$9 Cup of Coffee

I’ve been so busy trying to figure out what the next big restaurant trend is – i.e., what will replace the salumi platter (anyone with ideas should please let me know)—that I’ve totally lost track of New York City’s fast-moving coffee scene. So it was completely rewarding to sit next to Jonathan Rubinstein, founder of the excellent Joe’s coffee chain the other night. (Besides their awesome coffee, Joe's is known as the place with the Amy Sedaris cupcakes.) What did Jonathan think was the future of coffee? He believes it just might be at Café Grumpy, the small sleek store that started in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and recently expanded to Chelsea in Manhattan. At Café Grumpy, each cup of coffee (that’s drip coffee, not espresso) is made to order using pricey machines that manage to pulverize the beans and brew the drink in less than a minute. Coffee prices depend on where the bean comes from. The most expensive cup of coffee?? The $9 El Salvadorian Aida’s Reserve. “Aida’s the farmer, she’s amazing, and it’s an amazing cup of coffee,” a Grumpy barista said recently. Grumpy only gets her amazing coffee occasionally, but maybe that's a good thing. While I'd normally be apprehensive about paying almost 10 bucks for a cup of coffee, I've now signed up for their newsletter and am hoping to be the first in line when the next shipment of Aida's comes in.