A Visit to Gimme Coffee's New Shop in Manhattan

[Abe Carmeli]

The ink on my report on The Tasting Room was still wet, when I received a note from Andy regarding an upcoming Gimme shop in Manhattan. A quick search on Gimme's web site revealed that the soon to be arrived has already opened its doors for business. I had some business to conduct in Soho, to be precise, I had a hankering for a slice of Lombardi's fine Pizza, so I packet my Metro Card and headed down to 228 Mott street, to meet the new arrival from Ithaca, New York.


Store Front

As it is often in New York, the artisan coffee shops tend to live in confined spaces. The reason of course is high rents, and Gimme is no exception. They are also a destination locale. Hidden in a quiet side street, they count on quality and not traffic to drive business to their shops.

Interior - a standing room only.

I introduced myself to the folks inside and met Mike White at the helm accompanied by Mark. Mike is an occasional poster on HB and a friendly face in the shop.


Mike White at the helm


Anfim Grinder

Gimme's signature espresso blend "Leftist" is constantly evolving. New crops always require adjustments to a blend to achieve a particular taste profile. Being a South Paw myself, I read the label describing the blend with anticipation. It read: "Aroma: Rationally Fundamentalist". With such astute insight to my soul coming from a coffee label, I was looking forward to a shot of that mind bender.


21 grams in a double Synesso basket. The machine is La Marzocco

In the cup-1 oz of bitter-sweet smoky chocolate and hint of anise twister. Yum!

In the basement, they have an espresso lab and training space featuring an original E61 Faema. I drove that vintage for a few days last year and enjoyed every minute of it. Besides questionable lab experiments, they also grow the next crop of coffee shop owners there. In the picture is Alberto, who is planning on opening a hole-in-the- wall in a couple of months. He used to be a chef he tells me, and he now hopes to grow old with a three group Synesso he bought a year ago.

Alberto - the next coffee shop in training

For lovers of weak coffee, here's a Clover

Clover

After that wonderful experience, I resumed my original course towards Lombardi's Pizzeria which is only a few blocks away.

Lombardi's Pizzeria

A closer look however left me all dressed up and nowhere to go.

Closed


There's A Pizza Hall of Fame? Why wasn't I told about this?

I went with plan B and headed to Balthazar, not a bad substitute by any stretch of the imagination.

[Matthew Brinski]

I haven't been too motivated to get back to New York recently (where I'm from), but if you keep these postings up, I won't have a choice.


Matt

[AndyS]

Anfim Grinder

Kind of funny that Mike likes the Anfim so much, the poor little Robur got sent down to the basement!

Gimme's signature espresso blend "Leftist" ...
In the cup-1 oz of bitter-sweet smoky chocolate and hint of anise twister. Yum!

Yeah! A good shot of Leftist is truly mind-blowing.

[Abe Carmeli]

Yeah! A good shot of Leftist is truly mind-blowing.

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That's a beautiful shot Andy! I brought home a pound of Leftist and I will try to recreate the experience tomorrow morning.

[Abe Carmeli]

I haven't been too motivated to get back to New York recently (where I'm from), but if you keep these postings up, I won't have a choice.


Matt

If I bring a native New Yawker back home for a visit, I've done my service to the country. The coffee scene is changing fast here, and indeed there are two more new coffee shops I plan to cover in the coming weeks.

[Mike White]

Andy, letting the Anfim get comfortable on bar seems only fair after allowing the Robur to have the spotlight for so many years...

I think what really appeals to me more than anything is the cleanliness of the dosing. I'm not scientific enough to decipher the technical nuances of the actual grinding, but I trust my instincts when I feel that so far, the shot quality is at least comparable to that that of the Robur.

Abe, thanks for coming! Lovely post and a pleasure to meet you.

[VS_DoubleShot]

Nice to see Gimme! enjoyed down in the city. I live near the two original locations and I'm a devoted fan. I think Gimme!'s stuff is as good if not better than some of the other roasters that are mentioned so often on these sites.

[Marshall]

Nice to see Gimme! enjoyed down in the city. I live near the two original locations and I'm a devoted fan. I think Gimme!'s stuff is as good if not better than some of the other roasters that are mentioned so often on these sites.

Cornell Dining was choosing a new coffee supplier a few months ago, and I wrote a letter to The Daily Sun recommending Gimme. Do you know who they picked?

[VS_DoubleShot]

For a time Gimme! had a mobile trailer on the campus selling coffee while Cornell rebuilt a cafe on campus. I believe that I read somewhere that although the trailer was gone now and the cafe was open, Gimme was still the supplier of the coffee and trainer of the baristi. I read this a while ago and I don't see the info about it on their website any longer so I could be wrong about some of the details.

[Mike White]

Vince, Marshall is referring to something a bit different than that Spartan Manor trailer. Here's the article that he's referencing; http://cornellsun.com/node/26297

Marshall, I'm personally unaware of a final decision on Cornell's part but i'll post back if I can find out.