Best Coffee Ever: Gimme Coffee

I’m not usually that impressed when someone receives a “Best of” award. The ones given out here in Boston include hundreds of categories, such as the illustrious Best Jewelry, Classic, West; and who can forget the inimitable Best Men’s Clothing Store on the Cape. This is Economics 101: given a fixed demand for “Best of” reviews, the more the supply, the lower the value of each award.

The science I’m about to drop here comes in the form of one award in one category for my entire life. It’s the Cameron Marlow lifetime achievement award for best coffee ever consumed. And the award goes to … Gimme Coffee! Located under the bright red awning at 495 Lorimer in Brooklyn, this spartan shop contains an espresso machine, a few tables and little else. But the coffee they make there is unsurpassed in my existence. Each cup is made by a small staff that (not surprising for Williamsburg) takes the art of coffee-making very seriously.

beautiful cup of coffee
Gimme Coffee’s average cup of joe

This cup of coffee has forced countless trips to Williamsburg and rerouted my New York entrance/exit route to always include a segment along the BQE. If you go there, there aren’t many options: large/small, filter/espresso/cappuccino/latte. I recommend a large latte (pictured above). The espresso is brewed in a machine that appears to have been bred with a motorcycle:

mad espresso machine
Gimme Coffee Machine

Manufactured by Kees van der Western of Holland, self-titled espressonist, this machine pours out the darkest, richest espresso I have ever tasted. It’s worth the trip to Brooklyn, no joke.

January 20, 2005 #
4 comments

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4 Comments

  1. Justin Marlow
    Posted January 21, 2005 at 11:08 pm | Permalink

    I rode one of those all the way to Sturgis one year.

  2. ayman
    Posted February 21, 2005 at 2:18 pm | Permalink

    Ahh! Coffee! Intelligencia in Chicago brews a similar cup with the leaf in the foam if you ever make it out here again. :)

  3. Bill
    Posted June 28, 2005 at 10:10 am | Permalink

    Please! Gimme a break! I’ve had espresso all over the world: Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Seattle, Miami, etc., and I can tell you that Gimme makes the worst espresso (ristretto) I’ve ever tasted. Pity the espresso virgin who experiences their first at Gimme! They’ll never try another and spend the rest of their life wallowing in weak American coffee taken with cream and sugar, or worse yet, in flavored coffee.

    Here in Ithaca NY, world HQ of the Gimme! franchise, those of us who truly enjoy a demitasse of good espresso refer to it as “Gimmick! Coffee”.
    But hey, Gimme! is a Starbucks in the making.

  4. bob
    Posted March 5, 2007 at 8:35 am | Permalink

    Be sure to check out this resource in the coming months - the “best of the best of” site, will have information even the most critical of coffee critics could consume.

    Information about the Best Coffee Ever

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