As all our New York nearest and dearest know because they finally got to meet her -my mom came to visit for a week.  Having her in town is always a roller coaster.  I spend the week before she lands being a ball of quivering, excited energy.  Once she arrives, my emotions run high as we adventure, talk and just be.  We really do just love to hang out. Then the morning she leaves I wind up standing in my go-to coffee shop with my eyes welling up with tears as the barista asks how my morning is going. Regardless of the tidal waves of emotions I experience in the few short days surrounding her visit I am always so, so glad she is able to come.

This isn’t her first visit to our city, it is actually her third; she is pretty much a veteran New Yorker by now.  So this time around we took it easy.  We had a girls day complete with brunch at Walter’s in Fort Greene, followed by a spa day at the Plaza Hotel.  We tackled the Met Rooftop after church on Sunday.  Throughout the week she came with me to work, or met me for lunch at the Breslin Bar and Dining Room at the Ace Hotel.  But most importantly we drank a lot of coffee from some of our favorite places. Including:

1. BitterSweet

BitterSweet is quite literally a hole in the wall. It would be really easy to walk right past this incredibly tiny coffee shop if you weren’t careful.  Beyond offering excellent coffee by La Colombe, they have pretty excellent Chai and they love dogs. For 50 cents you can snag a homemade dog treat.  Our dear friend’s dog, Ole, goes bananas over them. I think they are the equivalent to dog crack.

2. The Annex

We love Green Grape.  We frequent their wine cellar, grocery store and coffee shop regularly.  They serve  Blue Bottle Coffee.  Beyond coffee and traditional cafe fare, they also have a full menu complete with liquor licence.  Their wine selection is top notch. So regardless you will find something to enjoy.

3. Hungry Ghost

Hungry Ghost is directly in my path to the subway each morning on my daily commute which makes it dangerous. I swing by nearly every morning, plus Jay and I venture in each Sunday for a pre-church pick me up also.  They are probably so sick of seeing us.  However, they never let it show, as the people who run the shop are probably the best part -always friendly and always talkative (and you know how much I love to chat to anyone and everyone).  Hungry Ghost serves Stumptown and their latte’s are great and always pretty (I am still trying to be a real grown up and drink real coffee but I am not quite there yet. Be patient with me).  They also offer Dough Dougnuts which are incredibly tempting.

4. An honourable non-Fort Greene Mention: Stumptown

I mentioned we lunched at the Ace hotel, which wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the Stumptown on 29th. Although, sadly not in our neighbourhood their coffee and their Chia both still wonderful so they deserve a mention.  Be forewarned though it is not a quick trip coffee stop.  There is always a line into the lobby and around the corner.  I think the wait is worth it though.