Category: Coffee Shops

When you find yourself in Park Slope, whether you’re with friends or on a date or even on a pleasant day out alone, it’s almost a rule that you have to stop for some coffee. One place I find myself coming to again and again is Ozzie's Coffee and Tea on Fifth Avenue, not necessarily due to its quality or its atmosphere, but simply because of its gargantuan size. Ozzie's Seventh Avenue location, a converted pharmacy, is quieter and preferred by regulars, but the Fifth Avenue one is, as I said, sprawling (by New York standards). Thus, it has more of a community hub feel, with the flyers and community newspapers by the door and the constant stream of incoming young people, plus it offers plenty of tucked-away alcoves for you to hide out in when you just feel like crawling up with a good book. Both locations are known for their relative lack of pretension, and for the fact that you can chill out as long as you want without feeling pressured to leave, unlike bustling mommy-and-stroller havens like Tea Lounge.

Ozzie’s is known equally for its coffee and its tea, and purists insist that plain coffee or loose tea is your best bet for a beverage here. As far as coffees go, Ozzie’s Blend is organic and fair trade, as are most of their other beans, from Sumatra Mandheling to Colombian Supremo. They do their roasting in-house, which means the intoxicating aroma of freshly crushed coffee beans surrounds the store like an aura, enticing you in from the street with promises of rich flavors and sweet caffeine.

I like to come here when I’m out on my own, shopping or whatnot, and need a break. The iced coffee here is strong and perfect for those sweltering summer days, plus the painting of a giant, dripping iced coffee on the front windows of the store incites a near-Pavlovian reaction from me every time. But Ozzie’s fresh fruit smoothies, iced chai, and blended coffee drinks, which are way cheaper than frapps, also hit the spot when the temperature soars.

Now for the downsides. Ozzie’s charges for Wi-Fi, which is kind of dumb when it’s offered in basically all the other area cafés for free. The Fifth Avenue store gets REALLY hot during the summer, to the point where I tip the baristas double out of sheer pity as I watch sweat drip down their faces. Cleanliness falls behind fairly often (think overflowing trash cans), and general maintenance drops when there’s any kind of a rush (the all-important, but much too small, summertime water pitcher goes dry for hours at a time as thirsty patrons gaze at it longingly). All this despite the fact that there are obviously a ton of employees running around looking confused, which points to the larger problem -- that Ozzie’s tends to hire young, inexperienced workers willing to work for a song, but who are oftentimes completely inept. Another major problem is that they only offer paper cups for their beverages, and even use paper plates for their food, which is both environmentally irresponsible and, well, tacky.

All those negatives aside, Ozzie’s has a lot going for it. The coffee is dependably good, the food is decent if not outstanding (try the red velvet cake), and, most importantly, it’s a giant, thriving coffee shop. People-watching here never grows old, and there are usually a lot of cute single people hanging out. Plus, Fridays they host Open Mic night, so you can kick back a few espresso shots and get down with your Seattle side while you listen to grungy amateur acoustic guitarists sing about feelings. There’s something to be said for a place where that kind of atmosphere is still alive and well.

When it comes to the proliferation of cafes and coffee shops, New York may not be on the same level as cities like Seattle or Portland, but it’s still got its fair share. And although Starbucks may have taken over Manhattan to the point where independent coffee shops are an endangered species, Brooklyn and the other outer boroughs still offer a wide array of possibilities for the discriminating caffeine junkie.

One of the shining stars of the Brooklyn café scene is a chain of tea and coffee shops known as Tea Lounge. With three locations currently in operation, Tea Lounge’s popularity is growing daily. The Union Street location, in the heart of Park Slope, is the mother ship, and it offers a few things the other locations cannot. The larger space allows for live music and other performances on a regular basis, and an expanded kitchen means you’ll find more options in terms of food here. All of the locations, however, offer a delicious array of baked goods and snacks, not to mention the teas, coffees, and other beverages Tea Lounge is famous for.

Browse the extensive tea menu for your favorite blend (popular choices include Tea Lounge Chai, Yerba Maté, and the addictive, though pungent, Lapsang Souchong), or try Tea Lounge’s special blend of hot chocolate, which regulars swear is the best in the neighborhood. The coffee and espresso here are also outstanding, and a refreshing alternative to the heartburn-inducing Starbucks brew. Although Tea Lounge’s baristas have been called everything from snobby to flaky, I find that they are consistently excellent at their jobs, whipping up perfectly-crafted cappuccinos and Chai Lattes with care and attention to detail that you don’t often see these days.

Tea Lounge is great because it works equally well as a place to come by yourself or with a group, though I feel that coffee’s power to stimulate the mind makes it a perfect social lubricant. Take your friends along and order a few desserts to go with your drinks. The Fat Witch brownies are particularly addictive, although offerings also include vegan cookies and ridiculously rich cupcakes. If you’re hungry for something more than dessert, Tea Lounge serves typical, and fairly unremarkable, café fare like salads, Panini sandwiches and bagels. If you’ve had enough caffeine, fear not, for wine and beer are also on the menu, allowing the place to make a seamless transition from café to wine bar after hours.

The thing that really sets Tea Lounge apart from other cafés in the neighborhood, however, is the patrons. You’ll find your fair share of hipsters (including the baristas), but you’ll also find lots of writers and intellectuals, most of whom seem to have their noses permanently buried in their laptops. At the Union Street location, you’ll find Park Slope’s typical mix of mommies and more mommies, especially during the day, so if you don’t like your coffee with a side of breast milk, you might want to check out the Park Slope South location. Either way, Tea Lounge is well worth checking out, for the coffee, the snacks, and of course, those cute hipster baristas.

A good café is hard to find, and now that Starbucks is invading every nook and cranny of the five boroughs, it’s even harder. The little coffee shops that struggled but managed to get by back in the day are now facing escalating rents that the big chains have no problem paying. So it’s a rare treat when you discover a place in your neighborhood that runs circles around Starbucks and can stay open for more than six months. Café Sutra is such a place.

I’ll admit I’m more of a barfly than a beatnik, and that my idea of a wild Saturday night usually doesn’t include unlimited refills of Jamaican Blue Mountain. And although I fancy myself a girl who can hold her liquor, my best friend Liz puts me to shame. So when I took her to Café Sutra after having just discovered it, I was prepared to have another ho-hum latte and get back to the bar. But that’s when I discovered the best part about Café Sutra…they serve booze! Now that’s my kind of coffee shop! A wide variety of beers, including local favorites like Brooklyn Lager, joins an assortment of wines and mostly frozen cocktails to form a decent drink menu, all the better for when you’ve had your fill of caffeine but still want to savor the atmosphere.

And atmosphere there is. The name Café Sutra, in case your mind is in the gutter, relates to the café’s focus on India and the Hindu religion. This cultural inspiration permeates everything from the names of the specialty mocha and tea drinks to the warm and exotic décor. Though under new ownership, the café has kept its Hindi theme, and for that I’m grateful. The new owners have also introduced live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and their happy hour drink specials keep the place buzzing the rest of the week. During the warmer months, the patio is the place to be, for the night air and, for you smokers out there, a chance to evade the long arm of the indoor smoking ban for a few precious hours.

All of the coffee and tea drinks at Café Sutra are delicious, but I usually order the Earl Grey Skies, a tea drink which is made with real bergamot oil. Liz is more of a strong coffee girl, and she highly approved of the house blend here, which is dark and nutty and generally not for the weak of heart (or ulcer). If you like chocolate, be sure to try one of Café Sutra’s specialty lattes, like the decadent Almond Zen, which contains Ghiradelli chocolate, almond, and coconut. Or if the winter blues have got you down, have a summer flashback with a frozen hot chocolate or frozen lemonade, both of which are like candy in a glass. Speaking of candy, the café offers a rotating selection of desserts that tempt you from their pastry case like chocolaty sirens. They’re perfect for sharing, which we all know girls like to do, because somehow they feel like that negates the calories. I don’t bother to squabble over calories – it’s dessert, it’s supposed to give you chest pains. Luckily, Café Sutra seems to agree; none of their desserts could be described as light.

So the next time you’re in Park Slope south, stop in and meditate over a cup of liquid karma. Or, failing that, a frozen sangria.