Manhattan and Jersey City - A sprint edition (Post 1 of 2)
After a business trip, I stayed in the Jersey City and New York City area. I tried to stop at various coffee shops based on convenience. In one day and a half I stopped in five coffee shops.
- Madman Espresso on 37th Street - Midtown/Hell's Kitchen
- Gregorys Coffee on 520 8th Avenue - Midtown
- Café Grumpy on 20th Street - Chelsea
- Lackawanna Coffee on Groove St. - Jersey City, NJ
- TOMS New York - SoHo
Madman Espresso
View from the "lofted" area.
After finishing work around noon time, I headed from Newark, New Jersey to Manhattan for a drop-in session at Crossfit Hell's Kitchen. I arrived early and quickly searched on my phone for coffee shops within one block from Crossfit Hell's Kitchen. Madman Espresso caught my attention.
A couple of facts about Madman Espresso and small coffee shops in NYC. No restrooms are required if the shop doesn't exceed 20 seats. I've been to NYC so many times and I was surprised to discover this rule for the first time. These rule mostly seems to affect business around midtown area.
Madman Espresso is good shop for espresso based drinks. Regardless, I am a huge fan of pour overs, so I had to ask for one. At this location I had no luck. The coffee was dripping too slow, I suspect that pour overs are not an usual request and the barista used the same grind setting for espressos. The thinner grind doesn't work well with pour overs. The barista's original estimate of 4 minutes went up to 10 minutes and gave me the option to get another drink. I chose a latte, which was good (I am not really into drinks with milk).
Madman Espresso has multiple locations. The one I visited has a lofted area with extra seating. Madman espresso is a great place to stop by, specially if you are doing a drop-in at Hell's Kitchen Crossfit.
Gregorys Coffee
My experience at Gregorys coffee was good, but I will keep it short for this one. Gregorys is a chain, better than Starbucks, but still a chain.
Gregory's Design
Yummy Cookie
