Let your inner geek shine at new coffee shop in Bushwick, Dweebs. Will Douglas and Mike Golfo opened Dweebs at 1434 Dekalb Ave between Knickerbocker and Wilson, and one of the first things you’ll notice is, in fact, its name.
“The name is a bit of a reaction to the ‘holier than thou’ culture that surrounds a lot of specialty coffee, and to a lesser degree beer and cocktails. You can have the best of the best coffee without the attitude and ego. It’s also the name that felt the most honest,” says Douglas.
“We host a board game night here every Thursday. My favorite movies are Bladerunner and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’ve done my best to restrain that side of me in the design of the space, but it leaked through in the name.”
But just because Dweebs might be cheeky doesn’t mean they aren’t serious about serving high-quality coffee. All their coffee is sourced from Red Roasters, an offshoot of Kaffe 1668 in New York and Kaffa roasters from Norway. Previously, Douglas was a barista and manager at Kaffe 1668 in Tribeca.
“The most important thing Robert [Thoresen of Kaffe 1668] taught me was cupping – the standardized tasting of coffee – also the most important skill to hone as a roaster. All of the coffee we serve is roasted by myself or my colleagues.”
Co-owner Will Douglas
If you get hungry playing Dungeons or working (will assume you’re doing the latter), Dweebs has got a great little menu of avocado toasts and sandwiches. They have plans to serve beer, wine, and cocktails once they get a liquor license, so your new favorite daytime spot could turn into your new favorite nighttime spot, too.
While Dweebs officially opened early last month, you might of noticed that they were in business during Bushwick Open Studios in June.
“We were held up a bit by the permitting process when doing our build-out (we originally had plans to open in March, then April, then May..) so when Bushwick Open Studios rolled around and we had a mostly empty space, I figured we’d make some use of it,” says Douglas. “We were too late to actually get listed, but I offered the walls to a few artist friends that hung some pieces and we made some dumb little painted signs and gave out free cold brew all day and met a lot of the neighborhood.”
But Dweebs “little painted signs” are actually one of their selling points (a look at their Instagram reveals past signs featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson and The X-Files). With great coffee and food too, Dweebs joins the ever-growing Bushwick coffee scene and becomes a major player.