Coffee on the Upper Upper West Side?

I know that the Sensuous Bean, 66 West 70th Street, has been in the neighborhood for a long time.

zabar's.

pretty sure there's an oren's up by columbia.

This may be obvious, but Fairway has a decent selection.

One of my favorites and we often are in this hood for dinner or shopping is D'Amicos in Carol Gardens. Old school Italian store and they roast it there. http://www.yelp.com/biz/d-amico-foods-brooklyn

Orens on Broadway and 112th. While you're checking out the neighborhood, try the bagels at Absolute and the Hummos at Samad's. Welcome to the neighborhood!

and the pizza @ Koronet!!!!!!!!!

How do you make it, ali? You can squeeze a lot more flavor out of a lesser coffee if you use a French Press. I buy organic Peruvian at Fairway, store the beans in the freezer, grind them as neede, and brew it in a French Press. It's pretty good.

Ali: I have lived on the UWS for years and have not found a satisfactory source of coffee. I travel to CA frequently, where I stock up on Peets, and regularly order from Intelligentsia. The Whole Foods at Columbus Circle used to carry Peet's (as did the Scharfen Berger store on Amsterdam that has now gone out of business). But if you can afford to splurge on Intelligentsia I highly recommend it. When I have to buy locally I buy Illy or Starbucks beans.

If you want to buy coffee very locally--illy and some other brands are available at Gourmet Garage @97 and Broadway. I buy coffee by mail order.

Bustelo from the can at Associated, $3.99 a can. Can't do better anywhere else.

ali — the new Whole Foods! I'm very, very about my beans, and found all I'm looking for. Seriously.

oops. should be "very. very PICKY".

Samad's actually has a large assortment of whole bean coffee, although I've never bought any. The coffee they brew is pretty good. Their babaganoush is absolutely delicious as well

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I'm a Melita person (hubby doesn't drink coffee, and I only get one cup a day). I realize a French press makes marginally better coffee, but I hate cleaning them.

OnTheMove, we got Peet's Major Dickason's blend from the grocery store the week we were on Cape Cod and were very very pleased with it. And I am a big fan of Starbucks' Xmas blend, though I don't really like the others.

But sometimes I like to buy less than a pound of something, and while I may try Fairway again, I have not previously been impressed. Zabar's scares me, but I will try to gird my loins from the crowd.

It sounds like Samad's is worth trying, and thanks Nan for the idea of Oren's, because I am sure that is where I will end up. Sensuous Bean is even on my old UWS maps, so I'll head there as well.

Thanks also for mentioning Absolute Bagels, which I hit at least twice a week like clockwork.

Intelligentsia sounds like the LA version of La Colombe Torrefaction, which is a Philly-roasted coffee that they serve in most NY restaurants, and that you can get it Tribeca at La Colombe d'Or -- maybe that's our Thanksgiving "serve-to-the-in-laws" coffee.

p.s. to all you picky people -- if you're ever in Midtown Empire on Ninth Avenue, just south of 42nd, will do you a real solid. New "Obama blend" of Indonesian, Kenyan and Hawaiian isn't just witty, it's pretty nice. And if you ever get to Westchester, Coffee Labs Roasters in Tarrytown know what they're doing.

ali

^^ and BronxBoy, you're right about Bustelo in a can, but I'm a baker too, so whenever I buy a can of that I seem to end up with a spare chocolate cake on my hands.

ali

Ali: The Intelligentsia mother ship is in Chicago. But they now have a New York "lab" (http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/locations/view/New+York+Training+Lab) where you can take barista classes and learn "latte art".

The Intelligentsia coffees are seasonal and the supply can be erratic, but I've loved every coffee I've ordered from them. My favorite (Flecha Rocha) is currently out of season, but if you like Peet's Major D blend you'd probably like El Diablo Dark Roast from Intelligentsia.

I'll have to try La Colombe - I like the flat $5 shipping charge. Intelligentsia and Peet's charge shipping by weight.

More:

tried beans from the Sensuous Bean on West 70th; perfectly serviceable, didn't blow me away. The cashier said the best thing in the store are the flavored coffees, and that's just not my thing.

Big NYT piece on coffee today recommends Joe on 85th (frankly if it's anything like the 23rd street location, I tag it as too hipsterish and I can skip it) and Caffe Mocias on 94th, which I'm now dying to try.

The NYT coffee map is here: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/09/dining/20100309-new-york-coffee-map.html

and the piece is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/dining/10coffee.html?em=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1268265650-4SDCE11S7CSrvnRXjVbPvw

ali