Through June 29, their Art & Caffeine café will feature a stacked roster of roasters and events.
BY KATRINA YENTCH
BARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE
Photos courtesy of Faema
Don’t erase the term “pop-up” from your vocabulary just yet. Italy-based espresso manufacturer Faema is in the middle of a café pop-up in New York City this month through June 29. The space is called Art & Caffeine, and it follows the launch of the first ever Faema Flagship Store in Milan last October. Expect to find a rotating roaster program similar to the structure of other coffee pop-up cafés (like La Marzocco’s Seattle HQ and Showroom or L.A.’s Coffeehall), along with a series of accompanying events and classes that are both industry-focused and consumer-oriented.
Situated in the stylishly grungy Lower East Side neighborhood, Art & Caffeine’s location on 198 Allen Street surely draws attention from coffee folks and patrons alike; its interior looks like a combination of sleek office space filled with modernist living room touches, ideal for both getting work done and lazy lounging. The café features different roasters every week, with a stacked bill that includes local New York roasters like Coffee of Grace and Partners Coffee, along with other U.S.-based companies like Houston’s Katz Coffee and Nashville, Tenn.’s Sump Coffee (which also has a collaboration release party planned with Brandywine Coffee Roasters as part of the pop-up).
The menu showcases these roasters through a heavy array of espresso and drip coffee offerings, in addition to a weekly colorful signature beverage selection with offerings like a Fruit Cereal Oat Latte. Faema aims to please coffee lovers of all origins and, in partnership with nonprofit organization Coffee Kids, is donating the café’s beverage profits to support young farmers.
Art & Caffeine’s event lineup started off strong with an “Italian Espresso Today” discussion from Mr. Espresso’s Luigi Di Ruocco, a humble homage to both Faema’s Milan roots and NYC’s longstanding Italian population. Other industry professionals are contributing to the series too; this week, Brandywine’s Todd Purse taught a creative coffee marketing class, and Umeko Motoyoshi is scheduled to present a class on sustainable alternatives to coffee waste on Saturday. For the beginner home brewers and novice baristas, Faema is also hosting elementary coffee classes for skills like latte art and espresso tasting, along with weekly public cuppings for those who truly want to experience the coffee from every scheduled roaster. The events are a mix of free, donation-based, and paid admission, but all require registration in advance, which can be done here.
Don’t miss your chance to attend these one-time-only events, and grab a drink for a good cause while you’re at it! Here are a few of the highlights:
June 14 at 6 p.m. – Sustainability in Specialty Coffee Marketing
Umeko Motoyoshi, founder of @wastingcoffee and Umeshiso, explores alternatives to the coffee industry’s more wasteful practices.
June 21 at 6 p.m. – How to Start a Coffee Shop in NYC?
The owners of Coffee Project NY talk about how they made their dream a reality in one of the most competitive markets in the nation, and offer advice on how to get there yourself.
June 22 at 6pm – X30 in Good Spirits – Happy Hour Edition
Faema showcases their fully automatic machines by teaching you how to use them to craft your own coffee cocktails.
