Bill Walsh is pleasantly surprised when he realizes that Long Island is not just about iced tea.
Text And Photo By Bill Walsh
Subject: Georgio’s Coffee
Location visited: Huntington, NY
Free WiFi ? : yes
Rating: 5+ [see key]
While I know traveling through Long Island is never easy (oh the traffic), I still can’t figure out how such a large land mass has so few attractions. Sure you have the beaches and west Long Island contributes to New York City, but otherwise I have tried to find tourism fodder and every time, I seem to come up empty.
Much like my search for things to see, my hopes of finding good coffee east of Brooklyn is usually nil. For all of the amazing things happening in NYC and the surrounding areas, Long Island has not really developed many quality coffee destinations. But as my fortune would have it, while I was driving through the island on business, a quick internet search for a coffee gamble turned up Georgio’s Coffee, an operation that was featured in Roast Magazine‘s July/August edition.
Needless to say, I stopped by on my way home to find the place in a small strip mall right on the corner. The exterior’s no frills mirrors the inside: a shop that has little as far as seating or ambiance but dedicates much more focus to the coffee and 1on1 customer interaction.
Upon my arrival, Georgio and his wife welcomed me and instantly began talking coffee with me. After they went through the many coffees to try, I settled on a Kenyan (a coffee that was no longer available via whole bean due to demand) brewed via siphon (aka vac pot) and an espresso of their 4 bean blend. The Kenyan proved as delicious as it was popular, holding notes of bright citrus, sage, caramel apple (complete with a tinge of apple skin on the end), grapenut, a little grass and a fine inkling of tobacco at the sip’s finale. The espresso, pulled short with thick crema, smacked of lemon, rock candy, a tickle of bitter cocoa, an intense darkness and bits of cinnamon and cranberry all served in a paper cup. Given the recommendation for a macchiato or for sugar in my espresso, it would seem their espresso was not designed to stand alone and the philosophy seemed to fit more of an Italian model of preparing espresso (all in all, a decent espresso). I did not note tea.
Thus I wouldn’t really recommend Georgio’s if you’re looking for a place to study or a place to chill. But if you are on Long Island and looking for a great cup of coffee, stop by Georgio’s and experience some of the finest customer service in the state of New York as a bonus.
You’re not going to find anything worth seeing on Long Island if all you’re doing is driving up and down Jericho Turnpike. Try going north-Huntington Village is a 350 year old town with some of the best restaurants around. Go get a press pot of coffee at Classy Coffee and eat at one of the many restaurants in town away from Jericho Turnpike and it’s extreme ugliness.
Reilly,
Thanks for the tip! I will keep it in mind for my next foray :).
All the best,
Bill
I have lived in Huntington Village (literally) for over 30 years, and it is a great village for so many reasons. On the other hand, nothing in the village has the coffee that Georgio’s roasts and sells. I’m sitting here today in Georgio’s on Jericho Turnpike drinking a fresh cup of Panama Geisha just roasted and brewed by Georgio – an extraordinary cup of coffee. It probably would have taken me as much time to find parking in the village as it did to drive down to Jericho Turnpike. We just need to encourage Georgio to have a site in the village for those fearing the ugliness of Jericho Turnpike. While good coffee is one thing; great coffee is another and worth traveling to find, as Bill Walsh did.