I live on a small Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That piece of real estate features the best the world has to offer, from French Baguette to Chinese Opera (you'll need earplugs for the latter). But decent coffee, and particularly espresso, is nowhere to be found. A thousand coffee shops and not a drop of espresso to drink.
About a year ago I wrote a review of Cafe Grumpy in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Cafe Grumpy threw its hat into the New York coffee wasteland and the only complaint I had was their location. People who live in Manhattan never go to Greenpoint Brooklyn unless they have a very large debt to collect; or as a tied-up & gagged passenger in the trunk of a speeding car. So, I was hoping Grumpy would see the error of their ways and move to Manhattan. A year later, they've finally crossed the Brooklyn Bridge in the right direction.
Their new coffee shop is located in a hip neighborhood in Manhattan (Chelsea), and is accessible by subway. John Moore of CCC invited me to a cupping session at Grumpy and on an early Saturday morning, (10 am
! the nerve that man has...), I showed up dressed down and barely conscious.
The shop has a very warm vibe that is partially attributed to the hardwood floors, light stained wood bar and red brick wall interior. The first things that caught my eyes, after the 2 group Synesso, were two brand new Clover Coffee Brewers. For those who are unfamiliar with that contraption, it is the latest in brewing technology, and in essence it brews coffee for ~45 seconds and then uses vacuum suction to separate the grind from the brew. The machine allows for infinite adjustments tailored for each coffee, from soaking time to temperature, and is said to produce a unique & clean cup unmatched by any other brewing method. These are expensive hand-built precision tools and seeing two of them in one store was pleasantly surprising.
Clover- back
Clover - driver seat
I tried a cup of Bolivia Caranavi from the Clover and it was molasses sweet, with stone fruit & cinnamon. It would be nice to try the same coffee as French Press or just straight cupping I said to myself, and compare it with the Clover. I moved to a straight shot of Ecco Reserve espresso, which was sweet and very mild. If you are are puzzled by the term "sweet espresso" and want to calibrate your palate to that definition, a shot of Ecco will give you a very good idea.
I watched the barista steaming milk and was delighted to see white chrome homogenized micro foam served to the guy next to me. It seems everything in this coffee shop is up to specs at a very high level.
We proceeded with the cupping session lead by John Moore of CCC which lasted about 90 minutes, tasting five coffees from various origins, and a good time was had by all. For those who are interested in participating in future cupping sessions at Grumpy's please contact John Moore at jmoore@counterculturecoffee.com.
Caroline Bell, a Joyzy gal and Grumpy co-owner, taking a picture of the cupping table
cupping at Grumpy
Cafe Grumpy
224 West 20th Street
(between 7th & 8th Aves)
New York, NY 10011
Tel: 212.255.5511
... I can't wait!
