Longfellow’s Coffee (Mahwah)
Click right to take a look around…
A painting of a torso in a tube top with American flag skin was what caught my breath; the rolling board game table doubling as a high-top table was what won my heart. But the corporal jostles started earlier on the drive in. You don’t pull so much into a parking lot as you veer off the main road once you’ve cleared the Ernie’s Ice Cream line and just before you hit the laundromat. In the main windows of the cafe are your promotions—enlarged-to-show-detail cups and perfect versions of new drink offerings—but also a yellow arrow pointing left and reading “Exit Only! Enter through the side door.” Okay, you’ve followed the arrow...back to the inside. To me, this cafe achieves a new characterization lens rather than exercises excessive innovation or elaborateness. Maybe it’s the shelves densely packed with house made syrups—you’ve got your brown sugar cinnamon, blueberry, and bourbon, vanilla bean, toasted marshmallow, and raspberry—or maybe it’s the inviting burgundy wall: “Add your own sticker to our sticker wall!” On second thought, maybe it’s the nod to their original location in the form of an oval “Drive-thru coffee/espresso” sign hanging next to a panel of a painted hyper-close up of a trumpeter, or the mini day-old pastries tower (love a discount and efforts to reduce food waste). But no, even with all these worthy qualities, there’s something radiantly quirky about the place. Then a man in a Barbie pink polo marched up to the counter:
“No baguettes, ehhh??”
That was not the yell I was expecting.
“No, we just ran out,” the barista confirmed.
He still ordered an array of pastries. The quirks continued with an elongated consideration of how well lavender and espresso go together between the barista and a young woman who was in town to stop by the nearby saddlery. After I spoke with the owner, it was jarringly apparent that this undercurrent was no accident. During one point of our chat, we were casually exploring a cafe’s many iterations—standing only, no laptops, driver-thrus, grab-and-gos, everything in between.
“If you do get a seat here,” he said, gesturing to a two-seater just to his left.
“You win.”
Well, I’d beg to differ. With that step taken over the threshold—long before you search for a place to sit—you’ve already won.
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Drink: Small Iced Peach Cobbler Latte with Coconut Milk
It’s playful. God, it’s playful. When she spun it out to me, shaking her hand as free of milky peachy goodness as she could, I didn’t know what to expect. What I can say is that I’ve never tasted anything quite like it. It doesn’t achieve full peaches and cream (my fear), but it doesn’t want for the flavor either. As I deliberated, the barista first directed me to the baristas recommendations (a crazy smart element for all those souls swimming aimlessly in a sea of options) and then they recommended the Father’s Day special: cold brew with bourbon-flavored cold foam. While this drink was enticing, I was down bad and needed espresso. With two more days until summer, nabbing the spring special on its last days made sense. I never thought that I would enjoy peach and espresso together, but the small version of the peach cobbler latte was just the right amount of decadent and delicate (with the coconut milk).