New York, Immigration, & the Rise of Espresso
Espresso didn’t just arrive in New York—it found a home here. As waves of Italian immigrants settled in the city, they brought with them the rituals, tehniques, and traditions that would help shape New York’s café culture and eventually define an entire industry. The rise of espresso mirrors the rise of New York itself: built on craft, community, and constant reinvention.
This walking tour traces a bit of that journey—from early Italian bakeries and cafés to the modern wave of espresso bars that continue to redefine the drink. Along the way, we’ll explore the innovations, styles, and cultural moments that made New York one of the world’s most iconic espresso cities.
The History of Espresso New York City Walking Tour
Written by Liz Clayton
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We all know New York City hates to be anything but the first to do something. While it can’t claim it’s the birthplace of espresso—we think it’s safe to say Gotham comes as close as it can on American shores. From the turn of the century, coffee culture—and specifically espresso culture—has kept apace with the world’s most robust coffee cities, ever evolving through innovation and passion for the craft. We don’t think there’s any better way to appreciate coffee culture’s history than through the coffee bar, and in New York, there’s no better way to tour its cafes than on foot! Lace up your finest pair of walking shoes and join us on a century-spanning tour through the city’s coffee history. We’ll see some beautiful espresso machines while we’re at it.
Caffe Roma
385 Broome Street
(Little Italy)
Beginning at the beginning, you’ll find Caffe Roma, founded in 1891. Is this the oldest coffee shop in New York City, the oldest Italian bakery, or both? They’ll tell you yes as you stride back in time towards the cannoli counter. Surround yourself in that Old New York feel—here, the vibe is somehow simple but ornate all at the same time, with vintage bar fixtures and chandeliers surrounding efficient little tabletops for you to enjoy your pastry of choice alongside a foamy cappuccino.
Porto Rico Trading Company
201 Bleecker Street
(Greenwich Village)
There’s nowhere in New York quite like Porto Rico, the city’s timeless standalone coffee market, with all the nearly-overflowing sacks and metal scoops and colorful mugs and chocolate-covered espresso beans to prove it. Though there are currently three Porto Rico outposts in the city today, the original 1907 location on Bleecker Street fits the most seamlessly into its Greenwich Village landscape, where century-old history meets hippie-bulk-looseleaf-tea culture meets modern times. Though you can technically get a drip coffee or espresso here, that’s not why you came. You came to admire the esoteric gear, the dozens of coffee choices, and to take in the aromas of coffee flavorings so strong they follow you home on your clothes, an invisible amaretto spectre haunting the rest of the day. This is an institution, and if you love coffee, you already love it.
Caffe Reggio
119 MacDougal Street
(Greenwich Village)
Ask anyone for the iconic “Old New York” coffee experience and they’ll point you towards Caffe Reggio, founded 1927. The shop’s original espresso machine—the locus of New York’s—America’s?—first cappuccino—remains on view as the museum piece it truly is. (Sadly, zoning laws and insurance companies make it unlikely a coal-operated, ready-to-explode coffee machine will be back in service anytime soon.) Soak in its ambience while treating yourself to a proverbial tiramisu—it’s okay to have more than one dessert on a coffee crawl, we promise.
From Caffe Reggio, we’ll need to skip ahead in time a bit if we’re going to finish our walk by sunset. Though New York birthed several coffee roasting companies around this time (Dallis Bros. in 1913, Kobrick’s in 1920, and White in 1939) most of them were wholesalers rather than cafe operators, meaning they delivered coffee—Dallis Bros. by horse and buggy!—to retailers and restaurants around the boroughs. As sit-down spots went, the city saw gradual growth between Caffe Reggio and the dawn of Greenwich Village cafes and the advent of what we now call “specialty coffee”. Classic local chains like Chock Full O’ Nuts ruled the roost as well as the roast, alongside the archetypical diners and donut shops which gave the words “coffee shop” the same meaning as “restaurant” for many New Yorkers. Jump, then, into the beginning of the future, and hop around the East Village, the West Village, and the Lower East Side with us.
Ninth Street Espresso
700 East 9th Street
(Alphabet City)
A new wave of coffee began to hit the Lower East Side and East Village in the early 2000s, with a slow boil of coffee newcomers attempting to push coffee towards the craft it is today. Walk East from Astor Place where the bright orange Mud Truck began to circle these environs around this time, and end up at 9th Street and Avenue C, home of Ninth Street Espresso (then called Higher Grounds Cafe) which opened here in 2001. The Faema E61 which once graced the counter here is today a graciously curvy La Marzocco FB80. It’s perhaps the most decorative part of this otherwise ultraminimal and modern-styled cafe, with its super no-nonsense vibe and reliably solid espressos the company roasts in nearby Long Island City, Queens.
Joe Coffee Company
141 Waverly Place
(West Village)
West Village darling Joe Coffee—which now has a couple dozen locations—opened its very first coffee shop in 2003, back when neighbor Amy Sedaris used to bring in the odd batch of cupcakes for the shop to sell behind the pastry case. Through two decades of subtle changes, the shop still looks and feels like the cozy coffee enclave it’s always been. Like Ninth Street, Joe also roasts its own coffee these days (and also in Long Island City) and you’ll find tasty shots pulled on their sleek white Linea while a line of loyal customers, never quite overcrowding the store, but also never quite ending, eagerly awaits their daily dose with you.
Abraço
81 East 7th Street
(East Village)
Abraço’s opening in the East Village in 2007 was something that felt palpably special at the time and at that moment in NYC coffee history, and it was. Founder Jamie McCormick, a veteran of Blue Bottle (then known primarily for farmers market stalls drawing rich espresso from vintage lever machines in the San Francisco Bay Area) brought his coffee sensibility East, mixing it with the NYC vibe and of course his own. A tiny little shop—room for just a few people to stand, by windows that opened broadly onto East 7th Street and drew the outside in—mimicked the kiosks of the Bay, while doing one better with city efficiency and a little case of inventive treats baked somehow, somewhere in the tiny space. Today, Abraço sits across from its first location, in a substantially bigger storefront that accommodates both a full kitchen menu and throngs of coffee lovers. McCormick and his partner Liz still lead the ship, and his fondness for gorgeous vintage espresso machines is a throughline of the coffee story here. Look for stunning pieces like a glowing Faema E61 and a handsome Victoria Arduino Athena lever machine atop the bar, with other models rotating in as well.
Koio
199 Lafayette Street
(Soho)
Feet starting to feel a bit sluggish at this point in the walk? We’ve got just the shneaker to pair with your coffee explorations. Founded in 2014, Koio’s timeless approach to exceptionally designed footwear, handcrafted in Italy, their work inspires us—recalling the same care, engineering, and passionate craftsmanship that’s guided La Marzocco for nearly a century. Coincidentally, it reminds Koio of that, too. Stop in here to view their brand new, La-Marzocco-inspired shoe. Streamlined, supple, and frankly sexy, we’re pretty sure there’s no better shoe to don for a coffee crawl in one of the most exciting cities in the world.
La Cabra
152 2nd Avenue
(East Village)
New Yorkers know all about hype, and they won’t abide it for long if they see smoke and mirrors once up close. La Cabra, a Danish-born chain, made its first entry into the US in 2021 and it seemed hard to believe something so talked up might become—and stay—an institution…but the quality and magic here have proved out. This high-end bakery-cafe turning out elite sweets and thoughtful coffees continues to see lines out the door all the time. The style here is ultramodern, with Modbar undercounter espresso clearing the way for a sleek minimal setting that makes it seem like coffee just magically appears. Roasts are on the lighter side and seriousness abounds, but there’s no denying La Cabra raised the bar for coffee across all of Gotham when it docked its ship here.
Variety Coffee Roasters
140 Nassau Street
(Financial District)
End your stroll through history at the (near) tip of Manhattan with a truly modern—yet classically styled—coffee moment at Variety Coffee’s spacious Financial District cafe, opened in 2022. Though a decidedly Third Wave roaster, Variety eschews the sterile decorating cliches of its white-tiled contemporaries and instead bathes its cafes in a warm, deco glow that feels “old New York” while staying ahead of the curve. Their coffees come fresh from Variety’s East Williamsburg roastery, and are prepared with a delicious, skillful consistency. Fittingly, the small local chain chose a gleaming Officine Fratelli Bambi Bespoke espresso machine to crown the bar, and to them—and all we’ve traipsed to today—we raise a demitasse to the end of a thoroughly caffeinated stroll in a truly timeless coffee town.
Words by Liz Clayton
Photos by Jacob Ingle
Map by Aly Miller
