Birch Coffee — Restaurant in New York

The Sunday air was warm and inviting—the kind of weather that tempts you to wander with no particular plan. After a lovely afternoon out, a friend and I found ourselves stepping into Birch Coffee on 7th Avenue, hoping for a quiet close to the day.

We kept our order simple: an iced latte, an Americano, and a lemon poppy scone to share.

But unfortunately, this stop didn’t quite live up to the ease of the afternoon. The coffee fell flat—both cups lacked the depth or brightness you hope for, especially from a place with Birch’s reputation. The scone was serviceable, neither disappointing nor memorable.

What truly cast a shadow over the visit, though, was the service. It wasn’t overtly rude, but there was a distinct sharpness to the interaction—rigid, impatient, and far from warm. In a space that should offer pause and comfort, that energy was hard to overlook.

All in all, Birch Coffee felt like a missed opportunity. In a city full of exceptional cafés, the experience here—both in cup and in spirit—simply didn’t leave much to...

Birch coffee is a lovely little coffee shop, very busy and lively, with the dry humored mottos like "not your basic birch" that made my day. I stopped in to kill an hour before I went off to a writing conference at the new school, a block down the road. I was too afraid to ask if they had wifi or what the password was, so I settled in for people watching. Their picture window gives a great little scene of New York, and I enjoyed the people watching immensely. While I was there I pondered the concept that a new York ten is different (less than) a Midwest ten, etc etc, and I think I decided that it's false. Even though there are thousands of more pretty people in New York, it seems that that's simply because of the immense number of people in New York, and if you grind it down to a percentage, the tens and sevens and threes in any place would end up being pretty much the same number.

Tldr: cute place, good customer service, good quality coffee, a little bit of seating, small cup sizes, no bathroom, good for a...

Pretentious Brooklyn meets tiny Manhattan: a lovely combination.

The coffee is quite good. The decaf is quite strong -- I wonder if it actually has a good bit of caffeine.

Prices are absurd. $3.75 for a small latte, plus 50 cents for iced. Really? Ice displaces a large portion of the coffee, making it cheaper for them to make. Lousy policy.

The place is small, but not so small as to be to-go only. Capacity is nine people. There are three small tables, each with two barstools, as well as a window bar with three barstools. The barstools are uncomfortable, because you can't rest your feet, and I don't know why they do them.

The staff are nice. The barista actually asked how I was.

They keep their menu simple and use Helvetica. Nice alternative to the gaudy Starbucks menu.

Most problematically, they don't have a restroom! Caffeine tends to make trips more frequent and urgent, making it particularly unfortunate.

I don't generally care enough about coffee to make this...