Starbucks just renovated their SoHo location on Spring at Crosby. This is basically their NYC flagship location, or at least their lower Manhattan flagship, so it's a bit of a big deal given Starbucks' desire (need?) to innovate. More importantly it's the first and only NYC location to have a Clover machine. Starbucks bought Clover just about two years ago and has already rolled out the machines in Seattle, Boston, Miami, and San Francisco.

Caveat- I'm not a huge Starbucks fan. I don't have any problems with the franchise, it's just that there are a lot of great places to get coffee in NYC and I tend to opt for the variety of neighborhood locations over the consistency offered by Starbucks. I've had Clover coffees before, at Gimme, Grumpy, and others. I still regularly have it at Kaffe 1668, who is one of the few locations to still use them.

The Store The newly renovated Starbucks location looks great. The old one was your typical Starbucks--nice enough but with serious signs of wear from constant high traffic. The new setup is nicer than the old one ever was--there is a lot of reclaimed-looking rough-hewn hardwoods, iron furniture, leather stools, and even the stands (that hold stuff you can buy) look nice. There is a lot of seating--both tables and stools--and a much more efficient use of space. This store doesn't have the overstuffed (read: gross) furniture found in other stores. The bar is much better than in other locations. It's lower so you can see what is going on with your drink and the signage and layout are both improved. Everything looks much friendly, less corporate. We'll see how it handles traffic though, I was there are about 8:15a Saturday morning (not exactly prime time). The employees were insanely nice. I think these might have been a corporate training staff (or at least one of them was) because the person that rang me up was very excited that I ordered a Clover. She also knew the other Clover locations right off the top of her head. She was fast, friendly, and professional, leaving no doubt that she really wanted me to enjoy my $3.40 cup of coffee. The person that made my coffee seemed to operate the Clover well enough, still with some hesitancy, but with a good understanding of the process. The Coffee I think Starbucks' Clover-brewed is a pretty good cup of coffee. I got the Kona, which I don't drink much of, but I did enjoy it. After ordering I walked over to the Clover area and watched the barista weigh and then grind my coffee. He then started brewing it in the Clover, talking to me about the process. Maybe he wasn't as knowledge about it as someone at Cafe Kaffe 1668 but he clearly had been trained on operating the Clover well enough to make a coffee with very little wasted time. I'd say that Starbucks was able to have the coffee taste somewhat like a what we expect from the franchise but it's definitely a Clover. It had lots of flavor and great clarity. There were hints of sweetness and less bitterness than typical Starbucks. As is typical with the Clover you get that clarity but you lose body as well as some of the grit and oils of a french press. I'm not sure if Starbucks will be able to dial in their Clovers as often as a small coffee shop, but this one seemed right where they wanted it to be--delivering Starbucks tasting coffee while giving customers something different than Starbucks' normal drip offerings. The Spring and Crosby location is definitely the nicest Starbucks I've ever been to. I can't say that I'll be going to it often (not with Balthazar right there, as well as Gimme and newcomer Village Tart nearby) but I'd take it over any other Starbucks location in the city and I'll keep it in mind for when, if ever, I'm dying for a cup of Clover-brewed.

Here it is- a tour of NYC's finest coffee establishments. No it's not by me (I wish I had the patience to collect my thoughts on the matter) but I just stumbled on a great virtual tour collected over at Man Seeking Coffee. In this case, I'm just the curator. I'll be reading through most of his blog this week, and I thought some of the posts were too good not too link to. Additionally I've been meaning to put something together along these lines,  and these select posts do the jobs nicely. It's also interesting that these articles are from a non-New York's perspective so he doesn't have the issues that locals might encounter (favoring places within walking distance of your apartment/place of work, preferring certain baristas, skipping certain locations because you don't hang out in that area, etc). Finally, I agree with a lot of what he has to say, otherwise I would just make my own list without the links... MSC's reviews of my favorite spots:

• Abraço Espresso - Amazing place. My go-to place for espresso and pour-over drip coffee. Also has good food and cortados. As MSC points out, it's small and often very busy.
• Gimme Coffee - I'm a big fan of the Mott Street location. My favorite spot in Soho/NoLiTa.
• Ninth Street Espresso - Their cafe at 9th and C was the first coffee place in NYC that I really loved. They've expanded since then, but they still do a great job.
• Cafe Grumpy - I haven't been to the Brooklyn location yet, but the one in Chelsea is excellent. Definitely the best in the neighborhood.

MSC's reviews of Sal-approved spots (all are good-to-very good):

• La Colombe (Church Street) - A nice spot, though a bit out of the way. A good place to stop for a macchiato. They have a new Soho location though, so I probably won't make it down here too much any more.
• Kaffe 1668 - An up-and-coming spot that I've been to only a few times. Has potential to be one of NYC's best, despite the less-than-ideal location. They have WiFi, two Clovers, and two beautiful Synesso Cyncra espresso machines.
• Joe the Art of Coffee - I like the Waverly location, though it's insane on the weekends. Always has top-notch pastries.

MSC's reviews of solid NYC spots not my picks though (OK-to-good places that I like, but won't go out of my way to stop at):

• Think Coffee - A good spot, but it tends to be overrated. The Mercer street location is deep in the heart of NYU.
• Everyman Espresso - An awkward space, but the espresso is pretty good.
• Mudd Coffee - Good stuff, but not my favorite. The truck can be very convenient if you are in the area.

Notable, and could be very good, but I need to research more:

• Grey Dog
• Jack's Stir Brew
• OST Cafe
• Blue Spoon - New and not open on Sundays. I'm thinking it will be good, but no Kaffe 1668.
• National Cafe and Espresso Bar - just opened on Rivington next to Freeman's Alley. I went once and had a great time. Barista is super cool and the espressos were solid.
• El Beit
• Simon Sips - I've only been once, but I had a good experience. I got a deal on some Counter Culture coffee beans too.

Ones MSC skipped that come to mind (I am sure that I'm leaving some out). Not particularly notable:

• Aroma Coffee -  on Houston St.
• Porto Rico Roasters in Essex Street Market
• Oren's
• Bean's - in the East Village

Somewhere there is a cartographer crying over this... New York City is generally easy to navigate, thanks to a grid of streets and avenues in most of the city. The grid uses numbers and a few simple rules in order to make it easy to figure out where you are, but in parts of the city, especially downtown and the east/west sides the numbers are not always used. This means even New Yorkers get turned around when, say, visiting the West Village. Things get really interesting though when you have to visit part of the gridded area, but get thrown a curve ball. A good example is pictured above, where 12th Avenue and 11th Avenue each become the West Side Highway, and just for good measure it's called the Joe DiMaggio Highway as well. You rarely hear the highway referred to as 12th Avenue and then, for us downtowners, it's sometimes labeled as 10th Avenue below 14th St. or so. Anyway, just a bit of trivial for the map fans out there...

Last night was the first meetup for the New Work City coworking group. If you are not up on the whole coworking idea, basically a few people are trying to rent out shared office space so that different NYC-based freelancers can have a place to work. This space would be affordable and designed so that you are not isolated from the other people at the office. You are not necessarily working together on things, but you are surrounded by people who you (ideally) would be able to talk to about ideas, network with, ask for help, and maybe grab a beer with after work. Right now the idea is in it's early stages- they are still trying to find a space (there are some great candidates), figure out what people are looking for, and the big hurdle is finding enough people to ensure that the space will be able to pay for itself. Obviously office space in midtown Manhattan (the proposed area is between 34th Street and 14th Street, between 5th and 8th Ave.) is expensive, plus taking on a lease requires considerable money down as well as serious risk (or at least the potential of risk) for whoever signs it. Anyway, there are tons of details and serious hurdles to the project, but it's a great idea, and something Manhattan could definitely use. Right now they are looking for people to step up and commit so they will have some assurance that the numbers will add up by the projected June 1 move-in date. One of the organizers, Tony Bacigalupo, sent out an email to everyone, giving some more information if they have not been following the coworking scene. Here are some excerpts:

1. What you can do now As we discussed in the meeting, the best thing everyone can do to help at this point is spread the word. We need to hit a critical mass of interest in order to be able to get the space open, and I know that the interest is out there. So if you know anyone or any resources you can tap to reach people who'd be interested in New Work City, send them our way! We're working on the letters of commitment we discussed last night. We'll keep you posted on that. This will be the most important; if we can get enough people to demonstrate their commitment to the space, we'll be in great shape. 2. Links * Jelly - Casual coworking in someone's living room, once every Friday or so. http://jellynyc.pbwiki.com/JellyBrooklyn2008-4-18 http://jellynyc.pbwiki.com/JellyBrooklyn2008-4-25 * CooperBricolage - Cafe-based coworking community based in Gramstand in the East Village. You can show up anytime; there will be people there, some of whom are in the community and some who aren't (we're working on better identifying who's who...stay tuned on that) If you use Twitter, you can follow CooperBricolage here: @coobric You can also see who's broadcasted when they're going to be at CooBric here: http://cooperbricolage.pbwiki.com/cooperBricolage+Signin+List * Williamsburg Coworking at The Change You Want To See - A membership-based coworking space in Williamsburg. If you live in the general vicinity or are looking for a creative coworking community to join right now, you should check it out! Photos of the "Balcony" space we looked at last night, this is the space we currently are hoping to get.

So it's a great concept, and some people are really into it, but it (as always) comes down to the money. For $500 a month (the price of a full-time desk) you can't get your own office but you could continue to work from hope and from coffee shops (most of which have free WiFi and don't mind computer users camping out). Additionally, that $500 monthly could probably get you an extra bedroom in your apartment if you don't mind the working-from-home thing. You'd lose out on the dedicated work space, conference room, office atmosphere, and camaraderie of your coworking peers, but it's not an easy call. Anyway, I've been looking into coworking for a long time and this is the first one in Manhattan that is worth considering. If you are the type of person that absolutely can't work from home then it could be an amazing opportunity but if you are used to the pleasures/pitfalls of being a home-based web worker then it's about balancing the benefits of working around (and potentially with) some very cool people with the fact that you are paying to commute. I'm weighing my options and strongly considering it. I like to keep business expenses to a minimum when possible, but the thought of working around other people is intriguing. I'm not sure that I am interested in getting into midtown every day (maybe 20 minutes each way), but I am definitely not about to rule it out.