Joe Coffee Closes on Lex, while Winfield St. Going Strong at Q Line Stops

By: Our Town- The Local Paper for the Upper East Side

Breno Donatti, made Winfield Street Coffee’s first foray into Manhattan early last spring with two specialty coffee cafes within subway stations on the new Q line on the UES, giving him 11 locations in three states. Now he he hopes to bring his specialty blends to more Manhattan subway stops. The popular Joe Coffee Company, which has 20 outlets across the metro region, said it was forced to close its Lexington Av. shop.--but hopes to re-open on the UES in the future.

Baristas behind the counter at the Winfield Street Coffee shop in the Q train station offer a special blend of Brazilain coffee to customers.
Photo: Zachary Web

It’s a mixed bag for coffee lovers on the Upper East Side as two companies offering specialty blends forge their own identity against the big coffee chains.

Winfield Street Coffee, which started in tony Westport, CN, is drawing lines of early morning commuters for its specialty Brazilian blend at two Q train stops on 72nd and 86th St. Its founder, Breno Donatti now has 11 shops across three states and says he hopes to add other subway station shops in Manhattan in the future and may even franchise the shops down the road.

But the loss of a lease appears to have scuttled the sole UES outlet for another popular coffee specialist, Joe Coffee Company, which started on Waverly Place and Gay Street in 2003 and had brought its own unique brew to the UES for a dozen years. As it grew, the family run company attracted investment from Enlightened Hospitality Group, which is affiliated with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. Shortly before Christmas, Joe Coffee announced it was closing its sole shop on the UES on Lexington Ave. between 74th and 75th St. The company founded by Jonathan Rubinstein, has about 20 outlets across the metro area including six other outlets in Manhattan at 405 W. 23rd St.; 9 E. 13th St.; 55 W. 40th St,, 131 W. 21st St, Columbus and 85th St. and 141 Waverly Place. But no longer on the UES

”It’s with a heavy heart we share that our lease has come to an end and we’ve closed our shop on Lexington Avenue,” Joe Coffee Company wrote on its Instagram page on Dec. 22, news that was first posted on UES Patch. “It’s truly been a pleasure to be part of this community and we’ve been touched by the kind words and memories many of you have shared with us.”

At Winfield St. Coffee on any given weekday, about a dozen New Yorkers stand in line and get their first cup of the day at the stand on 72nd St.

“It’s always like, ‘I can’t miss the train!,” barista Aidan Amaro says on a recent Monday afternoon.

Along with about seven other baristas, Amaro not only pours coffee but all kinds of drinks such as espresso, cortadito, cortado, cappuccino, latte, mocha and even a peanut butter mocha. He and his fellow baristas, who are a young and amiable bunch, also offer cookies and brownies from Salt of the Earth Bakery and pastries from Pastries Unlimited. Winfield also brews a Pumpkin Spice Latte, a Hazelnut Chai Latte and even a Snickerdoodle Latte.

Winfield was established by Breno Donatti, a thirty-four-year-old native of Florianópolis, Brazil, immigrated to the US at 18. Speaking no English, he worked as a dishwasher at a Connecticut pizza parlor. He worked in a number of from a dishwasher, to a barista, to an oyster chef, before he became the owner of his own place.

He said he developed a passion for coffee. “We can still have excellence, but there’s a great casual aspect to it,” he says of coffee culture.

He got his first taste of ownership eleven years ago when he bought a deli in Westport, CN. “It was Winfield Delicatessen. I turned it into a coffee shop Winfield Street Coffee. “Then the Croton-Harmon station came up as a bid option [from Metro-North], I opened that and, after a couple of years of running Croton, the MTA told me about the opportunity in the Q line where they were thinking of making those newsstands a wet-use so we made a proposal for them that they liked because they are very unique operations. So we were approved, we’re there, we’re probably expanding more on the Q line, going down to Herald Square and all that.”

“We have an incredible roaster that loves roasting coffee,” said Donatti. “That’s one of the things that definitely sets us apart. I know there are a lot of great roasters in New York City, but we do like to do single-origin coffee so our main coffee is from Brazil, from this farm that we have a relationship with. We did just launch a winter special called Winter Wonderland, and it’s a single-origin Colombian. So that’s one of the things...Our mission statement is: Warm Smile, Excellent Coffee and Creative Food.

”The warm smile is first because we always approach everything as customer-based, customer-centered so our staff, a lot of the times, haven’t worked in the coffee industry but they just have a love for people and a love for serving people. And that’s the first thing we look for,” he said.

Breno Donatti, came to the US from Brazil at age 18 speaking no English and worked as a dishwasher in a pizza place. Now he is the owner of special coffee shop Winfield Street Coffee that has two locations in Manhattan and is looking to add more.

With its neon sign of “but first coffee” on the leafy backwall and its tropical feel, the 72nd Street stall is particularly welcoming.

Not unlike at Oslo Coffee on E. 75th Street between 1st Ave. and York Ave. or La Colombe on Prince Street in Soho, the atmosphere is warm and a place where youths come together and sip coffee. It’s where the cool kids and the book nerds both sit and talk about everything, from current events to the latest hip-hop on the scene.

First, however, comes the coffee. Amaro, a genial young man who studies accounting when he’s not brewing beans, estimates that he serves at least a hundred cups of coffee every day. Unlike the big chains, Starbucks and Dunkin’, Winfield offers only one blend sourced from a group of farmers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The coffee has a “large creamy mouth feel,” as its tasting notes say, and has dark chocolate, almond butter and brown sugar notes.

But you don’t have to be a coffee snob to enjoy Winfield’s blend. Like Dunkin’, it goes down easy. Unlike Dunkin’, it’s rich, warm and hardly watery. And, from 3pm to 5pm at least once a week, a patron can buy it fifty percent off.

Donatti is just getting started. “We do plan on opening up the brand for people who like it,” he says of potential plans to make Winfield a franchise.

For now, though, as Amaro and the boys keep brewing, Winfield will fuel the sleepless city.

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