If you can take the hipster overload of New York’s East Village and you need a fix, take visit to La Colombe on Lafayette St.  The SoHo location is tiny…maybe only space for 10 people.  But only a few block North, the NoHo location is significantly larger.  But, is the coffee good?  Well, it’s not bad.  It’s not “holy shit, stop the presses” good, but if you need caffeine, and you are in the area, you could certainly do worse.

The East Village is loaded with small shops. There’s probably 10 spots in between the to La Colombe locations alone.  I was there on a brisk February morning, and all the places were packed…probably because it was 30 degrees outside.  The line in the NoHo location was completely around the bar and there was a steady stream of people in an out.  The music was a bit loud, but the staff was very friendly, and the service was quick.

If you like what you taste, you can purchase the coffee there at the shop or on their web site.  The Nizza blend was what they were serving for espresso based drinks.  It had hints of caramel as described in the tasting notes and the cappuccino I had was creamy and had the correct proportions of milk foam and coffee.  So, as I said, you could certainly do worse than La Colombe.