the best coffee, downtown, hands down

a few weeks ago, i accidentally cracked the glass carafe of my coffee maker. so annoying! especially since i had yet to determine where the best cup of coffee on the LES and the surrounding nabes could be found. i had already visited 88 orchard, kudos beans, and ceci-cela to mixed results. actually, none of the "drip coffees" were up to snuff. 88 orchard and kudos beans offer much more flavorful lattes, though 88 orchard baristas have proved to be more consistent (and the service has gotten a bit warmer -- wan smiles now, as opposed to none at all before, which is more than you get from the folks at kudos). to complicate matters, the main housewares stores in the city no longer stock the replacement carafes that i need. aargh! oh well, i thought i would use this time to give these venues, second, third and fourth tries, and venture to some new places.

i did a little research, and found that the coffee obsessed seemed to think highly of the julius meinl coffees. i found a cafe in my 'hood, cafe trotsky, is one of the few in nyc that brew the julius meinl coffees. cafe trotsky is quiet, and charming and i would love to linger there over breakfast. it seems like a great place to relax, read, get your head together, savor pastries and caffeine. and the ladies that work there are certainly among the friendlier on the LES. an acquaintance of mine, who owns the wonderful hudson street papers shop (now at a new location on orchard street, but still named hudson street papers) mentioned that there was a statue of trotsky or some trotsky-esque figure on top of the cafe, but perhaps he was pulling my leg, because i went back and didn't see any kind of statue. in any case, loved the cafe but was less enamored of the drip coffee, it seemed a little watery to me. i think my palate has grown accustomed to a really heavy, brave brew, a la starbucks. the starbucks red-eye, prepared by the folks at the cafe on 233 broadway, in the woolworth building, is top notch. perfect every single time. (and the folks that worked there from jan-aug 2005, the greatest.) the coffee from the starbucks on spring street is adequate, but there are some management issues over there (three people at the registers, with three people ordering, and 1 lonely barista for hot bevs, and 1 barista for cold bevs and 8 people waiting for their bevs equals poor management and unsatisfied customers, if you ask me).

but my humble verdict for the best cup of "on the go" coffee, south of 14th street, is joe the art of coffee. the coffee snobs love it, wanna be foodies, best of nyc guide readers, and daily candy subscribers flock to it (hence the lines snaking down waverly place on the weekends), and with really, really good reason. it's strong, flavorful and it stays hot for a very long time. they'll make your latte into a work of art, if you'd like, but the coffee itself is a masterpiece.

Joe the Art of Coffee
141 Waverly Place, bet Sixth Ave and Gay Street
212 924 6750, and
9 East 13 Street, bet 5th Ave and University
212 924 7400

Cafe Trotsky
192 Orchard Street, near Houston Street
212 677 6381

Hudson Street Papers
149 Orchard Street
212 229 1064