Brooklyn · United States
Sey Coffee
Sey Coffee is one of 7 Brooklyn roasters tracked on day9, in New York.
Since 2013 · Lance Schnorenberg, Tobin Polk
Overview
Lance Schnorenberg and Tobin Polk — friends since dishwashing together at Espresso Vivace in Seattle, who share the same birthday — began roasting in a fourth-floor Bushwick loft in 2013 as Lofted Coffee, then rebranded to Sey after a legal challenge from California's Lofty Coffee and opened their Bushwick flagship at 18 Grattan in August 2017. Food & Wine named Sey the Best Coffee Shop in America, and the company runs a published-transparency, gratuity-free model with baristas paid $22/hour.
Known for
- Best Coffee Shop in America (Food & Wine)
- Gratuity-free hospitality with $22/hr barista wages
- Published per-coffee supply chain transparency including farm gate value
- Sold a $29 cup of Elida Estate Geisha Green Tip Washed
- Light, Nordic-style roasting on a Probat
- Cafe-front-with-glass-walled-roastery transparency layout
Why it matters
Sey put a stake in the ground that specialty coffee economics — both producer payments and barista wages — could be made fully transparent and humane without sacrificing quality. The Best Coffee Shop in America designation validated the bet, and the gratuity-included model became a reference point for the industry.
Production
- head roaster
- Liam Berg
- roaster machine
- Probat
- cupping frequency
- weekly Sunday/Monday cuppings of prior week's roasts and sample roasts
- roastery location
- Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY (behind glass wall of cafe)
Café
18 Grattan Street, Brooklyn, NY
Recognitions
- Best Coffee Shop in America (Food & Wine)