Roast #47: Home coffee bar

Date: Nov 03, 2025

Nobody should ever have 3 foldable steel tables in their nyc apartment

The "home coffee bar"-ish.

The format of this will idea be different from what we had last time, which was more of a gathering/hangout of many people with coffee (1 per person).

our "register" section

the back "brewing" section

This one will be more like a "coffee bar" with a prefixed menu.

We still need better lighting, one more set of metal shelving, and general re-organizing/decorating

Why:

I can make some monayz

This'd be a separate revenue stream, and would be a much, much higher-margin one. Going through one weekend of this would net us more than what we make for coffee clubs. So yeah -- it'd be nice to have an avenue in the business where we actually make some money. 🥲

It should be easy to run

Doing popups at cafes isn't easy. I have to physically visit the cafe to understand the space, re-dial my recipes against my mobile setup (1zp6), and just a ton of other little things. I just think it's easier if we can control the environment factor.

An example of things we bring for a cafe popup

I get to brew you all coffee

Being behind bar is a lot of fun.

PC: @_.haav

It's rewarding to get to see your emotions and reactions from trying our coffees. Plus, I get to practice my social skills. I feel I have the social skills of a rock these days.

Seems like a slower brewing experience is desired:

We ran something like this in March 2025, and the feedback for that was positive. Within the feedback, there was one consistent theme:

feedback from the prior homecafe event

It seems like there's interest in something that's more centered around the coffee, and an opportunity to try multiple coffees.

I share further below that I don't intend to have a script for this, but I feel given the smaller setting, I think discussion behind the brews will naturally happen.

How it'll work

The pricing will have a floor of $30 (ie, our 3x coffee club coffees). The way I see it, the three coffees would command at least $24 (assuming $8 per pourover) total if ordered as pourovers at cafes. Then the remaining difference is attributed to an hour of the barista's (me) time.

We'll likely start with four seats, and the session will likely run from start to finish in 45 to 50 minutes.

The menu will primarily revolve around pourovers, and we'll maybe insert a signature drink or espresso-based drink. This'll likely be something we introduce further down the line. But expect the "stars" of the menu to be the pourover selection.

To foster conversation and interaction, the pourovers will be split between 2 people. So you will be sharing 300mL with whoever you are sitting next to. But for any signature drinks or espresso-based drinks, each person will get their own.

maybe there's something fun we can do with this.

Service should be very simple. I'll brew the menu, talk a little about the coffees, and then see where the conversation goes.

What this isn't:

This isn't a coffee experience. I won't have a script, nor am I aiming to serve you the best coffee you'll ever have.

This is just a thing where I brew you coffee that I find interesting with a method that I enjoy and like (love the V60), and hangout/etc.

To share a bit more about my brewing style, I like punchy brews that have hints of body/texture while still expressing the coffee's nuances.

Some possible reasons to come check it out:

1. Want to try our coffee/support without the commitment of buying a bag of our beans
2. Want to try some non-coffee club coffee
3. You are a visiting NYC and want to say hi
4. Have something later to do in Williamsburg, and need to kill an hour over coffee

But even if none of the above apply to you, you are still welcome to come!

I share the above just to set expectations. I want everyone to leave feeling they got their money's worth ($30+ is a lot for coffee!) and would consider coming back again.

And I don't expect it to be packed. So it may just end up being a one-on-one conversation. 🥲

First session:

The first session will be the first or second weekend of November will likely be the 23rd or the 29th/30th.

I'll try and structure the menu to be:

1. a "fancy" coffee (ie finca deborah parabolic gesha)
2. a "fancy" coffee (ie juan pena natural gesha)
3. an espresso-based drink / a coffee club coffee? (ie yemen maghrib ans cortado)

For something like the above, it'd be higher in price ($40+).

There will be sessions where we primarily have coffee club coffees (old / new ones), and those would be cheaper.

But the menu likely will always be a balance between coffee club coffees, non-coffee club coffees, and other random drink ideas.

Questions:

How do I sign up?

So we'll be running this through our appointment system.

We'll first share to our coffee club subscribers, and then from there we'll take it to IG for public sign ups.

How often will you do this?

To start, I'm hoping at least 3 sessions per weekend for 2 weekends a month. So 6 sessions a month? We'll see how drained I am from this, socializing is hard.

Can I book all seats for me + my friends?

Yep. Just DM me and I can try to figure something out. Maybe I can give a discount for this too.

If I don't have to play host and intermingle groups, that'd makes things easier for me (I think?).

Aren't you afraid of letting strangers into your house?

Not really. If you've been to my home, you probably know that my home is more of a coffee/work studio than a home.

I also don't intend to spam this all over the internet, so I'm thinking that people who come by likely will be first node/second node connections.

Final thoughts:

Thank you to everyone who has asked about this/brought it up during in-person pickup conversations. Your interests helped reaffirm that this is something I should try.

If it doesn't work, that's cool too. :)