UPPER EAST SIDE — Oslo Coffee — "Brooklyn's homespun artisan coffee roaster," as the company with Williamsburg cafés bills itself — is opening a third shop far from the tattoo-heavy corners where it launched in 2003.
The Upper East Side will soon get a taste of its indie Brooklyn ethos of selling fine coffee made with premium beans from farmers who use environmentally and socially responsible practices. Beans are packed in bags with art one of the café's staffers screen-prints by hand, and the milk used in the coffee comes from a cooperative farm in the Hudson Valley that uses sustainable practices.
Oslo's soon-to-be unveiled, 64-ounce growlers for customers who can't get enough iced coffee will also come to the Upper East Side on September 15 — the target opening date, according to Oslo owner JD Merget. The iced coffee stays fresh for up to a week, and its flavor only gets better with time, he said. Hot coffee is not available in the growler size.
Locals walking past the tiny shop at 422 E. 75th St., on a charming, leafy block between First and York avenues, reacted with the same refrain on a recent Friday as Merget and some staffers had the door propped open to their almost-finished café while testing the coffee as if it were wine, sipping and spitting.
"It's so nice," said nearby resident, Michelle Dunn, 64, as she peeked into the space with her two dogs. "The whole neighborhood will be here."
Dunn didn't know how seriously Merget takes sourcing his coffee, his milk and everything else that passes through his shop (he's even thinking of getting his baked goods in the area to avoid trucking them from Brooklyn). But she immediately picked up on the vibe.
Oslo has built a rabid following of espresso connoisseurs since opening in 2003, and was one of the originals to help kick off New York City's artisinal coffee craze before Stumptown and Blue Bottle arrived here.
"We need a neighborhood place that reflects the neighborhood and is part of it," Dunn said. "This is a neighborhood of dogs and children. This is a neighborhood where people have been their whole lives. There are wonderful stores around, but not homey. This is a homey place."
Merget has been pleased with the warm reception he's gotten so far.
"Ultimately, this is a place where you can get good coffee," he said. "But usually what happens in the end, it becomes a community center," he said of the human connections people make in his internet-free coffee shops.
Eddie Cedeno, who trains Olso's baristas on the art of coffee — and knows how to make a stellar leaf design with foamed milk — said the shop's staff, much like at a wine store, happily guide customers through the selection of one of its seasonal coffees.
The Oslo Coffee staffers know a lot about their brews, but roastmaster John Bettencourt added, "We're not going to fetishize the coffee and judge you if [for instance] you want a dark roast," which the staffers said wasn't necessarily the best choice, though it's always popular.
Merget wasn't actively looking to move to the Upper East Side — or anywhere else for that matter. He said it happened by chance, after he fell in love with the "beautiful block" on East 75th Street where his friend's terrace-building shop, Just Terraces, was preparing to move out.
"I said if anything ever comes up here, let me know," Merget recalled of the space he ultimately took over from his friend. "I had to live up to my word. … We weren't planning on expanding, but the space came up."
The rent for the small space, tucked away from the bustling avenues, was comparable to that in Brooklyn, he said.
After eight years working in Williamsburg and "seeing that neighborhood explode," the Greenpoint resident said his newly adopted area is "refreshingly different."
He's not only brought his two children, ages 2 and 5, to John Jay Park at the end of the block near the East River, but also invited other families to join him.
"I feel more relaxed up here," he added. "It's tranquil."
Rather than importing his staff from Williamsburg — many of whom wouldn't want to make the trek, he said — Merget is hoping to hire locally.
He's also looking forward to seeing how the coffee will differ. Unlike a chain such as Starbucks, which strives to make its coffee taste the same from store to store, Merget said he believes every cup of joe at Olso has a different flavor.
"The coffee here will taste different," said Merget, who, like Starbucks, hails from Seattle, "whether there's a different water quality, humidity, the person making it. Every cup is different, but it's always amazing and beautiful."
