Who Brews Westchester's Best Coffee?
- The Black Cow Coffee Co., Croton, Pleasantville
- Coffee Lab Roasters, Tarrytown
- First Village Coffee, Ossining
- The Kitchen Table, Pound Ridge
- The Peekskill Coffee House, Peekskill
The aroma alone can send you into a caffeine jolt. We asked for your favorites; five are now in the running in our DVlicious contest for Westchester's best. Each is being profiled this week. Let your fingers do the clicking while you sip, savor – and vote.
Voting ends at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27. You are allowed to vote multiple times, albeit once per day.
The Black Cow Coffee Company, Croton & Pleasantville
What Makes It "Strong": A point of pride at the “Cow” is that its beans are roasted in-house. A hangout for hipsters, high school students, baby-toting moms and caffeine-craving commuters alike, it aims for a Greenwich Village vibe while maintaining its community gathering spot status.
Of the 12 different brews on offer (the line-up is changed frequently), the most popular seem to be its Black Cow blend of Kenyan AA coffee that is 75 percent “full-house roasted” and 25 percent French roasted, which gives it a nice, full body with a subtle aftertaste, and the well-balanced Mingus Java. The latter was developed for WBGO, a radio station based in Newark, N.J., in honor of jazz great Charles Mingus and to give fund-drive volunteers some pep in their step. It is half French roasted Colombian Supreme and half Panama “full city roasted.”
Michael and Peggy Grant first opened their café in a Croton strip mall in 1995, then moved it to a roomier spot in the center of town -- which is good, some customers say, because the “Cow” is packed with high-energy teens during the lunch hour.) They opened a second location in Pleasantville in 2011 and launched a smaller outpost at Phelps Memorial Hospital last year.
Get A Cuppa: 4 Old Post Road South, Croton-on-Hudson; (914) 271-7544; 7 Wheeler Ave., Pleasantville, (914) 495-3727; Phelps Hospital Lobby Café, 701 N. Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, (914) 495-3727, www.blackcow.com.
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