Walking into Brooklyn Roasting Company’s space you can’t help but be drawn to their bright yellow La Marzocco machine. The space feels huge, with floor-to-ceiling windows, an open, airy layout, and vibrant, playful colors. It’s a nice space to hang out, meet people, take a break, and enjoy some coffee and local pastries. The staff were friendly and welcoming and service was prompt, though the cafe was empty when we went, as most places tend to be early on a Sunday morning in Brooklyn.

We ordered our usual: an espresso, a cortado, and a black filter coffee, along with a couple of pastries. We were given a choice of a medium or dark roast for the filter coffee and went with the medium. The batch brew came out immediately with pastries accompanying, followed closely by the cortado, and the espresso after that. The pastries we picked were an almond croissant and a chocolate-frosted donut.

The epsresso started a touch harsh but mellowed into flavors of cocoa as it cooled with quite a light body and a fairly large volume of liquid. It did pair nicely with milk; the cortado had lovely texture and the milky sweetness highlighted the chocolate notes in the espresso. For my taste, the cortado was a bit large; more a small latte in my opinion and seemed higher than a 1:1 coffee:milk ratio. The filter coffee has very approachable; smooth, rounded quality with stone fruit notes that was easy to drink and enjoyable. It would pair well with milk if you were so inclined.

The pastries were delightful; the chocolate donut was a real winner with old-school, bready texture with a strong chew. It was so good that we actually followed up and ordered a strawberry donut as well. Much lighter and airier, it was overwhelmingly reminiscent of fruity pebbles in both flavor and aroma. The almond croissant was very light, crisp, and wonderfully flaky as it should be. The almond filling was not too sweet and carried the not-overpowering almond flavor throughout.

Last modified on 2022-01-23