summer is here. so are we.
June 10, 2010
what else dear brooklyners?
beautiful coffee
beautiful hands brewing it
fresh baked pastries
a place where we know your name or call you one anyways
all supporting a giant bathhouse small business committed to a wide diversity of activities, pulsing out an eclectic cultural current along fourth avenue, from private parties to public marketplaces and all kinds of performance inbetween.
so what else do you want in your morning cup or eventful nightcapv going to?
tell us. seriously.
we’re listerning with our caffeine piqued ears.
June 4, 2010
Summer’s Here, Come out and play
We have the Come out and Play festival happening this weekend…a whole lotta fun for those of us who wish we still had recess. Check out the games at www.comeoutandplay.org. With it we’ll sip our Flecha Roja Costa Rica direct trade brew and dream of brooklyn summer sunsets.
iced coffee. bendy straws. sandwiches to make you go searching for crumbs on your plate… and the best customers a cafe could have. How lucky can we be?
Come spend summer with us.
see you soon.
April 2, 2010
Thank you. We’re blushing.
A guest post from one of our lovely customers:
Every day, I walk past the Brooklyn Lyceum, a lovely venue that houses a cafe, has hosted movies, bands, birthday parties, the Brooklyn Blogfest, and used to be a swimming pool. Think ‘your local city pool’ meets the ‘kid-friendly movie and band venue’ meets ‘cool cafe’, right above a local subway station, and you’ve got a fair description of the place.
I used to see the quirky notes left on the blackboard out front, and think “Hmmmm”. I would notice people stopping in there, trotting up the stairs (rather than descending straight into the subway), and used to think ‘ahh…another day’. The thought that a stop to by a quick coffee on the way to work might cause me to miss my train, necessitating a full 2-minute wait for the next one, was a strange deterrent.
Then, a few months ago, a girl was standing outside, on the sidewalk, with a card table and a tray of sample-sized coffees to try.She had a lovely English accent, which made me feel a little homesick (even though I’m from Australia – so ‘Go Figure’ as you Americans would say) and was saying “You can’t beat the Intelligentsia”, which I thought was some kind of political statement against the academic community, before I realized it was the name of the cafe’s preferred brand of coffee. I fell for the card-table-laden-with-free-samples trick, stopped to try one, really liked it, and got chatting to the girl (who turned out to be called Heather).
Ever since, I detour up the stairs (whenever I am not in a TOTAL rush, or on the bike) for a chat and a coffee. It turns out that Dhira is the master of the blackboard, and I compliment her that her spelling or grammar is always spot-on. This is important to me, being an editor, and I absolutely could NOT buy coffee from someone who writes “Fresh Pie’s Today!” or “Whose a Thirsty Lad, Then?” on a public forum. I take my own travel mug, so the coffee costs me $1.50 rather than $2.50 for a large. Heather OFTEN reminds me what good value it is, bringing my own mug, and I’m not sure if she’s angling for a larger or more regular tip, or admiring my street smarts. I used to think that a morning coffee stop was an expensive habit, if you could just make one at home, but I thinking again…
Next justification: I arrive at work pre-charged, peaking at exactly the right time, ready to start working at full speed, without the need to go to the kitchen, make myself a coffee, chat to co-workers and browse through my email while waiting for my mind to fire up. Therefore, I estimate that this coffee buys me an extra HOUR of work time every day. I (or rather, my employer) should be paying THEM for the kick-start it gives me! (Hang on, I do pay them. Edit that: my boss should definitely be paying).
As you can tell, I am hooked, and love my most-days (except when I ride) chat with Heather (left, ex-BBC reporter) and Dhira (right, ex-sushi chef). Dhira makes wicked blackberry and apple tarts some days, which, if I weaken and buy one to go with my coffee, is usually finished while I wait on the platform, just before my train arrives. Sure, they thought my name was ‘Kate’ for a few months, and then they started to call me ‘Jen’, but now they are set straight (it’s ‘Jennifer’), and I love them. They even have their own cafe blog, so how neighborhoody is THAT!
Jennifer (not Jen, or Kate) the Australian Editor and Coffee Lover.
March 29, 2010
yay for collective joy at the good bean
this just sent from an amazing artist … I sent him some Intelly Kenya for Christmas that we had from the winter craft market and he wrote this:
Dhirah—Hah!!
Seems, I completely forgot to to thank Dhira for the precious gift of Kenya Gichathaini.
I dare say,
Ha! Hi-ho! Hooo-hoo!
this is the smoothest coffee I have ever drunk.
YOUZA!!!
You could say, I’ve been living on it.
(That an’ cigarettes.)
Yea-ho. Ding dong. Dinggg.
Brrrrrrtt Brrrrrrtt. Where was I? Oh. Kenya.
Those were the days, Mam, when I shot the legs out from (bang bang bang and BANG!) under the elephant!
Yessirree! That’s really good coffee. Yes! Yes!! Yesss!!!
There are no obstacles anymore. I can go up or down stairs in a single leap!
Watch this: Yip-yip-yip hoorahhhhhhhh…
(oh shit.)
Who needs sleep, now that we’ve discovered the cure for disease and death?
Eternally Yours
Jan
March 20, 2010
Dhira Come Home!
The grammar on our sandwich board is all sorts of proper, theres so much less illiteration in our lattes. Dhira, we miss you so. Yes, Jesse, Dwayne and Heather have done a great job holding up the fort in your absence, and heaven only knows how awesome I am, but Its simply not the same without you here (though big ups to Mr. Lavender for rocking the Glee soundtrack this week)
I miss the pigtails and the art and the fascinating life philosophies. DHIRA COME HOME.
We love you lots.
Oh ps apples are back, and Jesse…what in the name of all the HEAVENS is sparkling coffee??
March 8, 2010
poems for ‘fitty’
Introducing:
Poems for ‘Fitty
add a poem to your beverage for 50¢
Do you take your brew Blake, two sugars or Li Young Light? Need a bit of a Word’s Worth to send you on your way? a contemporary adage when the rainbow’s enuf? A haiku with your hojicha, a drop of Dickenson or Dylan, a cortado sip of william carlos williams?
It’s the Brooklyn Lyceum Cafe Fortune’s Cookie: a word’s worth.
Howl it out and take the road less traveled up our 4th avenue steps.
March 7, 2010
And The Winner Is!
…for best (consiousness) supporting Coffee:
OURS!!!
And for best performance by a Barista who has had less than two consecutive hours of sleep:
ME!
Whee!
We have Oscar coverage on all day long, and I will be running live commentary on everyone’s outfits as they walk in the door. I am wearing a dress by somewhere in Chinatown with stains by House Blend.
Come on in, Get one of our delicious Mighty Leaf teas on ICE (what??) predict your predictions, describe the weather for those of us who can only dream 
We also have a Salmony Dilly Lemony Sandwichy thing and ONE FUJI APPLE
That’s right! Limited time only! Act fast!
also Holy COW my cat is cute:
March 2, 2010
see you february, we’ve marched on
That shortest month is sure a long doozy.
Over here in the cafe we’ve suffered along with you with four weeks of snow and sludge, cold and seeing valentine’s red. Dull grays and cold mornings are enough to want to be jealous just to be green. Although sip by sip, this coffee has just gotten better and better.
Right now, I’m sipping on a small cup of Intelligentsia Direct Trade Papua New Guinea from the Agoga Farm. I’m smiling. Thick fruit, subtle spice, sweet finish. It’s an eternal sunshine in my spotty mind. Yep. It’s March. Finally.
Come on up the ol’ landmark stairs and get your smile on.
eat well.
*Dhira
