BY CAROLYN ONOFREY
Empire Coffee and Tea
568 9th Avenue
Hell’s Kitchen
212-268-1220/empirecoffeetea.com
Walking into Empire Coffee and Tea is like being engulfed in a delicious waterfall of coffee. The scent smacks you in the face as soon as you cross the threshold into the store, an aromatic candyland of coffee beans ranging from flavored blends like Kahlua Creme to more traditional breakfast blends to the $45.00/lb Jamaican Blue Mountain variety. With over 60 different beans and blends to choose from, you will not likely tire from trying each and every one of them.
Empire Coffee and Tea Storefront
Empire Coffee and Tea is a neighborhood spot, a place where the delightful staff knows all their customers by name and remembers the idiosyncricies of each individual’s cup. They grind all of their beans fresh every day to ensure a fresh and flavorful cup every time.
Empire also carries a wide variety of loose tea blends, expresso varieties and baked goods from locally made (in New Jersey), Chris’s Cookies.
Bean varieties at Empire
9th Avenue between 42nd and 34th streets often seems like a desolate area, run down and in need of an update. It reminds us of what Times Square was like before Giuliani took strides to clean it up. If you look hard enough though, past the homeless and the dilapidated you will be surprised to find quite a few diamonds in the rough, with Empire Coffee and Tea shining just a little brighter than the rest.
Don’t forget to check out their other location in Hoboken, NJ!
