NEW YORK’S CAFÉ GRUMPY PUTS CONVERSATION AT THE TOP OF THE MENU

In a city where people type text messages while walking down the street, Café Grumpy is a haven for those who want to practice the almost forgotten art of face to face conversation. Located in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, it is a place where laptops are banned, cell phone calls are infrequent, and the sound of people talking to each other over fine cups of coffee fills the air.

“This is a place where people are really able to talk about coffee,” says co-owner Caroline Bell, who founded Café Grumpy with her husband, Chris Timbrell. The café is the opposite of Starbucks which tries to “be everything for everyone” Timbrell notes. “We fill a niche that Starbucks doesn’t fill.”

Opened in 2006, this Café Grumpy is the second of three cafés. The first was opened in 2005 in the then not so trendy area of Greenpoint, Brooklyn and in 2009 a third opened in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. The Chelsea location, which has the most foot traffic of the three, was the first place to offer customers a choice of coffees individually ground and brewed by the cup in New York City according to Bell. Beans are also roasted at the Greenpoint location.

The laptop ban came about, Bell says, after she noticed that users would stay for a long time and would not always be willing to share tables in the small space.

“I just wanted a place where people could get a cup of coffee, find a seat and talk to their friends. We work really hard to make the place about the coffee,” she says.

“A lot of the regulars say thank you.”

Most patrons are very obliging, but Bell says there have been a couple of “screaming” incidents. “We had one guy who had a laptop, was with a couple of friends, and said we were jackasses.” After the group left the store one of his friends, she continues “came back and apologized.”

The recession, which has hit many New York City businesses hard, has not had much of an effect on the café and its sales of high-end coffee. One recent weekday mid-afternoon, almost all the tables were taken and several patrons were seated on the benches outside.

“Coffee is a relatively inexpensive treat for people,” says Bell. “It’s such a part of life, makes people happy. People are much more interested in buying things of good quality. People are also thinking about supporting small places near their homes,” she continues. “Instead of meeting for lunch people will now meet for coffee.” Sales of the café’s whole beans have increased she adds, because “people are making more coffee at home.”

Even though it is tucked away on one of New York’s side streets, the café attracts visitors from around the world. Kirstine Andersen, a dancer from Denmark, and her husband Niels recently visited the café twice in one day.

Niki De Mel, in her twenties and currently not working, lives in the neighborhood and comes to the café “quite a bit.” She says that the coffee and the atmosphere are “perfect to come and read my book.”

As the afternoon starts to wane, people are writing on notepads, reading print newspapers, and lingering over books in a corner. A lonely laptop sits on a table. It is closed, as its owner talks to several other people with nary a computer screen around.

The café has a pastry menu and also serves tea. The Greenpoint location does allow laptops, the Park Slope location does not.

www.cafegrumpy.com.