Brooklyn’s Best Way to Start Fresh in 2016: Devoción Coffee
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I love Café Bustelo. Since I was 8 years old I have been drinking Bustelo, the old Cuban-style espresso, con leche y azucar as a treat with my abuela for breakfast. Sometimes I’d melt cheddar cheese (Queso de Papa) into the coffee and scoop it right up into a spoon to enjoy as an extra treat. This is something of a family ritual.
Now that I’m older, coffee is not only a lifestyle but a social media/technology delight. I like everything that is coffee culture including #coffeenclothes and #menandcoffee (wink-wink).
Recently I met with Steven Sutton, founder of Devoción on 69 Grand Street in Williamsburg to talk about their coffee specialties. Since opening in November of 2014, Devoción has received tons of press from The New York Times, Bedford + Bowery, Daily News, and Eater NY. This year, Village Voice named it “Best Coffee Shop.” All of this is for good reason and here’s why:
- Devoción follows a farm to cup model. “Almost like fresh tomatoes are served in a pomodoro sauce at a great Italian restaurant; our coffee starts with fresh green coffee beans,” Sutton says. From the moment the green coffee beans are picked from its cherry tree, they have a 10 day transport into your cup in Williamsburg typically. They are roasted up to 30 days from receipt. Most other coffee places roast up to 6-9 months from receiving the beans.
- Devoción started in Bogotá, Columbia and then moved to Brooklyn when Sutton’s business partner encouraged him to explore the new market in Williamsburg.
- Devoción gets its beans fresh from Columbia year-round. It’s the only country outside of the Congo that grows coffee year-round.
- Even though all of its coffee is picked from just Columbia coffee trees, different areas are able to provide a rich variety. The company chooses beans that have both high acidity and mineral properties that taste of tart berries, chocolate and vanilla. Roasting small batches of coffee beans at the source and conducting on site tastings is critical to Devoción’s monitoring and purchasing decisions.
- Devoción buys green coffee beans directly from about 400 farms and, after dry-milling those, ships the beans via FedEx – currently in quantities of about 900 to 1,100 pounds a week. All farmers are paid 20-45% above fair trade once its sustainable committee approves a farmer’s beans.
- You can watch FedEx’ video about Devoción for an amazing background on how their coffee is shipped.
- Unlike other roasters, Devoción workers are actually talking with farmers on a weekly and monthly basis.
- They are planning to open up a location in Manhattan in 2016 and then in California.
Then too, your body reacts the same way cheap cialis try to find out more to imagination as it does to reality.
The first cup of coffee I tried at Devoción was a freshly grounded special bean, served as a drip coffee. It was heavenly. It had some hints of star fruit, a fruit I love eating every time I go back to Puerto Rico.
Yum!
While there are other great roasters in Brooklyn that might a great cup of coffee and have a huge social impact, Devoción is making its impact in fair trade and no one can beat its freshness. The movement to understand sourcing is paramount and Devoción definitely has this down packed.
