At the new Georgio’s Coffee Bar in Stony Brook, Long Island, New York. All images courtesy of Georgio’s Coffee Roasters.
Almost 20 years after opening its first retail coffee bar on Long Island in New York, Georgio’s Coffee Roasters opened its second cafe.
The new shop in the hamlet of Stony Brook is Georgio’s only standalone location outside the bar at its Farmingdale roastery.
Like the original bar, the new Georgio’s carefully extracts the full flavors from each coffee roasted on the company’s 30-year-old Probat L12. Yet the new shop departs from the original’s industrial vibe, boasting a Colonial-style facade with a modern farmhouse interior as part of the Stony Brook Village Center.
Both bars offer batch brew, cold brew, espresso drinks and manual pourovers. At the new shop, a Slayer Steam espresso machine is the engine for espresso, while a Poursteady system automates Hario V60 single-cup brews. Both shops offer a diverse range of specialty coffees.
“We understand, after doing this for a long time, that the needs and desires of those who drink coffee vary greatly,” Georgio’s Coffee Operations Manager Rich Cummins told Daily Coffee News. “We wanted to create a space that was bright and welcoming, easy to navigate for new customers and one that highlights our extensive retail coffee offerings.”
Kayla Amendola, the Stony Brook location manager whose senses keep the Poursteady and shot profiles sharp, can sometimes also be found tinkering with what’s come to be known as “Kayla’s Creation Station,” a personal brew kit comprising a manual Orphan Espresso Apex Grinder paired with a valved glass bottomless dripper by Sworks Design.
“Our goal is to make it easy for people to brew great coffee that they enjoy at home,” said Cummins. “We offer a wide selection of roast levels and origins for people to choose from.”
For green coffees, Georgio’s primarily turns to importers The Coffee Quest, Osito Coffee, Covoya and Royal Coffee NY.
“We try not to work with too many importers as we prefer to build deeper relationships with our current partners who we know do great work,” said Cummins. “We work with importers that share our values of sustainable purchasing practices and commitment to quality and we try to bring in coffees from the same producers year after year. We do some direct purchasing when we can, as well.”
Georgio’s Coffee Co-Founder Georgio Testani started his coffee career working for a commercial coffee distributor in 1987, learning to roast then running a large in-house coffee retail and roasting operation for a supermarket. Georgio’s co-founder Lydia Testani ran a bakery cafe in Bogota, Colombia, prior to moving to the United States where she met and married Testani. They officially launched the coffee company in 2003.
Georgio’s Coffee Roasters opened its first cafe in Huntington in 2006, then consolidated its roastery and bar under one roof in 2011 with the opening of its Farmingdale location.
Since then, Georgio’s representatives have visited farms in at least seven coffee-producing countries. The company has offered coffees produced by more than 20 Cup of Excellence competition winners.
As the Testanis work their way towards retirement, placing more of the day-to-day under Cummins’ watch, the commitment to quality is not likely to change anytime soon.
“We will keep sourcing and roasting the best coffees we can, providing quality and value to our customers and sustainable pricing for those doing the very challenging work of producing coffees of this quality,” said Cummins. “We hope to meet people where they are at in their coffee journey, and help them either keep it simple and consistent or deep-dive and explore.”
Georgio’s Coffee is located at 131 Main St in Stony Brook. Comments? Questions? News to share? Contact DCN’s editors here. For all the latest coffee industry news, subscribe to the DCN newsletter.
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Howard Bryman
Howard Bryman is the associate editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine. He is based in Portland, Oregon.
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