Glass Shop

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

Since moving to Crown Heights six years ago, I’ve prayed to the coffee gods: Deliver me from this desert of burnt bodega java. The closest serviceable cup was at Park Slope’s Gorilla, a 25-minute trek that’s too far for my morning jolt. But this spring, my prayers were answered by Glass Shop (766 Classon Ave between St. Johns and Sterling Pls, Crown Heights, Brooklyn; no phone), a neighborhood coffeehouse the likes of which my neck of the borough had never seen. Owner Kathryn Weatherup, also the proprietor of an eponymous Prospect Heights cocktail bar, transformed an abandoned glass shop into a bright caffeination station. At the subway-tiled counter, a barista pulls potent espresso drinks made with beans from Philly cult roaster La Colombe Torrefaction. In the morning, I drag my sluggish body in for a midnight-dark Americano that props open my eyes like liquid toothpicks. Sometimes I swing by for lunch, pairing my brew with a ciabatta layered with smoked ham and rémoulade. Most often, I sit in a window seat and sip my crema-topped espresso, or clack on my computer at one of the newspaper-scattered communal tables. Still, I’m feverish for the coming months: The lush backyard garden should open this summer, and wine and microbrews may eventually join coffee on the menu. Once that happens, I may never make it home.—Joshua M. Bernstein

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