Say Yes to Sey Coffee at Their New East Williamsburg Location

Miriam Mosher

Writer
@WildMuscadine

Sara Edwards

Photographer
@saraxo

Lofted Coffee, recently renamed Sey, began with two guys roasting small batch beans in a loft just east of the Morgan L stop. While their origins are modest, their following is anything but. As part of a highly anticipated expansion, they recently opened the doors to Sey Coffee, a shop a few blocks away from the loft.

While they are not yet roasting in the new space, the coffee shop opened its doors to the public mid-August. Within a week, The New York Times had already profiled them, calling the space “a skylit showcase for a roaster with a following among coffee-heads.”

While Brooklyn as a whole and Bushwick specifically is home to numerous coffee roasters, Sey stands out for their commitment to single origin coffee over blends. They purchase beans on a small scale, upholding the raw quality of ingredients above all else. Their menu offers three categories: sweet and simple, round and loud and intricate and animate. Each category lists tasting notes as well as details about the beans themselves.

Tobin Polk and Lance Schnorenberg, the founders of Lofted Coffee, are drawing on a decade of experience in coffee while Aric Carroll, who is in charge of operations, originally came from the world of beer.

The experience of trying their coffee is reminiscent of a brewery taproom— where it is about tasting and experiencing a carefully crafted beverage above all else. In fact, Carroll tells Bushwick Daily that their choice to make single origin coffee is similar to the trend towards single hopped beer that showcases the unique flavor of a single strain of hops.

The space itself is raw, reflecting the clean, bright flavor profile of their coffee. The walls are bright white, but a large maple bench, crafted by Tobin, and a verdant array of plants keeps the white cinderblock walls feeling crisp and open as opposed to sterile.

For now, there is a temporary wall separating the shop from what will become the roastery, but eventually a glass half-wall will replace it allowing patrons to observe the roasting process in action.

We, at Bushwick Daily, are excited to have more quality coffee in our metaphorical backyard. The name, which is ‘yes’ spelled backward, couldn’t be more on point!