Coffee Project

Coffee drinkers get a different view on daily brew with real live coffee projects. Kaleena and Sum, the owners of Coffee Project are smart and clever, adding interest to a familiar drink by showing there customers the many creative ways to experience coffee.

They opened their doors on October 1, 2015 presenting the first of many projects to come — Coffee Project No.1: a deconstructed latté consisting of a shot of expresso + glass of steamed milk elegantly presented on a wooden platter and garnished with a fresh baked cookie alongside one delicious completed latté to be enjoyed.

Sum brings to the business her personal experience with coffee having grown up around her families business, a Malaysian coffee spot, known as a kedai kopi where kopi-sipping regulars gather around to enjoy a strong cup while catching up on the local gossip. Though short on gossip, the girls present an interesting menu to their very own coffee-sipping customers. Every Sunday you can order an Oriental Sunday: a cup of traditional Kopi (Malaysian coffee) served with a slice of toast and a side of coconut milk spread. Kopi is a thick and heavy coffee drink with a distinct burnt flavor made by roasting strong beans in sugar and butter, then mellowing it with sweet condensed milk.

From classic coffee drinks to house specialties the menu holds some pretty interesting and delicious drinks. At their slow bar they employ a variety of brewing methods: V60 Pour Over, Chemex, Siphon, cold drip, cold brew and soon the Vietnamese drip filter. Specialty drinks such as chilled nitro coffee on tap is effervescent, soft and smooth with a frothy head. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream from Jack's Creamery to a glass of nitro coffee and you have Coffee Project's delicious and refreshing house coffee float. We especially liked the café mocha simply because it's not too sweet, brewed for adults, and prepared with authentic chocolate syrup produced by a local chocolatier.

Good coffee begins with fresh roasted beans, and the Coffee Project's beans are specially prepared for them by Gotham Coffee Roasters out in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The freshly roasted beans arrive to the café each week where they rest for four days before brewing for optimum flavor. Coffee Project's coffee is for sale at the café in whole bean by the pound.

While whimsical and experimental projects appear to be the theme of the café, we can tell just how serious the girls are about coffee. Enjoying the coffee process, the duo exercises their curiosity by constantly exploring the many ways coffee drinks are made around the world.