Empire State of Mind

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This is a sweet track and listening to it can make you a better basketball player, but it doesn't have much to do with coffee, or does it?

Looks like the coffee scene in New York continues to evolve and get more and more interesting. The New York Times is reporting that San Francisco-based roaster/retailer Four Barrel Coffee has a new account in the city and owner Jeremy Tooker is looking for a roasting location in Brooklyn for an East Coast operation.

The story also notes that Joe, formerly known as Joe the Art of Coffee, a New York retailer of five stores has moved to exclusively offer Ecco Coffee. Ecco was recently purchased by Intelligentsia, but maintains its unique style and small lot, seasonal offerings, though it now also has the support of Intelligentsia’s Yankee-like stable of barista champions like Kyle Glanville, Mike Phillips and Stephen Morrissey.

All of this only makes me wonder if Lebron James loves coffee, because if he does then this seems to play into Jay-Z’s masterplan (some would say blueprint) to lure James out of Cleveland to join the New Jersey Nets when they move to Brooklyn in 2011.

About Ken 263 Articles
Kenneth R. Olson (he/him) is co-founder and publisher of Barista Magazine the worldwide trade magazine for the professional coffee community. He has written extensively about specialty coffee, traveled near and far for stories, activities, and fun, and been invited to present on topics important to coffee culture. He is also an avid fan of the Portland Trail Blazers, the Washington Huskies, and public libraries.