Gotham: Lived in and Honest
When I think about NYC, the word ‘iconic’ comes to mind. When I think about it, the reason is likely the result of consistent marketing over years and years of shows, news, movies, Yankees and Knicks, and NYE countdowns. After all, I had never been to NYC until this trip. I was eager to experience both the city and its immediate surroundings in person. I wanted to check my expectation against the reality of experience. To feel its impact. And create my own narrative.
We arrived first thing in the morning. Red eyed and eager to begin exploring, we hopped on the tram from the airport and began the ride into Manhattan. The train clunked across the tracks rhythmically as the distant sights began to come into focus. Smaller buildings at first. Graffitied homes and weathered brick gave rise to modern steel, thus reflecting the passage of time and how long the city has been here compared to our hometown on the West. The morning was quiet at first. Anticipation builds the closer you get to something of value. More passengers began to file into the train — their own day about to start in one of the Worlds liveliest and diverse cities.
Weaving through morning traffic with hauls of luggage was adventure itself. We dropped off our bags in the Southern part of Manhattan and walked through Little Italy on our way to our first coffee spot in NYC.
Café Integral | @cafeintegral | https://www.cafeintegral.com
We arrived with a line forming out the door and the six of us were eager for coffee. Café Integral proudly highlights coffees from Nicaragua, and I was really excited for it as Nicaragua was one of the first coffee origins we had offered at our roastery back in 2021.
I love the cafes that are geared toward coffee first and this theme really continued throughout the trip — coffee first, that is. There are coffee places that are food first, aesthetic first, tourist first etc. Then, there are coffee first places. The menus reflect this. Limited food options. Small, curated coffee essentials for sale like drippers, filters and bags of their offerings. Perfectly textured milk. People talking over coffee instead of everyone on laptops with oversized headphones. Refreshing I thought.
The coffee was balanced and I was able to snag the final cookie (mandatory). I stepped outside while the five others sat inside to finish up and I casually snapped a few photos of the energy as it passed over the front facade of the building. Looking at it, it feels correct. Edgy, yet polished and halfway welcoming. I like that. It feels lived in and honest. I wondered if that could be a theme for the city.
Lived in and honest I thought. I really like that as a principle for design and I also think for life in general. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate curated coffee selections, cars, home design and Instagram feeds. To a point. But I like it when it has been curated over time from individual experience.
There is a difference between walking into a home, or a roastery where all the furniture, decor, espresso machines and equipment are all purchased from the same catalog at the same time when a single look is in style. You know what I mean. The plants are in the perfect location. The Marzocco is brand new. They all talk about sourcing the beans and being sustainable. You’ve all walked into a Pottery Barn house. It just feels like someone asked AI to generate a trendy coffee shop. Copy paste. A flavor of the week. To some that’s fine, but to me, I hate it. Aesthetic for the sake of aesthetic feels forced and fake. This is why places in Seattle like Lighthouse Coffee Roasters have stood the test of time and new, trendier places fail.
We don’t want to feel like we’re being sold some fake ass dream. Some overly curated and perfect set up. Something about it makes us feel off. And my favorite spots in NYC? They’re the ones like Integral that have cardboard boxes on the ground in the way of the line. The outside of the building is rotted. There’s a little bit of trash on the sidewalk walking up to it. Meanwhile, there are two ladies sitting outside with their Dior bag on the ground and one of them is sitting next to their creaky old bicycle — with a bespoke leather seat. Balance. Lived in. Honest.
With only a couple of days to spend in NYC before we flew to London, we had to be efficient with our time. And this meant taking risks with the select few coffee places on our itinerary. I had heard that Buck Mason (clothing brand) had stuffed a coffee shop into their NYC flagship and because I am generally always in the market for an over-shirt, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to walk 30 minutes to see what all the fuss was about.
Fast Times at Buck Mason NYC | @fasttimescoffee | https://www.fasttimescoffee.com
When you walk into this three-purpose space, you’re greeted with hospitality and incense. Fast Times roasts a singular blend that is people pleasing (think chocolate and caramel notes) and honest. And yes, so are their clothes and no, I am not a brand ambassador.
We ordered a round of coffees and fell into the oversized chairs as we let our minds sort of relax before the hustle of the upcoming day. I think great cafes and spaces do this. They are home bases to gather energy and breathe while the world continues its storm outdoors. Safety nets where we can come together to appreciate something that visitors have in common — coffee in this case. Enveloped by books across multiple genres, scents that opened our minds and palettes, and style that threatened to empty ones checkbook, Fast Times at Buck Mason is almost how I would design a coffee space. It’s new, but it almost wants to be beaten up a little bit. The books have many coffee stains on them. The floor is unfinished and creaky. And this is contrasted by the curation of pieces that’ll last years as you continue to make memories in them.
It got me thinking about our own roastery space and how I might attempt at getting more readers, viewers and coffee drinkers to experience their life a little more honestly. I haven’t opened up quite yet because it takes me a while to select the finishes and create an atmosphere that is honest. If you spend time around a car 40 years old, photos on the wall from various adventures, wine barrels from Oregon, a hand-built roaster from Nevada and too many stories that any one person can tell, I think you too will understand what it means to be lived in and honest.
On the final day, we returned to Brooklyn. And with the visit came one of the godliest coffees we’ve had.
A ride on the subway and a walk through graffiti lined streets set the tone of the area. Quiet in the morning as we generally try and arrive at the first coffee spot of the day moments after they open. Shorter cues. Better pastry selections. Baristas not yet rushed. Acting early creates the chance for better experience. I can confidently say that SEY coffee is a top-tier coffee shop and roastery in the World.
SEY Coffee | @seycoffee | https://www.seycoffee.com
A lot of cafes and roasters do a pretty good job of immediately telling you what they’re about when you go to their socials or their homepage. And, SEY isn’t any different in that regard. It’s clear they wish to expose us to beautiful coffees and to enlighten us on the realities of the coffee supply chain. This of course is honest and admirable. Now, while many of these businesses tell you what they’re about, not many of them make you feel what they’re about without telling you first.
I think SEY wouldn’t have to tell us. We felt it. The Ethiopian coffee we had in our flat whites was bright, with a rounded acidity, and yet … felt full. Satisfying like how a chocolate and caramel forward coffee makes you feel. You see, a roaster can craft a coffee that expresses the true nature of the coffee and the roaster can also craft a coffee that masks its internal defects. They are artists in a way. Curators of your cups’ experience.
The masterminds at SEY showcase what they are about in their cup. It was delicious. Masterful. And an absolute joy to experience.
Navigating through NYC and the neighboring pockets got me thinking a lot about honesty and how we communicate with one another and with our customers.
The best experiences we had in NYC made us feel something. They didn’t have to tell us. I think there is a lot to unpack with this. For years, countless outlets have ingrained in me what the city would be like, and after walking and training through it, I can confidently say that my expectations weren’t the reality. I expected to see a bunch of angry cab drivers and what I experienced instead were all the things untold.
Walks through hidden parks just around the corner where we enjoyed bagels, a tiny take-out only pizza spot in Brooklyn that had a collection of VHS tapes, eating dinner in the middle of a park at dusk with only the dim light from a lamppost to guide our hands, and of course, a handful of memorable coffee first cafés that energized and inspired our journey.
None of those experiences had told us what to expect before engaging with them. I think that leaving something open to interpretation is a beautiful example of how art, food, business and coffee can help inspire people who are brave enough to engage with them. For us, it means I will continue exploring and roasting the best coffee I can. But as it always has never been, coffee is not our end goal when we engage with you. Our end goal is something for you to uncover yourself.
Cheers, and maybe I’ll see you out there.
