New York Magazine

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Skip to content, or skip to search.

Best Espresso

  • The Tasting Room Wine Bar & Café

    72 E. 1st St.; 212-358-7831

    A great espresso is an elusive thing, dependent on the equipment and the beans, sure, but mostly on the barista. The human element is all-important, and turnover is lethal. That’s why we hope Christina Harlow stays put at the Tasting Room Wine Bar & Café, where she spends her days cajoling a state-of-the-art Synesso machine into dispensing some of the richest, smoothest espresso and macchiato we’ve had lately. The Counter Culture coffee comes from North Carolina, and so does Harlow, where she used to work as a barista. With NPR on the radio and sunlight streaming through the glass façade, Harlow fusses over each order, coddling the organic milk and parsing the grind. No matter how desperate you are for a fix, don’t think of rushing her. Real coffee is worth the wait.

Next: Barbecue

Join the Discussion

Read All Comments | Add Yours

Recent Comments On This Article

See All | Add Yours

From the 2007 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine

Advertising
Order the Issue Today

Cover of New York Magazine's Best of New York issue

Order This Issue

Other Best Of Guides

Here’s the challenge in assembling our annual “Best of New York” issue: You have to eat a lot, shop a lot, dance a lot; you have to find clever ways to pry secrets out of strangers, and to shake down your friends, lovers, mothers, colleagues, and assorted gossip­hounds and bargain-mavens for fresh intel.

Read More...