The $4 lattè and urban change
What is the role of specialty coffee in gentrification?
In searching for the answer to this question, I visited specialty coffee shops that have opened in the past two years. I was attempting to uncover how specialty coffee is either divisive or inclusive within the community. The neighborhoods of Bushwick, Hunts Point, and Bay Ridge provide three different contexts in which to examine the role of specialty coffee.
The prices for a small (12oz) coffee and latte at each of these places conveys the income level of its clientele. For comparison, a 12oz coffee at Starbucks in New York City is $2.12, and a 12oz latte is $3.76. Starbucks is often seen as the herald of gentrification, and other specialty coffee shops may also be perceived as red flags.
How are each of these specialty coffee shops contributing to gentrification by creating a culture of wealth and luxury consumption?
How are they doing the opposite?
Supercrown Coffee Roasters, Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Small coffee: $2.50. Small latte: $4.50.
Supercrown is a micro roaster and specialty coffee shop located on Wilson Avenue and Flushing Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn. It is a very high-end spot that roasts its own coffee on the premises. It opened in January 2016.
The barista I spoke to had been with the company since it opened. He mentioned that Supercrown is busy on the weekends, because Bushwick is “a brunch neighborhood.”
I wanted to know how he thought Supercrown was building community within the neighborhood.
I asked, Working at a coffee shop, I feel like there’s a community in the store between the baristas and the customers. What would you say your experience is with that here?
“It’s taken awhile, but we have regulars now. I’ve noticed a lot more tourism in this neighborhood. I never thought Bushwick would be a place to come check out if you’re not from here. It’s obviously in the middle of a gentrification wave.”
How would you define the customer base?
“Well, definitely everybody, but the people that live in the neighborhood are late 20—well, there are families here, but early 20s to 30s is the average person that comes in.”
Later on, he said: “There’s a mix of people who have been in this neighborhood for probably a couple decades, like families. Then there’s a lot of young people like us that are filling up the neighborhood and… they like coffee.”
In other words, people who can afford it. Throughout our conversation he never mentioned anything to do with class or ethnicity, which are both deeply tied to issues surrounding gentrification. The fact that Bushwick is a historically Latino neighborhood was never brought up.
“I think people are intimidated by specialty coffee because they see it as a “hipster” thing. I don’t really — I don’t know — when did coffee ever be — I don’t even know what that word means.”
What are your thoughts on that, on people seeing specialty coffee as bourgeois?
“There’s two sides of it: people who are used to spending like a dollar fifty at Dunkin’ Donuts, they’re like, ‘why would they spend more money on coffee?’ So they think it’s fancy stuff, when in fact the farmers in those countries are spending so much time and care. So if we’re paying for it everyone can have good coffee. Still, some people are like, “why would I do that, it’s too expensive.”
Supercrown is an innovative place serving excellent coffee. However, that excellence comes at a price that may be out of reach for many of the neighborhood’s residents.
Trans Am Cafe, Ridgewood, Queens.
Small coffee: $2. Small latte: $4
Trans Am is a cafe that partners with the venue Trans Pecos, which shares the space. Trans Pecos has been here for several years, but the cafe opened in December 2014. They serve espresso drinks and vegetarian and vegan food. It is a friendly spot, but I have only noticed one demographic of people at Trans Am.
I talked to Jeremy, a barista at Trans Am who has been a part of the cafe since it began in the back of a bike shop in Fort Greene.
What would you say your customer base looks like?
“It’s a pretty solid mix of young people that have moved here recently, but also people who have been in the neighborhood for a long time who haven’t really had a place to get coffee and sandwiches around.”
Vegan sandwiches and espresso, maybe. There are plenty of corner stores in the area around Trans Am where anyone can get both sandwiches and coffee at a much lower price.
“We’re trying to be an open space and be nice to everybody. It’s a simple thing, I guess, but a lot of cafes are pretty pretentious in some ways.
“Getting somebody coffee can turn into being friends or helping somebody move. Or just do whatever trading of services or humanity… it’s nice.”
Trans Am is a great spot for a low-key coffee and snack, for sure. However, with an all-white staff in a majority Puerto Rican/Dominican/Mexican neighborhood, how inclusive could they be? Perhaps this type of cafe and venue is a setting that belongs to a particular cultural group more than others.
Bookkeepers, Bed-Stuy/Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Small coffee: $2. Small latte: $4.
This small cafe is owned by the people who run Norbert’s Pizza next door. They operate out of the Liberty Tax storefront. In addition to coffee, tea, and espresso drinks, they sell vintage clothes and records. Bookkeepers opened in July 2016.
I talked to Catherine, a barista at Bookkeepers.
What does your customer base look like?
“It could be presumed that our customers are hipster youth, but everyone comes in here. The guys on the corners here will look for stuff and sell it to us.”
It did seem like all kinds of people went into Bookkeepers or browsed their merchandise outside. I noticed this frequently, having walked past Bookkeepers every day on my way to the train.
“We want this place to be priced like the other places in the neighborhood. We’re trying to be a part of the community. Brooklyn’s a melting pot of different identities and we’re just one aspect of that.”
Catherine seemed to be aware of the paradigm of specialty cafes being seen as symbols of gentrification. I wanted to know what her general thoughts were on the changes in the neighborhood.
“It’s not a black and white issue. I work with people who are from here and I’ve asked them, “what do you think?” and most people who grew up here say they like it. In 2007 I was dating a guy who lived down the street from here. I remember it was sort of a food desert. You couldn’t get anything to eat besides bodega food, and there was no fresh food.
“There’s benefits to the gentrification of the neighborhood. Now there’s lots of grocery stores. It’s safer. But the neighborhood’s changing, and some people are getting priced out of their living situation where they’ve been living for generations. People are not feeling at home.”
Catherine was more open to talking about these problems than any of the other baristas. It demonstrated the awareness that she and others at Bookkeepers had for their store’s role in the neighborhood.
“I was much more critical of gentrification before I moved here. Now I’m like, if this person lives here and they don’t have a problem with it, who am I to be some sort of white savior and come in and… it’s fucked up. And I’m contributing to it. It’s complicated.”
The people at Bookkeepers are attempting to be integrated into the street and the community without being imposing. Norbert’s Pizza is an established place in the neighborhood, and it follows that Bookkeepers would fit in well, but business can be slow and it is not clear if the store will last.
Birch Coffee, powered by StartUp Box, in Hunts Point, Bronx.
Small coffee: $1.75. Small latte: $3.25
Birch Coffee is a roaster and cafe that has several locations in Manhattan and Queens. This location is financed and supported by the Hunts Point-based organization StartUp Box, which is run by Majora Carter and her husband James Chase. It opened in May 2016.
I spoke to James Chase, and I asked him why Birch Coffee opened a location here, considering it does not seem as profitable compared to the Manhattan stores.
“Everything we do is based on talent retention and keeping people here, and while they’re here making people feel as good as possible. You want to have everyone feel like a team. Here, that did not exist. When we started doing exit interviews with people who were leaving, they consistently cited what we refer to as “third spaces” — not home and not work.”
A third space is a place where social interaction or relaxation takes place away from home or work. It’s the ‘play’ part of the live, work, play lifestyle. The coffee shop is a third space.
“The other cool thing about high end coffee is that in Latino culture coffee’s a really big thing. I‘m amazed at how young some of these Puerto Rican kids are drinking coffee. The ones that we’ve hired from the local community here get connected to what they’re doing at Birch.”
If there is a coffee culture here, how do you bring specialty coffee to everyone? What does your customer base look like?
“This is only 4 and a half months old so we’re still learning. We saw so much of the Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts in the garbage that we knew the market was already here. It was just a matter of the location in a new place where people aren’t expecting it, where it fits their schedule on their walk to work or whatever it is.”
I asked James what he thought about specialty coffee being perceived as intimidating and how cafes may be a bit pretentious.
“Some people will come to the door and they’ll peek their head in, but they won’t come in, because of the quality of the space. It’s not something they’re accustomed to seeing. As for the drinks, most people know what espresso is, and if they don’t I show them the little cup. Then, going down the list of fancy Italian names, I’ll explain that each one is just more milk. And they get that, so it’s not as intimidating.”
Birch Coffee may appear to be a sign of gentrification in Hunts Point. Addressing this, James explained how locally owned businesses are markers of a community that retains wealth. Birch is financed in part by local investors as well as by the company itself.
“The reason why some communities don’t excel economically is because their money goes out the door to those check cashing places, it goes to the deli, and it goes back to the Middle East or wherever. So we decided to invest in this and we got some local families and homeowners to put in some money.
“Part of the reason these “undiscovered” neighborhoods get discovered is because all the people who should have been developing and investing left. Usually then an avalanche of white people descend on it because it’s a bargain.”
“When you ask college-bound or college graduates from this area what is in their ideal neighborhood, they say this place. They want the coffee shop, the restaurant.”
James Chase believes that by partnering with Birch, StartUp Box is bringing an important amenity to the community that will benefit the neighborhood. While it is easy to be skeptical that Birch Coffee is going to immediately improve quality of life in Hunts Point, the store does seem to provide specialty coffee to the community in an unpretentious and inclusive way.
The Coop, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Small coffee: $2.15. Small latte: $3.50.
This family-friendly cafe serves cold draft lattes, the only place in the city who has done this so far. While they serve high-end coffee from La Colombe, The Coop is a warm and welcoming environment for families and kids as well as young people. The diversity of the customers surprised me when I visited The Coop. It opened in June 2016.
I talked to a young, passionate barista at The Coop about what she thinks the role of specialty cafes is in a neighborhood.
“Coffee shops bring people together. This place brings community together from different areas from around the neighborhood. So it belongs to the people who live in the neighborhood, and for coffee fanatics. There are so many coffee shops and you see different environments in all shops. Every coffee shop has its own mood.”
Going off of her point about the ‘mood’ of a coffee shop, I asked, what does your customer base at The Coop look like?
“Here, it’s more for families and kids. At the Cocoa Grinder [another cafe that recently opened in Bay Ridge] more young people go over there. What matters a lot is the environment of the coffee shop, and how they portray themselves to everyone in the community. Like, whether they care about the physical appearance. Some places are dark and shady. Not here.
“Customer service is very important. If customers hear great things, they’ll come. I think it’s for everybody. Elderly seniors, a middle aged person, a college or high school student. Here we even have a playground for children.”
This barista explained to me that she knew a lot about coffee, and many people didn’t, and that part of her job was explaining it to people.
“Coffee shops are the greater good in the future. Here we have great coffee. We have great baristas too, and it’s good to see people who are so passionate. Most people don’t know their coffee. A lot of people don’t know anything about it when they come in here or to other places.”
It could be very easy to interpret this as being a ‘coffee attitude,’ as some of the other baristas I interviewed were trying to avoid. However, the vibe at The Coop was warm and friendly, and when I asked stupid questions about their draft lattes — is it cold brew? wouldn’t the espresso go bad? does it have nitrogen or something? — the baristas explained helpfully how they were made without making me feel dumb or annoying.
Due to its inviting atmosphere and diverse customer base, The Coop exemplifies how specialty coffee shops can foster community rather than exclusivity. This may be the result of its location in an affluent neighborhood in which many people can afford $4 lattes. However, the Cocoa Grinder, a few blocks down 4th Avenue, has a different clientele, as the barista I spoke with mentioned. What matters is creating a space that is inclusive and democratic, as the people at The Coop have done.
“Bay Ridge is changing. I wouldn’t say it’s getting better, or worse, but what is happening is generally good.”
Each of the stores I visited is participating in a process of urban change. They are all bringing what is perceived as a high-end, specialty product to their neighborhoods. The goal of each place is to make a profit by selling their coffee to people that have the money to buy it. Every coffee shop functions as a third space, providing a home away from home for the residents of the neighborhood.
However, specialty coffee is a luxury product in many ways, and often not everyone in the neighborhood can afford to buy it. As a result, the specialty coffee shop can build a community within a community, exclusive to the young and affluent. I found that while this is sometimes true, some cafes are more welcoming and accessible to the residents of the community. This is the result of the efforts of the owners and staff, but it’s also about the context of the neighborhood. If there is a coffee culture in a place already, or the longtime residents can afford specialty coffee, the customer base is already there.
The role of specialty coffee in gentrification depends upon the intent of the owners and the context of the place. By catering to only the wealthy or hip in a rapidly changing, historically poor neighborhood, shops are constructing the idea that the best coffee only belongs to the rich and white.
