• Cafe Grumpy in Brooklyn, NY | Cappuccino

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    Cafe Grumpy

    193 Meserole Avenue

    Brooklyn, NY 11222

    Cappuccino

    Greenpoint Grumpy

    It’s a great day for coffee. It’s a simple phrase that keeps me waking up feeling motivated and waiting until I get that first sip of the day. If there is one place I can stay rest assured that this statement will remain true, it’s Cafe Grumpy. Let me begin by saying it has been quite some time since my last write up, but I can assure you that it is not because I have lost any sort of passion. There just comes a time and place where I feel the need to login and share my experience on here.

    Cafe Grumpy is located in the quiet neighborhood of Greenpoint in Brooklyn, NY. They have 3 other locations in New York City, including stores in Chelsea, Lower East Side and Park Slope. Before even moving to NYC, Cafe Grumpy seemed more or less like a household name for coffee lovers, and I have learned after many experiences why they have built such a strong name for themselves. For locals looking to find this hot spot, it can be accessed by either the Nassau Ave or Greenpoint Ave stops on the G train. This location is specifically described as the “home” of Grumpy. They have dedicated the whole back of the store to a roasting facility in which they provide all the beans for the 4 locations across NYC. Using a restored Probat roaster, you can enjoy a cup of their freshly brewed coffee as you watch the masters of the craft working hard to make the flavors of your favorite drink come alive. Not to mention, they don’t hold a pretentious halo over their head with things like not allowing the customer to pre-grind the pounds of beans they are buying, or trying to control whether or not they are allowed to order a drink “to go” like some other Brooklyn enthusiasts. The atmosphere of Cafe Grumpy is one that brings in students and friends together at a place where you can get lost in a good book or conversation. The cafe also offers a book exchange for anyone looking to get rid of an old book and pick up a new read. The door here at this cafe seems to be revolving from open to close, and it’s not just because of the free wifi and plenty of seating to find your spot and get some work done.

    The cappuccino from Cafe Grumpy was one of the best drinks I’ve had since living in Brooklyn. The consistency of their “Heartbreaker” espresso is one that doesn’t seem to fail with whatever style of drink you are ordering. The flavors of the espresso can be distinguished with traits of lavender, raspberry, citrus and mollasses. You can clearly pick up on these floral notes with a straight shot of espresso or macchiato, where the sweeter citrus and berry flavors seem to prevail themselves in this cappuccino today. This is a preferred and a great balance in my opinion. A nice smooth berry and fruit flavor shot can be nice when enjoying an espresso, but shops seem to concentrate so hard on obtaining these traits today. Cafe Grumpy has brought a great balance in their espresso to be used in a variety of drinks across their menu and have found a way to remain consistent. I’m looking forward to running into their other shops across the city, and I hope you can find a minute for yourself today to take a break and enjoy a drink.

    - John, itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Verb Cafe in Brooklyn, NY | Cappuccino

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    Verb Cafe

    218 Bedford Ave

    Brooklyn, NY 11221

    Cappuccino

    As my knowledge for coffee continues to grow and develop, so does my appreciation for particular stores who have seemingly developed their own niche styles in many different ways. Whether that would be a concentration of precise flavor tastes to art and interior design, I like to find time to fit it all within my schedule. In this particular case, I bring you Verb Cafe located in Williamsburg who have done a great job of offering a comfortable escape from the busy street of Bedford Ave. I’m sure many of you have seen the infamous “hipster bear trap” picture, which was taken just blocks away from this location, but the area isn’t exactly your most peaceful morning coffee experience. Verb Cafe welcomes you in for a break with plenty of seating indoors, as well as an outdoor patio to take in some sun rays.

    Verb Cafe is serving coffee by a local long standing roastery called Porto Rico Importing Co., who have been serving it fresh since 1907. I didn’t see any descriptions posted in the shop describing the coffee, but the barista was nice enough to give me a little background info. The competition for great tasting cups of coffee is high in this neighborhood, yet Verb has held their own by keeping things traditional for your everyday coffee drinker. I decided it had been some time since I went with a cappuccino, and with no pour over brewing in sight or espresso profiles highlighted, I was confident with my choice. The french italian blend of espresso from Porto Rico was definitely roasted dark, as the bite struck through this drink from the first sip. Appartently they are using this blend for a regular drip coffee as well, but they take the espresso roast time even further resulting in a dark and oily bean. I watched as the barista was preparing the shot and the extraction resulted in a very dark brown crema. Aside from my liking of a sweet tasting cappuccino, as a lot of third wave shops are offering, there is always room for a shop serving an espresso that isn’t scared to make it’s stage presence known. I’ve noticed that there are a decent amount of shops in NYC only offering quick service. Some shops are so quaint that they don’t offer any places to sit and obviously are catering to the “on the go” commuting customer. Don’t get me wrong, there is room for all styles of shops and not one is taller than the other, but today I was able to find a place that fit my mood well. In my opinion, the culture of coffee can only be defined as whatever you make it for yourself. Find your positive channels of why you like coffee. Whether it be a creative environment to meet new people, productive getaway, or simply the experience of enjoying the flavors of the one drink that keeps your daily motivation wheel turning, make it your own.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Little Skips in Brooklyn, NY | Macchiato

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    Little Skips

    941 Willoughby Ave.

    Brooklyn, NY 11221

     

    Macchiato

    I am a little late to be wishing everyone a Happy New Year officially, but I hope everyone has made their resolutions to drink more coffee. The new year has also brought the official 1 year anniversary of It’s A Great Day For Coffee! With over 85 reviews under my belt, and surpassing 20,000 online views to this site, I want to thank anyone and everyone who has ever visited iagdfc.com.

    This time I bring you another local gem location called Little Skips. Based just blocks off the Mrytle/Broadway stop on the J/M train in Brooklyn, the location seemingly falls right into place on this busy corner. It wasn’t in fact until the shop’s twitter started to follow me @greatdaycoffee where I knew this place even existed. It just brought the attention to me even greater on the importance of staying on top of your online presence as an independent coffee shop. All it took was that one person taking a few minutes to search for people interested in coffee, following them, and in turn, resulted in me returning back to this location 5 or 6 times since. Maybe you are an old school shop trying not to conform to the reality of what year it is, and that is fine too, but I just wanted to take a second and mention this particular situation.

    Little Skips is serving coffee provided by Counter Culture Coffee, who also have a New York City based training facility where they have a variety of focused labs, classes and seminars. I was first introduced to Counter Culture through Spyhouse Coffee back in Minneapolis, which is one my my favorite spots to visit when I am back there. They prepared my drink with the Espresso Rustico blend by CC using a La Marzocco Linea espresso machine. The Rustico blend packs flavor notes of almond and dark chocolate, leaving it to be a very smooth and balanced espresso. The macchiato brings the stand alone espresso to even a sweeter level with the great consistency of the smooth froth. Along with serving great coffee, Little Skips offers a great menu of breakfast and lunch items. Their vegan sandwich options are normally what keeps me coming back for more. The environment inside Little Skips will definitely make you want to take some time to relax with a book or unfold that laptop to get some work done. They showcase impressive artwork all over the walls, and seem to have a great relationship with local artists by having show flyers and local news magazines available at the front door. I am becoming more aware of the special niche locations throughout the city, and I hope you can take the time to peak your head into the next shop that catches your attention.

    John, itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Blue Bottle Coffee in Brooklyn, NY | Espresso “Retrofit”

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    Blue Bottle Coffee

    160 Berry Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

    Espresso, Retrofit

    If there is one place proving that specialty coffee is on a new wave of popularity, it is Blue Bottle Coffee. This location has definitely been my favorite stop in New York City thus far. Located in Williamsburg, the surrounding area is over flowing with all different origins of restaurants, skateboarders cutting off taxi’s and creative influences to surely set the mood to grab a cup. Blue Bottle, just a few blocks off the Bedford Ave stop on the “L” train, invites you in with a large garage type door and a decent amount of seating and chill space. Any true coffee lover will be instantly impressed with their full roasting facility and training center located alongside of the shop area inside of Blue Bottle. I’ve already visited this shop numerous times over the past month or so, and there has always been some sort of taste tasting or practicing going on. This great attention to detail has not been overlooked in the community. Lines stretching out the door and onto the street is not an uncommon trait of Blue Bottle, and it is great to see people taking the time to visit a shop who concentrate on their craft day and night.  The “Retrofit” espresso is an original blend of coffees from Brazil, Guatemala, Sumatra and Ethiopia. This seems like an eclectic blend of origins with my experience, but it all came together in this quick pick me up. My order came just in time as a new barista was being transitioned onto the bar, which normally means some dialing in to do on the espresso machine. I was in no rush, and always have the time for the barista to pull that perfectly timed shot. Great flavor takes precision, and it was hard to not want to take this shot down all at once. I finished the shot in 3 sips and chased it with the provided sparkling water. Each sip was a different experience in itself, balancing a mild sweet red fruit and finishing with a bright citrus bite.  According to their “Retrofit” blend description online, this pull calls for 20g of coffee at a 32 second extraction time to yield 1.25 oz of espresso. I’d like to make it a habit of mine to look further into different techniques and recipes specialty shops are using for their espresso. It is obviously a foundation for a wide range of items on the menu and these type of shops concentrate very closely on the flavor details. I definitely look forward to trying more of their original blends from Blue Bottle. If for some reason you live in the area and have never had the chance to stop in to this location yet, you need to make it your next priority. Cheers.
    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Swallow Cafe in Brooklyn, NY | Latte

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    Swallow Cafe

    49 Bogart Street

    Brooklyn, NY 11206

    Swallow Cafe Facebook Page

    Latte

    I am finally happy to say that I have gotten settled into a new home in the busy streets of Brooklyn, NY. I have taken a couple weeks to do some exploring and get to know the town and the surroundings better. I have traveled to NYC many times, but moving and calling a new city your home is a whole different venture that I am excited for. Needless to say, New York City is flourishing with cafes and coffee shops pouring fantastic cups of coffee. So far I have visited Blue Bottle, Grumpy’s, Ground Support, Colombe, Central Cafe, Joe The Art of Coffee, and Swallow Cafe of course. I look forward to visiting all of these places again and sharing my experience with everyone.

    Swallow Cafe is a local gem off the uprising and creative Bogart Street in Bushwick. They serve local roasts from Brooklyn Roasting Co. and have plenty of room to find a table and relax with a cup. The baristas take the time with each cup and it definitely shined through with this latte. With a smooth froth consistency down to the last sip, it wasn’t overrun by burning steamed milk that hit’s your lips and ruins your taste buds for the day. I generally order a latte for the artistic craft of the drink, and hope to concentrate soon on some single origin coffee’s and espressos. One thing that caught my attention was the fact that they french press brew all of their coffee and pour it into an air pot (carafe). That is just one interesting trait among tons of other aspects that makes a coffee shop its own unique vibe. Sometimes a picky drinkers biased opinion can try to say what is right and what is wrong, but I personally enjoy finding those small differences in all kinds of coffee shops. They are running a nice La Mazorca espresso machine and have a quality selection of morning food items including sandwich bagels, waffles and wraps. Swallow Cafe is walking distance from where I live, and I feel fortunate to have a shop so close to me pouring quality cups of coffee.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Northwest Coffee Roasting in St. Louis, MO | Latte

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    Northwest Coffee Roasting

    4251 Laclede Ave

    St. Louis, MO 63108

    http://www.northwestcoffee.com

    Latte

    I made my first trip to Northwest Coffee Roasting last Sunday to enjoy a late afternoon cup with a friend of mine. Unfortunately, they had already locked their doors at just after 3pm and I blame myself for driving 35 miles each way without checking their store hours. Regardless, the layout of Northwest Coffee was one that I hadn’t experienced before. Entering from off the street, large metal gate doors led you into a courtyard full of tables and quiet nooks for you to enjoy this perfect fall weather with a warm cup. They displayed great art pieces throughout the courtyard and I could tell right away why this hidden gem has made a name for themselves in the St. Louis community. The inside of the store was mostly taken up by their roasting facility which was in the wide open for customers to get an inside look of how their coffee is made. It is interesting to find out how many people still really don’t understand the long and expensive process that it takes to get their delicious “pick me ups” in the morning. I really appreciate when stores do their roasting on site, as it gives the customer the opportunity to investigate and see first hand how their coffee is being crafted. The roaster was hard at work with the Probat giving the store it’s own personal soundtrack of tumbling coffee beans inside of the chamber drum. I have been trying hard to scope out specialty and micro-roasted coffee shops in the St. Louis area and it has not been very easy so far. They have their large corporate roasterys that seem to be flooding coffee shops around town just as I have seen before in other cities. If anyone from Minneapolis is reading this article, please know that you have something very special happening in your city. The amount of independent roasters, and coffee shops at your disposal is something you will not be able to find everywhere. Get out there, try different shops and know that there are people dedicating their lives to the cup of coffee that gets your motor skills running on the daily. I ordered the latte from Northwest “for here” as I wanted to sit back and enjoy a read while I tried their coffee for the first time, but I received it in a paper cup. Call it pretentious if you’d like, but the experience for me is different when my $5 investment after tip is sitting a paper cup that is going to find it’s way to their trash can. Aside from that, the flavor of the latte was on point and definitely satisfied my 70 mile round trip drive to check out Northwest Coffee. The froth of the milk had great consistency and blended nicely with the brightness of their espresso. I was satisfied that the flavor of espresso didn’t get lost in the rest of the drink. This is a special location with a unique and creative atmosphere, and I hope everyone living in the area can get a chance to give it a try if they haven’t already. There is plenty of college students and populated shopping areas for this shop to capitalize on, and I am excited to make a trip back to learn a little more about this hidden gem in St. Louis.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Kaldi’s Coffee in Kirkwood, MO | Double Espresso

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    Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co.

    120 S. Kirkwood Rd

    Kirkwood, MO 63122

    http://www.kaldiscoffee.com/

    Double Espresso

    Wait a sec, why does this review say from Kirkwood, MO? Well, it is because I now live back in my hometown of St. Louis, MO to take my taste buds on a new venture and further my knowledge of coffee in other cities. The first stop that I knew I had to make was to Kaldi’s Coffee, which there are several locations stretching across the St. Louis surrounding area. Not only is Kaldi’s Coffee a staple in the coffee community here, they have made a name for themselves nationwide as one of the top coffee houses and micro roasters in the entire country. Their reputation as fine roasters and connoisseurs of specialty coffee does not stray them away from offering a great and relaxing environment of your everyday coffee shop. They offer tons of outdoor patio seating and a variety of choices on their menu. And hold your breath third wave experts, they have the word “grande” listed in their size choices. Too many fine coffee shops are straying away from the popularity of the customer who still wants a regular drip coffee or their mocha frappe, and could care less about what country, brewing process or other pretentious expertise that you are offering. I am not saying that these are the best traits to have as a coffee drinker, but there is no reason to single out the simplicity of just wanting some coffee. Nonetheless, it was nice to see a place with such a high reputation offering selections for all types of drinkers. The double espresso was everything I could have asked for. It was served along with a glass of sparkling water for the palette and some chocolate covered espresso beans to finish your shot off with a sweet finish. Lately, I’ve strayed away from enjoying an espresso that tries to be too sweet, and this shot had the perfect blend of a bite and a smooth “nutty” flavor that served well for this afternoon pick-me-up. I am going to enjoy diving head first into the coffee community that they have here and I hope to continue to learn more and share my experiences about the independently owned shops here in the St. Louis area.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • itsagreatdayforcoffee.com and Digital Reputation Management

    It’s A Great Day For Coffee is a a website started in January 2011 that is emerging as the preeminent digital destination for local coffee coverage in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Bringing the experience of hanging out at a local coffee shop online for an extensive and growing audience.

    By leveraging various social networks and the execution of a content strategy, Panacea3 quickly optimized its Digital Reputation for It’s A Great Day For Coffee.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

    panacea3.com

  • Blue Ox Coffee Co. | Ethiopian Espresso

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    Blue Ox Coffee Co.

    3740 Chicago Ave. S.

    Minneapolis, MN 55407

    http://blueoxcoffeecompany.com/

    Counter Culture “Apollo” Ethiopian Espresso

    Review by Anthony Jones:

    After getting lots of recommendations for Blue Ox as a new and impressive store in south Minneapolis, I finally found myself a spare moment to drive down to 38th and Chicago to check it out. It’s not the first place you would think about putting a coffee shop in my opinion, but the location really works well as it is not over saturated with Uptown drivers and shoppers. Upon walking in I realized that this place serves as a neighborhood hang out, meeting spot, and espresso bar for the Powderhorn area. Although the walls were bare and furniture was new, the enviornment was buzzing with chatter, laughter, and the sound of steam wands, making any new customer feel right at home on a Wednesday afternoon. Blue Ox sources a few different roasting companies to buy beans from, which is always nice to have the diversity in a shop for people to choose from.

    After I was welcomed into the store, I started asking questions about their two different espresso options. The barista walked me through them and recommended the Counter Culture “Apollo” Ethiopian Single Origin Espresso. I agreed and he immediately hoped behind their La Marzocco espresso machine and started pulling my shot. He let me know that it’d be an extra minute because he wanted to give me a perfectly timed shot, which is right where Blue Ox won my heart. So many coffee shops locally have great product, but ruin the experience by preparing it without care. They also served me a glass of sparkling water on the side which is always a nice compliment to the espresso.

    The double shot was wonderful as the aroma was earthy and sweet, but not overpoweringly acidic. Upon the first sip, I tasted a nice earthiness balanced with high fruity notes and finishing with a chocolate richness along with a mellow acidity. This isn’t the typical “Ethiopian Espresso” experience, as it was very well balanced and easy to drink.

    All in all, Blue Ox is doing something right by making great coffee, sourcing it from great roasters, and providing a great neighborhood hang out spot. Go check out Blue Ox on 38th and Chicago. If this place keeps doing what they’re doing, they will be around with a lot of local support for a long time.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

  • Bull Run Coffee | Papua New Guinea

    Bull Run Coffee

    Bull Run Coffee Bar

    33rd and Lyndale Ave. S, Minneapolis

    http://www.bullrunroasting.com

    The summer in Minneapolis is on the turnaround towards the home stretch, but it hasn’t stopped anyone in town from getting out and enjoying these last few weeks before Fall hits. This called for a place that I knew would have some fresh air flowing through the store, and Bull Run’s atmosphere definitely fits in well for these sunny days. Bull Run Coffee is leaning towards the boutique feel of coffee shops and concentrating on specialty coffee that starts from the beginning at the farming and harvesting, all the way throug until the barista is preparing your drink with some impressive latte art. In this case, I chose to get a taste of their locally roasted coffee from Papua New Guinea. It was prepared with the Hario pour over method and if you are a regular customer to some of these specialty shops in town, you need to try a pour over method sometime. It is brewed and prepared within a few minutes and there are amazing differences in flavor compared to your normal drip tasting coffee. This cup specifically to me had some bright fruity flavors and ended the last few ounces with a zesty, lemony taste. Granted, those are pretty general terms when it comes to barista “flavor profiles”, but there’s times when I don’t want to sit there and suckle on my coffee to pick out if its a red fruit, grapefruit or what not. The cup of coffee was delicious and I was for sure on that. Not to mention, I was completely unaware of their amazing sandwiches they had for sale there. I forgot to catch a glance where they were provided from, but I finished off my afternoon with a taste of their mozzarella and tomato basil sandwich and called it a day.

    itsagreatdayforcoffee.com

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