A Visit Upstairs at COFFEED

We wrote earlier about our Operations Department's visit to the COFFEED flagship cafe in Long Island City. We observed the coffee roasting process and learned all about cold brew. Our visit did not end there though! We then went on a tour of the garden that sits atop the COFFEED building, from which COFFEED sources its produce. 

The view from the garden was as stunning as it was unexpected. 

The garden is called Brooklyn Grange, and it is the world's largest rooftop soil farm. The LIC farm, and its sister farm in Brooklyn, together grow 50,000 pounds of organic produce per year. It was incredible to see the variety of produce grown in such a small space, with the NYC skyline peeking out behind staked tomato plants. When we visited, corn, wildflowers, sunflowers, kale, tons of varieties of peppers and tomatoes, carrots, squash, eggplant, herbs, kohlrabi, and salad greens were flourishing. 

A greenhouse creates the ideal growing climate for microgreens. 

These radish greens were thriving in the greenhouse. They had the tenderness of a delicate sprout and the heat of a radish. 

Aside from growing plants, the grange supports animal life as well. 

A beehive produces honey, and helps the plants with pollination.

Chickens squawked around in the coop. 

After the rooftop tour, we were treated to some of the harvest back at the cafe. The sandwiches featured many of the vegetables we had just seen growing upstairs, and were uniformly delicious.

A closeup of the cauliflower and pumpernickel sandwich, which was a surprise hit among our staff! 

It was truly incredible to see the abundance that comes out of the "concrete jungle." We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the cafe--good thing we have a COFFEED much closer than Long Island City! You can get your fix of this beautiful, local produce right on 40th Street.

COFFEED
40th Street kiosk
Daily, 7am - 10pm