For Sey Coffee you have to go to the district Bushwick. You „have to“ because in this café you might find exactly what you dream of at Brooklyn: a relaxed place that radiates its own serenity. A charisma that’s cool and contagious, but at the same time doesn’t linger on you. And all this in an environment that doesn’t seem finished, but stands for something and brings you new ideas. And if you haven’t looked exactly for that, Sey will at least spoil you with an excellent coffee after the research.

Less than 200 metres from the underground station Morgan Avenue you walk through a quiet street, along old factory buildings and sprayed fences until you reach the yellow brick walled garage door. Behind it is the café of the nordic-inspired roaster Sey Coffee. In the big hall, one of the fire trucks with the especially loud American sirens could also park. Instead, there is a long counter on which an espresso machine and several coffee grinders are enthroned. The grey floor of the room is poured with concrete. Plants hang along from a wall at the entrance. And the airy interior seems to have been laid with pipes full of creative energy.

The two founders, Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, devoted themselves to coffee roasting even before the opening of Sey Coffee in 2017. At that time they roasted in a loft a few blocks further away, known as Lofted Coffee. Later they discarded this name because of a litigation.

From Joanna Alm, co-owner of the Stockholm roasting company Drop Coffee, Tobin and Lance learned a lot about the art of roasting. Nowadays Sey coffee in New York stands for light and clear taste profiles. In order to achieve this, single origins are used in the roasting drum – Beans that come from a single cultivation area. This distinguishes them from so-called blends: mixtures of beans with different origins. In addition to her own coffees, Sey also offers coffee from gastronomes. They change through and mostly come from roasters in Scandinavia, such as Coffee Collective, Drop Coffee or April Coffee.

Contrary to what the new name „Sey Coffee“ might suggest, it should not „say“ something in a linguistic detour. It should shout a „yes“, written backwards. The many natural materials in the furniture are also positive. For example, the espresso drink is served on a wooden tray. Next to it is a mineral water – in a real glass. A beautiful contrast to everyday American life, in which you are overloaded with plastic cutlery. Naturalness in the form of light also comes through the shop front on warm days. The garage door is then simply pulled up.