Caffeinated Weekends - Blue Bottle Coffee

After a weekend of eating, consuming caffeinated beverages and walking, walking and more walking, and only exceeded by shopping and a lot of sun on the shoulders, I'm ready to sit down and compose a few blog posts about how wonderful and varied a time can be had in a New York summer weekend spent with an adventurous out-of-town best friend.

But today, about coffee.  Blue Bottle Coffee.  This is something special, really special and different.  The ambiance and the coffee.  

We visited their Berry Street location in Williamsburg, all sleek, wood, high ceilings, minimal and bright and airy.  It has a different appearance than any coffee bar I've seen in New York.  Blue Bottle Coffee is originally a California roaster and maybe that's why the difference.

When I asked for my usual summer order, an iced nonfat latte, I received an effusive recommendation from the barista to take a cold-brewed New Orleans-style iced coffee instead.  I was skeptical, but in a place that looks so serious about what's going on in there - roasters roped off to the consuming public taking up over half the warehouse space, test-tube-like glassware doing who-knows-what, I felt I had to take her word for it.

My word for it?  Unbelievable.  I'll go back to Brooklyn just for that coffee.  I found out the deal after I'd finished off my fully recyclable cup-full, sitting on my slightly too-short bar stool at the long wooden communal table.  My barista explained that it brews all night long, it's a mixture of many beans (whatever's around, I think she said) and the magic is chicory.  Hence, New Orleans-style.  To me, it tasted like a chocolate bar had been melted into the coffee.  It wasn't too sweet, but it was perfectly rich and chocolate-y.  It was an excellent compliment to the tiny taste of adult-fantasy s'more we couldn't resist.

Bedford Avenue

A weekend afternoon in Williamsburg, apparently rain or shine (since I experienced both, many times over in a few hours), is an experience of variety, cuisine, shopping, strolling and the best people-watching this side of the Meatpacking District.  Locals and visitors from across the river abound and will be duly entertained for the price of a short subway ride (or two) from Manhattan.  Plus, there are the wonderful views of Manhattan. 

I recommend first a long stroll up and down Bedford Avenue, where the "L" train stop will bring you above ground.  Glancing down the side streets along the way offers temptations, too, for diversions from the main avenue.  Just one example - I found a lovely, rustic bakery on one of the side streets called Bakeri, which has a tiny and charming back garden (as I noticed many of the neighborhood cafés, restaurants and bars did), complete with bubbling fountain, in which to enjoy my salad (bread was out of the question as it was still Passover, but I would have had a very hard time selecting just one item if I'd been able to do so).

Continuing up Bedford Avenue will eventually lead to McCarren Park, fascinating home to the famed hipsters of Williamsburg on a sunny Sunday, where I found many small groups of them covering every bare patch of grassy ground, picnicing, playing music or just deep in conversation.  

When it began to rain, I headed back to a public bench on the corner of Bedford and N. 6th Street that was protected by an awning, and I watched the passers-by and drew a few (not exactly scientific) conclusions (if you are from Williamsburg, please do not hate me - I loved my visit, and I plan to go back often, if you'll let me).  I noticed more of these things than I usually see from a random street corner in Manhattan:

bikes
sky
tattoos
boots with bare legs and short shorts
little dogs
hair of every length, color, shape and head location
jeans
sneakers
red lips
flannel clothes
bubble tea
coffee houses and walking coffee cups
muscle t-shirts
back gardens
open air bars and cafés
places called "The ____"
"Where's Waldo?" caps (in 75 degrees)
people between the ages of 20-30
"ironic" clothes and accessories (like Hello Kitty pink luggage, being carried - seriously - by an adult)
foreign languages spoken
did I say bicycles?
couples holding hands
too many tattoos per square inch of human skin

Things there were NOT much of:

people in business clothes
scowling people (it was a Sunday, after all)
strollers
small frame eye glasses
old people
kids (OK, a few, and they were VERY hip)
boredom

Inspired Jewelry

Sunday, I found myself in Brooklyn.  One doesn't just "find" oneself in Brooklyn (from the Upper West Side of Manhattan anyway).  In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that only recently have I come to enjoy a few of Brooklyn's treasures, such as BAM (perhaps it was my lack of free time raising children and working more than full-time?).  I'd been dying to get to Williamsburg; yes, it's true, I'd also never been to Williamsburg (more to come on that adventure in a future post), and it turns out the outdoor Brooklyn Flea is there on Sundays (it's seasonal, so check their website).  It was an on-and-off sunny day, mixed with a few spring downpours and drizzles, but it didn't seem to stop the Brooklynites, or the foreigners like me, from checking out the scene. 

First helpful thing to know is that it's barely a 30-minute subway trip to Williamsburg's Bedford Avenue subway stop on the "L" line from the UWS.  Unbelievable!  And what a world it is - young, energetic, hip (of course) and picky, picky, picky.  I mean this in only the best way possible.  The food on sale at the "Flea" - only the best, local, organic, homemade, original, clever...you get the idea.  Furniture - handmade, sold by the furniture makers themselves.  Vintage clothing and costume jewelry - designer!  

And the jewelry.  Well, I wasn't on a search for anything in particular, other than the market and the neighborhood I was exploring.  But, I was caught (as does seem to happen) by the jewelry on display from Saskia deVries. 

The stones, clasps and other pieces used in her hand-designed and hand-made jewelry are sourced from her travels all over the world, as are her inspirations for their design.  They're quite original and definitely a bit earthy, in a very sophisticated style.  There's high-impact to low, in size, color and design, but everything struck me in the way the look of such elemental stones could have such a polish.  In other words, these pieces can go with country or city, high or low fashion.  Also, they seem to be ageless (meaning, we can be our age and wear them).  Saskia was extremely helpful in describing everything there was to know about each piece and their elements.  She's so passionate about her work, and I didn't see a customer who wasn't drawn in by the beauty and unique quality of Saskia's designs.  Her booth isn't always at the Flea, she told me, but the Upcoming Events section of her website will let you know where she is going to be.