EVERYMAN ESPRESSO, NYC

Just spent a few days in New York in a flat on Second Avenue near NYU and discovered a wonderful little coffee shop on East 13^th Street. 

It’s 7:30 am. I’ve just dropped off laundry at one of many dry cleaning/laundry shops that do laundry by the pound, this one run by a gentle Korean man who says my linen jacket will be done by tomorrow morning (I’m wearing it to lunch tomorrow—turned out it wasn’t done in time). I’m sensing the earliest brain tingle of caffeine withdrawal headache but am determined not to stand in line at Starbucks. One block west, I stumble onto Everyman Espresso, on 13^th, east of Fourth Avenue. This has potential, I'm thinking. The room is spare, minimalist, about five tables, two customers, one gorgeous NYU coed, one hipster, both deep into their laptops. Posters on the wall of plays, Shakespeare and otherwise, performed in the theater in the back. Coffee makings are in the corner: Sam, well groomed, woolen Irish cap, close-cropped beard, precise, surrounded by coffee paraphernalia and a few pastries. Delightful morning music by Jonsi floats in the air (solo album from the lead guitar for Sigur Ros).

Lots of shops make excellent coffee these days, thank goodness, but Sam made me the best cappuccino I’ve ever had outside of Rome, maybe even including Rome. Whole milk, of course (see skim milk for cappuccino posting in this blog). He also had the equipage for making French press, single drips, you name it. Everyman Espresso became my morning fix (for coffee, coeds, and local energy) during my short stay in New York. Wonderful. Thank you Sam, and the other guy. I'll be back someday.