New York City Coffee Tour
201 Bleecker St, Greenwich Village
Porto Rico Importing Co.
Coffee sold out of barrels and burlap sacks. Create your own blend with this legendary supplier since 1907. Another good option nearby is McNulty's Tea & Coffee Co (109 Christopher St). I'd say these type of stores are more about fun, nostalgic experiences, than necessarily finding the best and freshest quality beans in the city.
What to do nearby:
Play boardgames at the Uncommons (230 Thompson St) or take a walk in Washington Square Park.
69 Grand St. (at Wythe), Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Devoción Roastery & Coffee Shop
Williamsburg in Brooklyn is the hollow ground of the creative coffee loving folks, and I've basically never seen this fairly big Colombian café with empty tables. If that's the case, take your cup on a stroll around Williamsburg or nurse it at the Domino park, a cool modern park by the water mixing elements from its industrial past.
2245 Broadway, Upper West Side
Zabar's
The famous Zabar's Market and its coffee section is an experience. Go for that, not necessarily to find the best beans in town.
Dumbo, Brooklyn
Historical Coffee Walk at the Dumbo Waterfront
There are many things to do in Dumbo, Brooklyn. For a coffee geek, you could get a cup to go at Joe (45 Washington St) or Devoción (105 York St) and go to the waterfront to learn about the caffeinated history of this previously industrial area.
According to some estimates, at the turn of the 20th century, 86% of the whole nation’s coffee was roasted in Dumbo. Entrepreneurs such as John Arbuckle controlled the coffee trade and by 1906, Arbuckle's factory roasted 25 million pounds of Brazilian coffee every month.
3101 Vernon Blvd, Astoria, Queens
Château le Woof
Coffee quality is taken seriously at this dog friendly, relaxed neigborhood cafe with rave reviews.
4037 23rd St, Long Island City, Queens
Joe Coffee Roastery Cafe
Joe Coffee, one of NYC specialty pioneers, roasts all of their coffee here, with a full-service cafe and QC lab on site. Stop by to see where it all happens and pick up a bag of freshly roasted coffee, straight from the source!
61 9th Ave, Meatpacking District
Starbucks Reserve Roastery New York
Umm...Starbucks? Don't throw the stones quite yet, 5th wavers. This is one of the so called reserve roasteries for the Seattle based coffee giant, of which there are only a handful globally. It should be experienced at least once. I probably wouldn't buy beans here, as you can get better price and quality from the local, smaller players (e.g. from those in this listing). Hyper commercial and touristy? Yes, but let's give Starbucks the credit it deserves for paving some of the way for the next generation of latte craze. There's another (although slightly less recommended) multifloor Reserve location on the ground floor of the Empire State Building.
200 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Roasting Company
BRC's roastery is at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Although the roastery is not open to public, they have a nice colorful coffee shop just a stone throw away. The area on the edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is in fact filled with coffee roasteries as besides BRC, Parlor Coffee has a roastery on Vanderbilt Avenue. There's also a shared roasting space just around the corner that many smaller local brands use to roast their coffee.
32 Old Slip, Financial District
Drip Coffee Makers
Grab coffee at the friendly Drip Coffee Makers, famous for their pour overs. If you're a true coffee geek with an interest in the commodity's history, head out to the waterfront area (formerly known as New York coffee district), close your eyes and take yourself back more than 200 years to the times when these streets were bustling with coffee traders and handlers offering their samples fresh off the roasters.
134 1/2 E 62nd St, Upper East Side
Birch Coffee
Although Birch Coffee's roastery (pictured) is in Queens, they have about a dozen coffee shops all over the city.
Rockefeller Plaza, Rink Level, Midtown Manhattan
Café Grumpy
Café Grumpy is one of the originals in the New York spcialty coffee scene among the likes of Joe Coffee Company and 9th Street Espress. They are independently owned and operated since 2005, when the original location opened in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.