Driftaway Coffee — Restaurant in New York

I first experienced Driftaway Coffee from a sampler pack that was a gift from my Wife - we were both instantly hooked, as big coffee drinkers it was honestly a transformative experience and we realized we were drinking something "special". For reference, our daily coffee is Gevalia so that is already (in our mind) a pretty good standard to judge against. Even so, we both looked at one another after the first few sips and said "OK, we're signing up!". We now eagerly look forward to receiving our monthly Driftaway order, and every coffee we have tried has been simply EXCELLENT. This is now an essential part of our weekend morning ritual, when we have time to relax, properly enjoy and truly savor our coffee together with no interruptions...often in reverent silence! My advice - if you truly enjoy coffee - get a sampler pack, using a medium grind setting and make up your own mind. Yes, this is a bit more expensive than supermarket brands - but, like a good wine to be enjoyed once per week as a special treat it's absolutely worth it. Customer service is also excellent if you ever have any issues, Driftaway truly care about their Customers and will do everything they can to fix any issues (we had one time a bag was split in transit that was immediately replaced) which is also a rare thing these days. Go treat yourselves - you...

I subscribe to coffee delivery from these wonderful people. The coffee itself is beyond excellent, just really superb, and so varied from one delivery to the next. I’m also able to choose what kind of coffee they should send. But what I love most is the sense of caring and community I immediately get when I need to contact them about something. I get an immediate, sensitive, helpful response. That helps me understand what happens at the other end of their process, when they buy coffee from the farmers who grow and roast it. With each delivery, I get a photo of whatever farmers grew that specific coffee, whether they’re in Rwanda or Costa Rica, or wherever, along with something about who they are, and what their farms are like. I get a vivid sense of being part of a community, which includes those farmers, and reaches me through the people I talk to who work for the company in Brooklyn. I’m now learning about how much the company and even the farmers like to experiment with each roast, to find out the best roasting and brewing techniques for the richest flavor. It warms my heart to be part of this, and of course, as I said, the coffee is beyond excellent, because of the care the Driftaway community takes with it. Five stars...

After 10+ years of selling mass market specialty coffee online, primarily to subscribers, Driftaway Coffee founders Anu Menon and Suyog Mody finally scratched that itch and opened a retail operation in the front area of their East Williamsburg production space across from Brooklyn Steel.

The high-ceilinged, windowless room is brightened by a skylight that pours sunlight onto the white-painted brick. Stadium style wood risers provide seating along one wall, and a large pink-tiled pourover bar (a la @loveless_coffees) with an attractive speckled white top runs along the adjacent wall, with a standalone espresso bar near the entrance.

The weekend-only (for now) tasting room serves espresso and espresso drinks but the focus is on pourovers and flights of coffees from their Rising Tide series, which features fruity coffees with varied processes that they roast much lighter than their traditional offerings. They have also begun rolling out a series of specialty drinks in collaboration with cocktail wizard Ray Lam.

Now that they’ve found their footing, they’ve been hosting pop-ups and bar takeovers, most recently Anna Ye Tea, Thoughtful Coffee, Yellow Pear Coffee and Ugandan importer...