Kaffe 1668

Another weekend... another coffee search. Haven't had much luck lately, and was hoping this would change. Outside the store, was presented with this

New York's Best Coffee

New York's Best Coffee... a lot of expectations was presented here...

Kaffe 1668

Reasonably sized place, with wifi! The place was decked out with sheep and quite a few random sketches I must say...

Latte

Quite a few choices on the menu - most notably the different beans used. But as always, I go back to the latte. With the regular size, noticed that its not filled to the top... wasn't "hot", but reasonably warm. Coffee art was a little... not that pretty.

That aside, most importantly is the taste. It went down smooth... maybe too smooth? Tasted well, but totally lacked the coffee taste and coffee hit. Must say, these adventures aren't really getting any better...

I really liked the regular customer cards... kinda cute. But that won't make up for the standard coffee... If I do go back, will definitely give the selected beans a try as opposed to latte...

275 Greenwich Street
(Between Warren and Murray Street)

Cafe Grumpy

After a tip-off on a good coffee joint, the weekend arrived to allow for some tracking down. Although this place now has multiple stores, the original at Chelsea was the one to go to.

Cafe Grumpy

It's a nice little cosy place... and upon the first pass - even missed the entrance! The entrance doesn't actually name out the place... only a little "grumpy" logo. There's a few small tables and some pastries. The coffee is served diy... you take it to your own table and then you drop it off into the sink yourselves afterwards... Definitely a place for regular locals

Latte

As per usual I order my latte, while my friend orders the skim latte. Haven't actually figured out why... but my coffee art appeared to turned all bubbly pretty soon which u can see in the photo. Maybe they overdid the milk making it too hot...

Cafe Grumpy

Nice little touches of espresso cups with the cute grumpy logo!!

What was interesting was... the coffee tasted well... not exceptional, but well =)
Although somehow the caffeine hit didn't arrive - like I expected... They do have a coffee card... so maybe I can go back and experiment again

224 West 20th Street
(Between 7th and 8th Avenue)
Chelsea

Joe: The Art of Coffee

Third week in, and third adventure out... once again, found myself in a tiny tiny coffee shop. I seem to get better at arriving at these smaller and smaller places, without enough space to sit. Which mean, had to resort to getting another take away...

Inside the shop contained a few small tables, and some pastries. I ordered the latte again, and again to my disappointment - the coffee is getting worse (compared to previous experiments). Had some taste of coffee, but still felt a little watered down. I didn't actually take a photo of the coffee... take away cups don't seem to be that pretty anymore...

What also didn't help, having some cupcakes along with coffee... after which the cupcakes just totally over powered the coffee and it tasted like water.

9 East 13th Street (5th Avenue)

Culture Expresso Bar

Another week, and another attempt in search of good coffee. This time we find ourselves at Culture Expresso Bar, run by a guy from Down Under - expectations were high. Reviews even put this place as one of the few "serious" coffee bars in midtown.

Culture Expresso Bar

It's always a great feeling seeing the nice little touches they place... definitely cute seeing the 3 cups positions right above the pipes. I do wonder how often they get knocked down??

The other nice touch... playing old school music on LD!!

Pastries!

It's breakfast (late breakfast), and how can you say no to croissants... especially when you have multiple choices!!! I ended up settling for the ham and cheese - and was definitely yummy!

Latte

As per usual, I am still ordering my latte... at least this place only has 1 size!
The downside... the place isn't that big (as with every place here), and there wasn't enough space to sit down and had to resort to getting take away... The taste, well expectation was high - but for whatever reason, it didn't live up to expectations. It wasn't as bad as all the other general coffee places, but it did lack flavour and taste. Tasted watered-down like most coffees... I do wonder whether sitting down in store would make it taste any different...

Culture Expresso Bar
72 West 38th Street (Sixth Avenue), Midtown

La Colombe

Coffee is meant to be a big thing in the US. Everything comes SUPERSIZED, and everyone drinks it...
But that doesn't mean it's actually "nice". I've never really been crazily into coffee, but since being here... I have definitely missed the coffee. The taste... the smell... everything...

It seems that extremely watered down coffee is the norm... and because of that I have avoided coffee at most places. Not sure how to survive, with a few colleagues we ventured out in search of decent coffee (something thats not watery). This venture was only a little over 1 mile out, but seemed to take forever being blown back by the winds...

However, making it there was all worth it... the only thing in that area with a massive queue... and there was a reason for it. Definitely the best coffee I've had to date =)
Surprisingly... that "real" caffeine hit lasted until the early afternoon...

Latte + Croissant

La Colombe

319 Church Street, Tribeca