole in the wall in the conventional sense of that term).
Hole In The Wall Coffee
15 Cliff Street
New York, NY 10038
9:00AM – 5:00PM
I ordered a cappuccino…I’m a creature of habit.
Rather than take it to go, I sat down on the terrace outside. Coffee is never meant to be sipped from a paper or styrofoam cup. Look how beautiful it arrived:
Now, the chocolate stylization of latte art makes for a beautiful presentation, but I actually prefer my cappuccinos without the chocolate. Usually, Australia is the only place I have to mention it in advance. This is the first time in the USA I’ve been served chocolate in my cappuccino. But still, this was a rich, bold, and very satisfying cup of coffee.
Do note the guy in the picture above. I’m not sure if that bench was public property versus private property, but this guy took his shoes off, leaned back, and began smoking pot. For his glaucoma I’m sure…it wafted over to my area.
Bluestone Lane
Let me also give a shoutout for Bluestone Lane. It has become a nationwide boutique chain, but I had coffee here last time and it was very tasty. There are locations throughout the city.
CONCLUSION
I’m sure every nook and cranny of every borough has some wonderful coffee and I’m looking forward to slowly but surely exploring it all.
What is your favorite coffee shop in NYC?
Lovely cup of Coffee. but it could never entice me to live in New York, visit of course.
Surprised you didn’t include Starbucks in trump tower.
Not my cup of tea!
Bluestone is from Melbourne
As is all the best coffee 🙂
Cappuccino is also my favorite, but I like to order it as a Flat White.
Bibble & Sip is one of my fav places to pick up both coffee and pastries, 51st and 8th Ave. Cannot wait to go back someday
Looks great (the coffee). As usual, though, there always has to be some low-life moron ruining the scenery or ambiance. Slob, …….Go hang and slouch someplace else. I hate New York City and I was born and raised here (well, I do not hate the city but the mentally-ill hanging about everywhere thanks to DeBlasio – and the untouchable liberals pandering to them).
The atmosphere of Porto Rico Importing in Manhattan transported me to the way coffee shops were growing up. Coffee beans from around the world displayed on sacks. The aroma of roasted beans it’s unforgettable.
Intelligentsia @ The High Line Hotel on W. 20th St. has a great combo of good coffee and indoor/outdoor ambiance as well.
But yeah, so many good places throughout the city. Hope most of them can survive.
My early memory of cappuccino ( 60s/70s) included it being covered with a thickish layer of powdered chocolate, applied via a shaker similar to those used for fast food French fries/fish’n’chips. We’ve moved on to a more subtle dusting with better quality …real…chocolate. These days I only drink black.
Please don’t begin your sentences with the word “now”
I sometimes write very colloquially.
I lived in NYC for five years in my 20s…I personally hated it but do agree that there’s some fantastic food & coffee to be found!