Variety Coffee Roasters — Restaurant in New York

This review is about sustainability only! 🙂

I so appreciate that you do indeed offer real, ceramic and glass cups for people to enjoy when they have their beverages in house at variety.

But it seems that the majority of your customers who are working from or meeting friends here either don’t know about the reusable and sustainable option, or are choosing not to go with it.

It is a true shame to see so much single-use plastic waste created in mere hours every single day by folks who could otherwise enjoy their coffees without making needless trash.

Perhaps you could encourage your baristas to ask very clarifying questions when people are placing their order, like if they will be enjoying their drink for here. Perhaps you could also put a sign up at the bar, letting people know that the option for a real mug is available. Perhaps you could incentivize that customers bring their own mugs for a small discount, or a feature on your social media. All would be excellent alternatives to the giant mass of plastic trash that comes out of this café each day.

As hopefully most of us know by now, the ocean will be filled with more plastic than fish by 2050. 95% of the plastics that we produce and use are not recycled, but rather head to the landfill, off to our oceans, or get burned in an incinerator. We consume these plastics—which are made from fossil fuels—as micro plastics that are brimming with chemicals and toxins.

It is up to both the purveyor and the customer to do good by our planet, and my hope is that you can better serve our beautiful waterfront neighborhood and city by helping us to create less plastic waste.

Thank you for considering these suggestions! Love your coffee, love your ambiance, but think with some clear communication about sustainable options, you could really knock it out...

It was my first time walking in to this coffee shop with my family including my newborn. We barely got past the front door and asked if they were still open when she rudely said I guess yea while rolling her eyes as she looked at the time on her cashier screen. I realized she was closing and she said JUST come in you already walked on the floor be careful. I guess she just also finished mopping. She repeated for us to just walk in and I said no it’s ok thank you (even though by that point she was already showing how she really felt so why would I ? ) and while we were leaving she decided to mumble something as I was by the door. That’s what made me write this review. I opened the door again and asked her to repeat herself and she didn’t bother to look up again clearly knowing she was in the wrong. I wanted to give her a piece of my mind but decided to leave it here instead as I wouldn’t want this to happen to another customer. I completely understand being frustrated to have a customer walking in last minute while closing. However theirs ways to communicate this without having to treat others in the manner that she did which was beyond rude. Needless to say I won’t be going back there ever again but I hope the owners of this location are aware the type of worker they have behind the counter.

BTW this happened on Sunday May 18...

I always enjoy coming here to get a cup Americano coffee. I enjoy this place as the employees that work there are always so pleasant and helpful. I usually purchase a bag of coffee, to send to my Friends out of state.On my visit two weeks ago, I purchased a three pack of mini coffees from Variety,a perfect gift for a friend of mine. I also purchased a box of the Road House Whole Bean Coffee for Myself. A major reason why I love to go to Variety Coffee, is to sit inside the Coffee Shop, while I am drinking my coffee and just listen to the wonderful music that they have on Spotify, it's so smooth, relaxing,makes you feel like a new person. My last reason for always going to Variety Coffee is for the mere reason that the staff there is always so warm and friendly. On my previous visit I had a young Lady by the name of Astrid ringing up what I purchased. She was so pleasant and helpful,answered all my questions,had a great personality. It's employees like her that make me want to keep going back to Variety Coffee time...