Ninth Street Espresso

In all my raving about great coffees in New York I haven’t actually written specifically about Ninth Street Espresso, the one that tops our list of coffee favourites. We’ve mostly had their coffee in Chelsea Market but started out at the original cafe on 9th Street in November 2008.

The coffee is always good, the milk a great consistency, and it’s known all over New York as a benchmark and often other baristas train there. It got to the point at Chelsea Market that The Mister always ordered 2 coffees because they were so good! I have a Ninth Street Espresso pin I wear in my jacket and one time when I was ordering coffee the barista was very concerned that I wanted it in a takeaway cup, wouldn’t I prefer the experience of a real cup … I wasn’t sure why his concern that I get the best possible coffee until he pointed to my t-shirt! It was my Supreme shirt that used to be the official Supreme shirt worn by Supreme-qualified baristas in cafes in Wellington – it has a coffee handle on it so he figured I was some kind of expert. He also spotted my Ninth Street Espresso badge (only available at the 9th Street cafe) and was impressed to hear that we often went there to Chelsea Market from Murray Hill just for the coffee!

We have a bit of a history with them, having gone there on most of our visits to New York so I’ve dug out some photos.

Our first visit to the 9th Street cafe (November 2008)

Our first visit to Chelsea Market (November 2008)

Taking friends there for the first time (June 2009)

Some of the many visits to Chelsea Market this year

Ninth Street Espresso: 700 East 9th Street (Between Ave C & D) or 341 East 10th Street (Between Ave A & B) or Chelsea Market 75 9th Avenue, New York