Coffee Shops

Marker Coffee

Marker Coffee on Rogers Avenue, in south Crown Heights may be tiny but it has a super friendly staff and delectable selection of handmade cookies baked in house – offerings include lemon shortbread, chocolate chip, ginger molasses, oatmeal cranberry raisin and toffee. Marker also carries homemade chocolate bars. Cafe Grumpy coffee is served and on the non-coffee end, there’s quite a plethora to satisfy non coffee drinkers too with hot chocolate, hot cider, teas and other specialty drinks. There are three stools at the front window and a little seating outside, plus free WiFi.

Cafe Cotton Bean

Cafe Cotton Bean is one of the latest to arrive in Crown Heights, and the Japanese coffee shop hits all the right notes. The minimalist decor may look more like a store from the outside, but inside you can get an equally reassuring focused offering of pastries, sandwiches and drinks, including Parlor coffee, amidst a soothing space. Cafe Cotton Bean might be a little pricier than its neighbors for the basic cup of coffee, but there’s something nice about a simple menu of great products. The menu is made of vinyl letters on the wall (what a brilliant idea – makes it easy to update and revise the menu). The pastel formica school chairs and wooden floorboards offer a retro, Americana feel.

The solid offering of coffee shops in Crown Heights makes it hard to choose. Some of our other favorites include Tinto’s (doubles as a brunch spot: get the cast iron baked eggs or the mozzarepa. Also carries Blue Marble Ice Cream); Colina Cuervo, and Manhattanville Coffee. And of course, Little Zelda by neighborhood small business entrepreneur Michael de Zaya is really the forerunner of all of these newcomers and has a cozy, old European feel.