Think Coffee — Restaurant in New York

Go elsewhere. This Think Coffee location makes a high percentage of orders badly, or just gets the order wrong. Sometimes both at the same time. It's a convenient location for me and I like their outdoor setup. When I've been disappointed I go to Bowery for a while and then come back to try again. Sometimes it works out. Usually not.

Today as a case in point: I just placed an order for a medium, iced, decaf with almond milk. They made a hot drink first. When I told the barista I had ordered an iced drink, a woman who seemed to be the manager poured that drink down the drain and offered to make my order over - to her credit. She did so with some fanfare telling me that the iced drink should cost more than I had paid - which is already bad form since it was their error. She then made an iced drink for me. I'm used to seeing a barista pull 2x for 3 or four shots. She pulled 1x. The color of the drink was not what you'd expect - way too pale. I asked if there were 3 espresso shots in the drink which she confirmed.

When I tasted it there was hardly any flavor or aroma of coffee. If there were three shots in that pale, tasteless drink she must have used grounds for a single.

I obtained a refund after complaining that this location seemed to get a lot of my orders wrong. The refund was offered with the advice that I should try somewhere else if I wasn't happy with what I received frim 4th Avenue Think. Sorry, bad form. When I said "you're telling me to go somewhere else?" she just kept repeating to me "have a blessed day" as I walked out...

I used to suffer when I was in the US because, until a few years ago, the only place where you could find espresso was Starbucks and Starbucks coffee sucks... Now you can find espresso pretty much everywhere. And... it turns out I've started enjoying American coffee... 🤷 One of the first places where we had coffee during our stay is Think Coffee. There, I did have an espresso which was quite strong and I really appreciated the atmosphere, the fact that we could borrow books from the coffee shop, and the fact that coffee is served in a real cup instead of a paper cup. We also saw they sold very nice pastries so, on our last day, we went there to buy some to go and had breakfast at Central Park on our bench. We shared a couple of muffins and a mango doughnut (we actually bought another muffin that we had later). The pastries are big. Their taste was kind of disappointing, though, kind of weak. Even the mango doughnut, which should have had a strong taste because of the mango, was so-so and almost dry. The price was standard for NYC: about $20 for the 4 pastries / $12 for 3 hot drinks. So coffee 👍, pastries 👎

Quality & taste: 5/10 Quantities: 8/10 Atmosphere: 9/10 Originality: 7/10 Ratio price / quality: 6/10 Service: n/a How I felt afterwards: 5/10

More on IG...

Modern, spacious, and busy! Laptop warriors primarily flock to this 4th avenue location of the NYC chain. Also a great spot for anyone to sit and have a chat. The bench at the back gives hints of the back row of laptop workers from ‘Pause Cafe’ in East Village. Probably more than 75% of the cafe was glued to a laptop. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is a thing associated with this spot. I’d imagine when someone starts a new cafe this isn’t their vision. Ownership could consider adding laptop criteria (e.g, time limits, different days of week) to help alter the vibe at times. The drip coffee was solid, but nothing special. A blend of South America beans resulting in a medium/dark roast. It’s below a Slate Cafe drip coffee, and other beans. The bean bag branding is vibrant, though! Other amenities: bathroom, many seats (most may be filled), and a few outdoor seats for when it’s nice outside. Drip coffee score: 3/5. Everything else score: 4/5....