Discovering More Part III

Continuing my research for amazing coffee shops in NYC I arrived at this wonderful place where I had the best cappuccino I’ve ever had, it wasn’t mild and it wasn’t strong it was just perfect. Stumptown coffee is a coffee shop that opened its doors in Portland on November 1999 when owner Duane Sorenson fulfilled his dream of “opening the type of cafe he wanted to frequent.” Since then he has provided his customers a place where quality and relationships are the most important things to deliver perfect products and perfect service. He focuses on total transparency and excellent relationships with local farmers to ensure the best quality by giving the farmers a good incentive for their work.

It now has 5 locations in Portland, 2 in Seattle, 2 in New York, and 1 in Los Angeles; and delivers coffee around the world. Besides excellent product, Stumptown Coffee is an extraordinary place where you can go to read, work, or share stories with the barista and fiends. Making yourself a “regular” at this hipster and casual joint will be a very well investment of your time.

Ratings:

Price: $$

Ambiance: Casual, hipster, local

Staff: Excellent service.   Durante mi recorrido por buscar cafeterías locales, me encontré con este increíble lugar donde probé el mejor capuchino que he tomado en mi vida, no estaba tan fuerte ni tan diluido, estaba simplemente perfecto. Stumptown Coffee es una cafetería que abrió sus puertas en Noviembre de 1999 en Portland, cuando su dueño Duane Sorenson cumplió su sueño de abrir una cafetería que él personalmente frecuentaría. Desde entonces, Duane Sorenson se enfoca en tener productos de excelente calidad a través de relaciones sólidas y transparentes con sus proveedores. Realiza de 2 a 3 visitas por año a los campos donde los granos de café son seleccionados y tostados con el fin de asegurar la calidad de sus productos, además de ayudar a agricultores locales a salir adelante ofreciéndoles un gran incentivo monetario por el desarrollo de tu trabajo.

Actualmente, Stumptown Coffee cuenta con 5 ubicaciones en Portland, 2 en Seattle, 2 en Nueva York y 1 en Los Angeles; además de ser distribuidor de sus productos alrededor del mundo. El lugar que visité en NYC ubicado en el West Village, ofrece gran sabor, servicio y el lugar es perfecto para trabajar, leer y socializar con el barista o sus amigos. Tiene una gran variedad de revistas, libros y además una barra donde realizan catas de café para aficionados. Volverse un cliente regular en este sitio es una inversión de tiempo muy recomendable.

Ratings:

Precio: $$

Servicio: Excelente

Ambiente: Casual, hipster.

Chocolate Month!!!

In the quest for an unsuccessful chocolate week in NYC, I ended up in these places drinking for what seems the best hot chocolate. When I go to New York I always try to find events or activities that the city hosts at a very affordable price, specially the ones about food; so I did some research and because of Valentines Day, some restaurants offer a week of amazing chocolate desserts with champaign, tea, or hot chocolate pairings. The thing is that I didn’t realize that they only did it last year, nevertheless I decided to try their hot chocolate. I went to The Pain Quotidien, and it was my favorite!!! I ordered the regular Belgian Hot Chocolate, and the waitress arrived with a hot bubbly cup of milk with cocoa powder sprinkled on top and a small pot of melted chocolate. I loved this idea, you can pour as much or as little chocolate as you want and enjoy a true hot chocolate just the way you want it. I almost pour all of it and even though it was not overwhelming nor sickly sweet, it was just perfect.
Afterwards I went to The City Bakery, “… home of New York’s favorite hot chocolate…” The place is really big, lots of space to sit down, and so versatile; it has a bakery, a coffee shop, a juice bar, a buffet with salads, soups, pastas, and sandwiches, and a chocolate room. What I thought was interesting about this place, is that every ingredient they use is locally produced, they all come form the farmers market at Union Square just blocks away. I only tried the hot chocolate, because it was February and Valentines Day around the corner, they held a calendar featuring different flavors of hot chocolate every day during the month. That day they were having a lemon hot chocolate, they served it with a gigantic marshmallow on top, the flavors were interesting but good; however, for me, it was a little strong and overpowering. I couldn’t finish it all, it was too sweet, specially because of the marshmallow, but if you really like things too sweet, this is the perfect hot chocolate for you. Also they have the one and only “Pretzel Croissant,” a sweet, salty, and buttery pastry slightly crunchy on the outside but flaky and soft on the inside. Everything about this place makes it the favorite for many locals to have a delicious and fulfilling lunch.
Hope you like them, thanks for reading!!!

Ratings for both:
Price: $$
Staff: Friendly
Ambiance: Casual, cozy and comfy.

Discovering More Part II…

Found another one!! Culture Espresso is an independent and locally owned coffee shop located in midtown Manhattan. It opened in 2009 and since then the only thing they care about is flavor and presentation. The owners always try to bring the best in their coffee, they keep in touch with different farmers and roasters to get the best from the best. Right now they are brewing coffee from Portland Oregon. It is a small coffee shop with a communal table (great for people on the go) and 5 more small tables for two people, no more. The place is really nice decorated, like a contemporary kind of way, gorgeous chandeliers and photos of people around the world. It has free wifi, and the baristas are happy to give you recommendations. The coffee is amazing, mild flavor, and beautifully decorated. They bake two kind of cookies every day, chocolate chip and oatmeal cranberry, and they receive pastries from their favorite local bakeries in NYC. So as you can see their main focus is on the coffee, and this is what I like about these places, you go for a cup of coffee and you get an amazing cup of coffee. Hope you like it and always keep it local!!!

Encontré otra!!! Esta cafetería se llama Culture Espresso y es de dueños independientes y locales. Desde el 2009 que abrió en el área de Midtown Manhattan, los dueños se han preocupado por dos cosas solamente: sabor y presentación. Ellos se mantienen en contacto con agricultores y tostadores de café alrededor del mundo para poder llevar a sus clientes lo mejor de lo mejor. En este momento están sirviendo café de Portland Oregon. El lugar está muy bonito, es un espacio pequeño con una mesa comunal (excelente para personas que toman su café rápido para regresar a trabajar) y con 5 mesas pequeñas para 2 personas máximo. La decoración es algo contemporánea, tiene dos candelabros hermosos y fotos colgadas de personas de todo el mundo. El café estaba delicioso, de sabor suave y decorado a la perfección. Dentro de la cafetería cocinan dos tipos de galletas diario: de chispas de chocolate y de avena con arándanos; y distintas panaderías locales de Nueva York les surten panes todos los días. Como pueden ver también esta cafetería sólo se enfoca en el café, es por esto que me encanta porque si buscas una rica taza de café en estos lugares realmente la encuentras. Espero les guste mi recomendación y recuerden siempre: keep it local!!!

Discovering more…

NYC has been really cold we can barely stay outside and walk, all we want to do is just sit down in a warm place and have a cup of coffee. Given this, I decided to show you some local coffee shops that you can visit, sometimes this ones have better coffee than Starbucks. This coffee shop is called La Colombe, a brand that started in New York and Philadelphia by coffee connoisseurs Todd Carmichael and Jean Philipe. They both studied together the art of European coffee and American cuisine, so they wanted to put both of them together creating what they call: “Culinary Coffee” (“balanced and round, consistent, deep but not overbearing mindful of the kitchen but designed for the palate”). What is amazing about them is that they mastered the art of coffee by their devotion of “kitchen over trend,” they just care about making coffee no matter what is novelty. This is what I like about these coffee shops, they focus on the coffee and not of the other things that you can buy for instance in bigger chains, like sandwiches, salads, smoothies, etc. so the flavors are amazing!! Their main concern is coffee and their clients. I ordered a cappuccino, it was delicious, with lots of texture and creamy, and as you can see on the pictures, beautifully decorated. They sell some pastries as well but that is it… Hope you like my recommendation, if you visit NYC try La Colombe, it has three locations in the city: Noho (an NYU students favorite), Soho, and Tribeca. Always remember to “keep it local.” Nueva York esta helado, apenas podemos caminar en la calle y lo único que se antoja hacer es sentarse en un lugar “cozy” y tomar una taza de café. Por eso he decidido ir en busca de cafeterías locales para recomendarles, pues muchas veces tienen mucho mejor café que Starbucks. Una de ellas que me encantó se llama La Colombe, una marca que empezó en Nueva York y Philadelphia, creada por Todd Carmichael and Jean Philipe. Ellos estudiaron y trabajaron juntos el arte del café Europeo y la cocina Americana, por lo que se interesaron en crear un café que pudiera mezclar la ciencia de las dos cosas perfectamente, llamándolo: “café culinario” (“equilibrado y redondo, consistente, profundo pero no agobiante, consiente de la cocina pero diseñado para el paladar”). Como pueden observar, ellos quisieron crear un café que pudiera ser igual de añorado al momento de comer, sin que su sabor oprimiera el sabor de los alimentos. Lo que me parece muy interesante es que dominaron el arte de hacer café con su creencia de “cocina sobre tendencia,” para ellos lo importante es la creación del café, su sabor, consistencia, cuerpo, y no lo que es novedad ante el mundo. Cuándo digo que muchas de estas cafeterías locales tienen mejor café es, porque se enfocan precisamente y exclusivamente en hacer café, ahora podemos ver en muchas cadenas que también sirven ensaladas, sandwiches, fruta, yoghurts, smoothies, etc. y el café pierde su importancia. En La Colombe, su mayor preocupación es el café y sus clientes, y se nota, el café estaba deliciosos y la presentación muy bonita. Espero les guste mi recomendación y seguiré en busca de más cafeterías locales. Esta cuenta con tres ubicaciones en la ciudad: Soho, Noho (el favorito para muchos estudiantes de NYU) y Tribeca. Recuerden siempre: “keep it local.”