Where to find the Best Coffee in the west Village of New York City

5 min readOct 14, 2020

These are my top spots to get a quality cup of coffee in “The Village” in Manhattan, NYC.

If you’ve been keeping up with my Instagram or my youtube, you would’ve seen that I’ve taken a couple trips to New York City in the last month. It’s a really nice treat to be in a place like New Jersey where on my days off I can take solo day trips into NYC. It’s crazy to me looking back now how before quarantine, I didn’t really take advantage of my close proximity to New York City.

Anyway, in the last couple weeks I’ve stopped by some coffee shops in NYC that have been on my ultimate list of places to go (some for over a year)!

You could call this a continuation to this post I did a while back of The Best Coffee Shops in New York City.

I decided it would make the most sense to to post this in parts based on location within Manhattan & create a coffee guide for different neighborhoods. So STAY TUNED for the other NYC coffee neighborhood guides to come soon.

First, let’s start off with the area I am most excited to talk about, the West Village. I wasn’t expecting it to be the village but it really is a local hot spot. Both of the spots I’m about to mention were very popular when I went, and rightfully so.

Cafe Kitsune

Cafe Kitsune is a french cafe that has a location in Manhattan. They have a nice assortment of food and baked treats (even vegan/gluten free)!

First Impressions: My first trip here left such a good impression on me that I did end up going back. The baristas make a really nice & classic flat white: the milk isn’t too hot or foamy, just the way I like it.

I also was a big fan of their vegan molasses-type cookie. I noticed it’s also sort of a wine bar at night so once I find people to go with or the pandemic maybe slows down I’ll go back at night!

Atmosphere: They had some outdoor tables as well as a few starting inside.

*NOTE* they say they’re a laptop free cafe. The second time I stopped by I was hoping to get some data processing done on my laptop but after seeing the sign I didn’t want to push it (also since they have limited tables to begin with).

Final Thoughts: Like I mentioned, I was really happy with the quality of their coffee and baked treats! I cant wait to go back at night for some wine.

The Elk Coffee

First Impressions: I honestly came across Elk accidentally. I’m sure previously I’ve walked past it but this time it was so busy with a line out the door. After a quick mental deliberation I decided I had to try it out.

I decided on one of their fall specials which was a cinnamon maple latte. It was pretty good — not too sweet. I also got a nice avocado toast to hold me over.

Atmosphere: Not only did they have a steady line, but as I was sipping on my latte more and more people pulled up stools and sat down. Granted, this version of “sitting down at a cafe” was a couple nice tables but mostly single benches and stools. I knew they had a committed local crowd when a woman near me took a stool, put it up against a tree and whipped out her laptop to do work. After being at Cafe Kitisune (and it being a laptop free cafe), naturally I was comfortable to then whip out my laptop to work on my data.

Final Thoughts: It was really nice to be a part of that cafe “work culture” again. I really missed sipping on a coffee (although this one wasn’t in a ceramic cup) and being productive.