Inhale your coffee

(picture via Urban Daddy)

Don’t have time to go out for a cup of coffee, but still need a caffeine boost? You’re in luck; a Harvard scientist has invented “Le Whif Coffee,” an inhalable micropowder in a tiny spritz bottle. The creation uses particle engineering to create coffee dust with 100 mg of caffeine, about the same amount in a shot of espresso.

Le Whif launched today in stores, and is available in New York City at Dylan’s Candy Bar. A chocolate option has already been on the market, in three flavors, if coffee isn’t your thing. Visit the Le Whif website for more info.

-Caitlin

Coffee Gets Technical

The Slayer Espresso Machine

Probably the most high-tech coffee shop in the city, RBC Coffee NYC opened last week in Tribeca. The cafe serves your cup straight from the “Slayer Espresso Machine,” an $18,000 machine that is one of fewer than 20 in the world! What makes it so special? The Slayer offers variable pressure brewing or “pressure profiling” to get the best out of the coffee beans.

RBC Coffee NYC only serves fair trade selections from Dallis Coffee and The Brown Coffee Company. Stop by and try it at 71 Worth Street, not far from featured space for lease 50 Hudson Street.

-Caitlin

An Oasis in the Midtown Desert

Lily O'Brien's Cafe

Midtown is an independent coffee shop desert. With Starbucks after Starbucks, and a few Dunkin Donuts sprinkled in, it’s impossible to achieve the small cafe feel without taking a long time scouring the streets. As a resident of the Midtown East area, (I didn’t know what I was doing when I moved here) and an independent cafe lover, I am left frustrated.

Last night after dinner, my boyfriend Paul and I set out to go to a non-Starbucks/Dunkin. We even found a few places in the Grand Central area to check out. Closed. Closed. Closed. Paul was ready to settle for a grande mocha no whip from ‘Bucks, but being the stubborn person that I am, I wasn’t having it.

“No. We’re in one of the biggest cities in the world. This shouldn’t be this hard,” I dragged him through the cold (luckily he’s patient) and finally ended up at Lily O’Brien’s Cafe at 36 W. 40th Street near Bryant Park. A shop filled to the brim with chocolates, cookies, and cakes, the cafe also has a coffee, tea, and a hot chocolate menu. Not only were we greeted by hot coffees, but we also received complimentary cookies-and-cream chocolates, which delighted me. It’s the little things.

Visit Lily O’Brien’s for a hot latte, or shop their chocolate selection for delicious holiday gifts.

-Caitlin

Designer Gift Cards?

The Christian Siriano designed Starbucks mini gift card, picture via Chic Report

All of the talk about gift cards this morning has led me to this next retail trend, designer gift cards. I don’t mean gift cards for designer shops. Christian Siriano has just designed a new gift card for Starbucks hitting the stores November 17th. While you still use the card like any other, it is mini-sized, more stylish, and will fit right on your key chain. Siriano said, “This year, the card design I created with Starbucks is all about putting the spirit of fashion and giving into your life for the holidays. And maybe a Frappucino blended beverage, too. I can’t get enough of those!” Starbucks returned the favor by donating to “The Art of Elysium,” Siriano’s charity. The charity encourages artists, musicians, and actors to donate their time and talent to children who are battling medical conditions. For more information, visit the program’s website, and make sure to pick up one of Siriano’s gift cards for the holidays.

-Caitlin

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait?

The Breslin apology letter (picture credit Eater)

After a successful morning in Jamaica, Queens, Retail Specialist Elliott Dweck and I stopped by our favorite coffee joint in the city, (Stumptown, obviously) to enjoy some warm lattes. I had heard the highly anticipated Breslin restaurant was scheduled to open today, so I had to check it out. Expecting to see hoards of dining people, I was greeted by the same old brown paper in the windows with an apology note. The Breslin will open tomorrow  at 7am-noon for breakfast and noon-4pm for lunch.  If you can’t wait for the food, sit down in the gorgeous lobby of the Ace Hotel where they will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. We spoke with waiter-skateboarder-photographer extraordinaire Mike, who assured us it would be open tomorrow, serving delicious meals and Stumptown coffee. I’ll believe it when I see it.

-Caitlin

Mosque Angry with the Breslin

The much-awaited Breslin restaurant is scheduled to open for lunch tomorrow, along with their full bar, despite the protests from the Masjid Ar-Rahman Mosque across the street. The mosque called a meeting with the Ace Hotel and Breslin Co-Owner Ken Friedman asking if the bar could be moved. Friedman laughed, causing an argument between the two parties. “Can you name one restaurant in New York that doesn’t serve booze?” Friedman questioned.

A law forbids a bar to be within 200 feet of a space of worship, but in this case the law did not apply because the mosque is not exclusively a religious institution, as it also contains residential spaces and a restaurant. Friedman offered to put up a curtain to hide inebriated patrons, but The Gothamist reports that the curtain has not arrived.

The Breslin is located on 29th Street and Broadway in the Ace Hotel, close by the Besen Retail office. The Ace also homes hot coffee shop Stumptown, New York’s first farm-to-cup cafe. I highly suggest you visit.

-Caitlin

Striking Similarity!

Thomas Pink/”White Collar” event workers serving coffee.

Stumptown Barista serving coffee

We couldnt help but notice the similarity between the men and women taking measurements and serving coffee at the Thomas Pink/White Collar event and those working at Stumptown Coffee. Make sure to go to the Thomas Pink event today and get your free shirt. It’s worth the wait; see my experience and more pictures here!

-Caitlin

The Milk Bar: A New Retail Trend?

Recently opened Milk Bar in Brooklyn

Feeling a little low on Calcium? Head over to the newest trend in dairy, your local milk bar. Most recently opened is “Milk Bar,” located in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. According to Serious Seats New York  it is unlike most milk bars, because although it serves coffee and other milky beverages by day, it also serves wine by night.

Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar in Manhattan on the other hand offers a variety of soft serve flavors, including the most unique, “Cereal Milk.” Not feeling ice cream? Order a childhood favorite, cookies and milk. Perhaps try the decadent “Compost Cookie,” filled with pretzels, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch, and chocolate chips. Wash that down with a cold glass of tristar strawberry milk, or organic whole. Other treats include cakes, pies, shakes, and breads.

Where did this lactose-laden trend begin? The term “milk bar” is known as a general or convenience store in Australia, places where people can pick up a newspaper and milk, or children can get a shake or a lollipop. By the 1940′s, the trend made its way to America, but its social meaning quickly changed when it became a spot for teenagers to order non-alcoholic drinks and listen to the jukebox. This trend was later replaced by fast food restaurants and shopping malls, as the McDonald’s chain popped up all over the nation.

Today, Milk Bars are making a comeback in a different form, whether you want to order a cornflake chocolate chip marshmallow cookie at Momofuku, or enjoy a Counter Culture Cappucino and a glass of wine at Brooklyn’s Milk Bar.

-Caitlin

 

Have a Sweet Spot For a Dessert Truck?

 

 Jerome Chang is looking! According to the Village Voice, he’s checking out the West and East Village, as well as the Lower East side. Chang is currently planning on adding more desserts, baked goods, and coffee drinks to his already well-known repetoire of bacon custard sauce and brioche donuts. My arteries are clogging just typing those words. Check out the article:

  “Jerome Chang is ‘looking for space’ for a dessert truck storefront.”

-Caitlin