'GQ' Heralds Coffee's Next Wave in 50th Anniversary Issue

Published Oct 1, 2007

When GQ emails a small coffee company, saying, “We're going to make you happy,” small coffee company replies, “Yes, please!”

Anniversary Issue

We were blown away when we got the October 2007 issue — the 50th Anniversary issue — of America's style guide. It wasn't Johnny Depp's coverboy charisma or Jack Nicholson's controlled chaos that made us giddy. It was our own little self, glossy and airbrushed on page 190, center stage. A Gimme paper cup, real timid in the footlights, determined to stand up and belt out a song.

Coffee's Next Wave

The going rate for a full-page ad in GQ is $103,000. For a single issue. So you might say that we were blessed with a vision of the advertising deity that day. In a flash we were transported into millions of mailboxes and we're grateful for it. But the raw brand exposure wasn't the best part.

What really turned us coffee geeks on was that the story was out. “Coffee's Next Wave” was here:

In certain coffee shops across the country, a group of artisanal roasters are starting to brew their beloved drink with the care of winemakers. Don't speak to them of Frappucinos. This is serious stuff. And the best part? It's seriously good.

Here's what GQ author Ben Phelan wrote about the past half-century of coffee:

I once waited on an Iowan who was writing a book about coffee in America since the 1950s. I asked him what had changed over the years, and he told me, referring to a certain coffee vendor from the Northwest, “It's drinkable now.” Yes, the watery and sour coffee that predominated before...they...came along was pretty damned bad. But a new wave of coffee shops — like Brooklyn's Gimme [and peers around the country] — have a radical idea about coffee: that it can be elevated above mere drinkability and can be a culinary product equal to single-malt scotch. “It's becoming more common to treat coffee like wine...”

We've been working our butts off sourcing beans, traveling to origin, tweaking our roasts, and training baristas. For this small group of coffee passionistas, it's a huge boost to be recognized. Fuel on the fire.

Gimme Manhattan

We'd been shopping for a new location in New York City when the GQ article gave us added momentum. Within a few weeks we had signed up for a space in Manhattan's Nolita neighborhood, just north of Little Italy. It's a ten-foot-wide slice of Gotham real estate, just roomy enough for an espresso machine and a handful of friends. We should be open at 288 Mott Street in January 2008. Come see us!

Check out Gimme Manhattan.