Venticinque

A: 162 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA, 11217

Yes, Manhattan may have the shops, the nightlife and Sex and the City, but when it comes to good coffee, you’ll be rewarded when you travel across the bridge to Brooklyn.

Venticinque coffee

 Venticinque is an excellent example of this.  This café is located in the Park Slope borough, an area that has transitioned and morphed from a rough neighbourhood during the 1950s and 1960s into one of New York’s most desirable neighbourhoods today.  Venticinque sits unassumingly amid the mixture of stores on 5^th Avenue and serves its locals good (great!) espresso coffee as well as drip/percolated coffee Americans are so use to.

Venticinque, Brooklyn

I met one of the owners, Beau, whose passion about serving good coffee, “proper” coffee, espresso coffee, was evident in the café au lait I ordered.  His vision?  To open an Italian style coffee bar that serves consistently good coffee and to extend Americans’ palate to include good espresso based cuppas.  Beau only believes in using good equipment, fresh produce and well trained baristas to achieve this. They use Counter Culture Coffee beans, locally produced milk and their coffee machine is a La Marzocco.

The café au lait I ordered was served in a ceramic cup and saucer.  This was a delightful change to the usual take away cup American cafes usually serve you with (irrespective of whether you are staying to drink it in the establishment or taking it away and drinking it on the go).  The lait was a nice hot temperature (not too hot, just right), it had a good amount of crème at the top, a cute love heart free pour design and I could really taste the milk’s creaminess and freshness.  And, of course, those Counter Culture beans were divine!

Cafe au lait made with Counter Culture coffee beans

Inside Venticinque

The atmosphere was very mellow and chilled with some soft jazz playing in the background.   A great place to ‘Sit Sip and Savour’ with your favourite book or newspaper or to catch up with a friend.  Worth the short train or cab ride from Manhattan.  Go on, do it, cross that bridge and see how the other half live, you won’t be disappointed with this coffee!