This is the third coffee shop review I've posted in ten days, and they are all new coffee shops that opened in the past four weeks. This time I left the comfort of Manhattan and crossed the East River to Williamsburg Brooklyn. The sacrifices I make for this job...

El Beit means home in Arabic (or more precisely, the home), and it opened its place for business at 158 Bedford Avenue, amidst a string of cafes, restaurants and pizza places. That section of Bedford Avenue is the equivalent of Greenwich Village in Manhattan, though it is minuscule in size, only a few blocks long.


El Beit on a Sunday afternoon

The newly renovated interior has a lively coffee shop ambiance, and at 3:00 p.m. it was still busy with a crowd of coffee-dependant individuals who for the most part ordered milk drinks to go. I visited the place with a group of friends who are not frequent dwellers of such haunts, but nevertheless, nurse their own coffee afflictions in private.


Interior

As you have probably noticed, it is a Counter Culture Coffee joint.


Anfim Grinder

Anfim is making major inroads into coffee shops. I am told the main reason is minimum waste, as compared with all other grinders. As to shot quality, Dan Griffin, the barista at the store says it is comparable with the Robur, if not better.


Clover - it is now a standard in all newly opened stores.

We all ordered straight shots of espresso. They were serving CCC Twin Cities blend. I polled my friends about their impression of the shots and the consensus was that the coffee would be better less concentrated. I had to agree with that learned opinion, and I hope they ease up on the grind, or dose lower next time around.

I was impressed by the attention to detail and the serious attitude towards quality which is evident from my talk with Dan and the general vibe in the shop.

I love reading your reviews Abe. Please come to Seattle and review some of our local establishments! I'm no where near qualified and I have not seen anyone else do so (if they have, I'm unaware).....

starry wrote:I love reading your reviews Abe. Please come to Seattle and review some of our local establishments!

It is definitely on my agenda. In May 2005 I had a chance to do a little of that. While attending the 2005 SCAA convention, we spent a couple of hours every day visiting coffee shops. Vivace was the height of that tour. Schomer's big shop is a temple to espresso, and has the ambiance that transforms the small cup into an experience. Lucky you

Do you remember which Espresso Vivace it was? There are three locations to choose from!

I think it was the Vivace Roasteria on East Denny Way. I remember those tiles. They had an old roaster in a separate room in the back.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

Hi Abe, thanks for another very enjoyable report. How far is El Beit from Gimme (Bklyn)and Grumpy (Bklyn)?

Abe Carmeli wrote:Mike Griffin, the barista

?
Dan Griffin, aka Danger Dan.

AndyS wrote:Hi Abe, thanks for another very enjoyable report. How far is El Beit from Gimme (Bklyn)and Grumpy (Bklyn)?


?
Dan Griffin, aka Danger Dan.

Thanks for the correction Andy, Dan indeed and my apologies to Dan. As to the proximity issue, the idiom "You Can't Get there from Here" applies if you are thinking of subway. But you can walk from Gimme to El Beit, it is a little less than a mile, and drive to Grumpy - Brooklyn about 15 minutes.

Jeebus, Dan sure does seem to get around NYC!

I'm not sure how I feel about the "Clover is standard in all new shops" comment.

NYC has shops opening left and right, it seems.