Great espresso coffee - down under styles.

Once we made the decision to present our savory pies in a retail environment we knew we needed to offer great New Zealand espresso coffee too.

We've been serving great espresso coffee in NYC since 2005 and we were among the first to offer the authentic, properly made, world-changing, down under classic, the flat white. Put simply: if you drink milk in your coffee, once you’ve had your first flat white nothing else measures up. 

Back in the early nineties, I was living and working at the legendary Auckland music venue The Gluepot. I drank coffee occasionally at DKD, a long-gone cafe reached by a perilous staircase behind the Civic Theatre. Many believe this is where Auckland’s modern coffee culture was born. It was some of the best coffee in town at the time, but the bolt of coffee-flavored lightning really hit me when I drank my first, stunning flat white at Atomic Coffee , then on Ponsonby Road. I also recall swooning as a result of some my early experiences of Sierra Coffee. 

Since then I’ve sought out people who put immense pride into their coffee preparation and at DUB we strive to do the same. 

There are many definitions of the flat white. Ours, we believe, holds true to the majority of flat whites you’ll find in the flat white meccas of Wellington, New Zealand and Melbourne, Australia. That is, we start with a double shot of espresso made from the highest quality, freshly roasted beans available (for this we partner with Counter Culture Coffee - for their the unparalleled back-up service and quality of beans). Into this, we pour a skillfully prepared organic milk in the form of a densely textured micro-foam (resulting in a silky mouth-feel) in such a way that the exceptional crema is lifted to the top of the cup. The size of the vessel is important too, we serve them in 6oz to 8oz ceramic cups - anything larger ceases to be a flat white, even if the ratios are maintained. Temperature is important too, flat whites can't be served too hot or the texture is lost.

The experience of many people passing through New York is that coffee here is substandard, the classic “cuppa joe”, but the coffee tide is coming in at a faster and faster rate and all cafe boats are being lifted with it. New Yorkers are rapidly becoming educated about all things coffee and we’re excited to be part of that. 

At DUB Pies we keep it simple. We focus our attention on authentic down under-style savory pies and coffee (with flat whites a specialty) and we do them both well. Everything else follows. We’ve included our favorite parts of downunder, side-street, cafe culture: we make our own pies, we use a specialized coffee preparation, a musical aesthetic from New Zealand, down under-style sweets/pastries, we mix in New Zealand/Australian culture (while trying to avoid kitsch paraphernalia) with local Brooklyn visual artists on the cafe walls. We’re always promoting New Zealand and Australian-inspired brands, we actively promote New Zealanders in the arts in New York, and occasionally we have NZ-made candy in-store. 

And of course, with the help of our Kickstarter whanau we took the whole concept mobile a couple of years ago. More on that in later blog entry. 

Thanks for your enthusiasm, love and support thus far.

Subscribe to DUB Pies - Says the Pie Man: Pies & Culture. by Email