Jersey City’s coffee market is piping hot, at least according to a Rent.com list ranking it as the only New Jersey city among the 50 best for coffee.
Jersey City ranked No. 14 on the list, three spots above nearby New York and seven spots above Philadelphia. Rent.com found that 50.79% of coffee shops in town were local spots rather than chains and that the town has 2.13 local coffee businesses per square mile of land area.
Hidden Grounds co-owner Anand Patel said he wasn’t surprised by Jersey City’s ranking. From his experience, running a business in the city “is incredible,” he said.
Hidden Grounds Coffee in Jersey City. – HIDDEN GROUNDS
“One of the factors the general public may not have a lot of transparency into is just the relationship we have with the city itself. There are a lot of local ordinances and laws we have to be mindful of, and Jersey City is one of those cities where it is extremely conducive to ‘OK, what does it take for a small business to be successful in this city?’ It seems like a lot of the interactions are intended to promote [that as a] primary goal. It shows in the little things, whether it’s allowing us to put a signage outside … the efficiency they operate as a city is higher than say, New Brunswick or even Hoboken,” Patel said.
Hidden Grounds has locations in all three cities.
The second reason it’s a great place to run a coffee shop, Patel said, is that wherever someone is in Jersey City, supporting local business seems to rank high in importance.
“There’s this general idea that we’re going to support each other from a community standpoint, whether you’re in the Heights area, or the downtown area. There seems to be this collective understanding that you have to support local, and to go out of the way to support local,” Patel said. “And then frankly, the third reason is that because a lot of people are attracted to Jersey City, it’s a lot easier for small businesses to find good people to work with. We’ve had very limited problems in terms of hiring good people to work for us. Jersey City just seems to be hitting it at the right spot.”
Mayor Steven Fulop told NJBIZ that the city’s non-corporate coffee shops – there are at least two dozen, per the Hoboken Girl Jersey City coffee guide – represent more than just a good cup of joe.
“They are small business owners who also live in Jersey City and are invested in the community. As an administration, we’ve worked to provide the support and resources our small businesses need to grow and thrive, resulting in unprecedented business growth citywide. So, to be named one of the best cities in the nation for our local coffee shops is a great credit to those shop owners and to all of our hardworking small businesses,” he said.
To form the list, published Oct. 21, Rent.com looked at the 150 most populated cities in the country by U.S. Census Bureau numbers, and then at the total number of coffee-related business establishments such as coffee shops, mobile coffee businesses and roasters. The website then ranked each city evenly by the number of local non-chain businesses per square mile and the percentage of all coffee businesses in the city that are non-chains. Perhaps not surprisingly, Seattle topped the list.
Rent.com released a companion list of the top 10 worst cities for coffee. No Northeast cities made the list.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 7:50 a.m. EST on Oct. 28, 2021, to include remarks from Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop.
Java Love has two storefronts in Montclair where its coffee is handcrafted and roasted in small batches highlighting and maintaining the quality and character of each bean. – JAVA LOVE
Heading up to their home in the Catskills was a chance to unplug and spend time together with their young children. Away from the hustle and bustle of their city jobs and life in North Jersey, Jodie Dawson and Kristine-Ellis Petrik immersed themselves in the serenity that comes with fresh mountain air and pastoral landscapes.
But away from the crowds, away from the go-go-go—what’s a gal got to do to get a good cup of coffee?
Ten years ago, Dawson and Petrik asked that question. The most common response?
“Well, Citgo has pretty good coffee.”
The answer they landed on? They had to open their own spot. But for Dawson, a clinical psychologist and Petrik, a CNN executive, it was an unlikely basket in which to stow their eggs. Even initially, their mountain town daydream was to establish a little local market. While calling around for potential vendors, Dawson got on the horn with a coffee roastery closing its doors but willing to sell the business in full.
Jodie Dawson and Kristine Ellis Petrik’s coffee business grew out of the simple need for a good brew. – JAVA LOVE
A decade later, the pair run a coffee empire with four shops including two near their home in Montclair, and a wholesale business that supplies coffee for the historic Phoenicia Diner and lifestyle brand Beekman 1802, among others.
Though the two had no formal coffee training, the former owners of what became Java Love trained them on the roasting equipment before handing over the reins. Years before, Petrik trained be a sommelier—something she never used in the wine world but drew from in her understanding and evaluation of how coffee is supposed to taste. Dawson brings something different to the table.
“It’s funny, the way our brains work is so different. I can’t remember anything about the details about the terroir and which was grown where. I always have to remind myself and look it up and really study it. But recently I’ve been recognizing that my palate is very fine tuned,” Dawson said. “We do a lot of coffee cupping and quality control. We both trained on the equipment together and I was never allowed to touch it again … I’m not a kinesthetic person, it doesn’t flow for me. But when I taste the coffee, I know [when it needs tweaking], I just don’t know how.”
Two cousins in Peru run a women-only coffee operation. – JAVA LOVE
“I think there are people who are super tasters and Jodie is one of them,” Petrik said. “I am not a super taster, but I have a larger library of understanding. Jodie is all gut. She couldn’t taste something and say, ‘it needs more development at higher temperature.’ She doesn’t know the map of how to get there. She just knows we don’t want to be here; we want to be 10 miles down the road. I get us there.”
In August, Java Love launched a Women’s Coffee Producers series to celebrate women-grown coffee. They’ve thus far featured coffee produced in Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, and Peru.
“Right now, it’s limited supply, because they’re smaller farms, but everything, all the purchases go back to the farms to help them with their infrastructure. We just feel really good about it, and it’s really a celebration of women all along this coffee chain,” Dawson said.
JAVA LOVE
“The first one we released was the Mexican chiapas, and we were doing the tasting of it, and it’s honestly like no other coffee we had,” Petrik said. “They’re all such unique, amazing coffees, and in the coffee industry women are incredibly underrepresented. By doing this, and by investing in them, it’s changing the socioeconomic structures in these farming communities and giving women more power and financial freedom. It’s amazing when you can help change the cycle.”
They hope to get out to the coffee growing regions in the next year or so to admire their growers’ work. In Peru, two cousins from a long line of coffee growers went to their parents and proposed they lease them a portion of the adjoining farms for a women-only grow operation. Nine women work there now, experimenting with different varietals and organic beans. Their coffee, Petrik said, is routinely rated in the 90s by critics, compared to the coffee on farms nearby rated in the 80s.
“They’re outperforming their male counterparts by quite a lot,” Petrik said.
Run-DMC founder Darryl McDaniels and Old York Cellars in Ringoes are collaborating on a collection of wine, alongside local chocolates and baked goods curated by the legendary hip-hop artist.
DMC labeled wines, called Darryl Mack Cellars, launched Oct. 8 after McDaniels spent six months working with the sommelier and winemaker at Old York to select wines that tickled his fancy and to pair them with local treats from The Fudge Shoppe in Flemington and by BAM Desserts in Somerset.
The collection includes red, white and blush blends and is Old York’s first and only celebrity collaboration. Old York founder and owner David Wolin said it’s fitting for a number of reasons, including that McDaniels has been a New Jersey resident for a number of years.
“The other reason we’re particularly excited about is it’s been a big deal in the wine business to make the wine business more inclusive and diversify the customer base. We’ve been actually very successful with that, and I think this’ll help make the business more inclusive,” Wolin said.
Darryl Mack Cellars wines, available at Old York Cellars. – OLD YORK CELLARS
“Darryl is truly an artist, both on stage and off. He knows his rhymes, and forming this partnership has been an absolute delight. We are thrilled to be announcing this partnership alongside an artist that has had such a significant impact on music, culture and the lives of many of our guests,” he said.
Wolin and McDaniels were introduced by comic book author and Old York club member Amy Chu, who’s the editor and writer of McDaniels’ Darryl Makes Comics comic book collection.
“Music and wine, like comic books, are cultures and cultures are a way of life. So we thought of doing something to bring people together, especially in this divided time of politics, people, and pandemic! It’s like what I did with Adidas and Aerosmith,” McDaniels told NJBIZ. “So my brand is capable of uniting many cultures and people. Rock ‘n roll, hip hop, fashion, comic books, cookies and wine!”
Darryl Mack Cellars is part of Old York Cellars’ charitable collection of wines, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Felix Organization. McDaniels founded the Felix Organization in 2006 with Emmy Award-winning casting director Sheila Jaffe to provide opportunities and experiences to children in the foster care system.
McDaniels found out at age 35 that he had been adopted, and prior to that had been a foster child. He called it “a revelation,” and after struggling with depression and alcoholism, fellow-adoptee Jaffe suggested they start an organization together to improve the lives of foster kids.
Since founding the organization, McDaniels and Jaffe have served more than 12,600 children, from hosting summer camps, road trips, and garden programs, to providing gifts during the holidays and grants to support the kids’ goals.
DMC labeled wines will be available for purchase, alongside treats curated by McDaniels—”I have a very sweet tooth,” he said—at the Old York Cellars Vineyard and online.
A shortage of available grains and malt due to a number of supply chain issues has thrown a wrench in production for New Jersey’s brewery industry. Tim Roberts, regional territory manager for craft beverage supplier Country Malt Group, attributes the problems to several factors, including Suez Canal closure in March, a Port of Montreal strike in April, an international shortage of shipping containers due to a not-so-post-COVID “explosion in commerce,” and labor shortages plaguing the trucking industry.
A “feeding frenzy” in warehousing and logistics jobs has also contributed, Roberts said, as employers are in serious competition to reel in workers with heavy sign on and retention bonuses, making it hard for CMG’s warehouses to retain staff needed to move goods.
Jamie Queli, the owner of Forgotten Boardwalk Brewery in Cherry Hill, said the issue has caused her lead time on grain and other ingredients to multiply. “You used to be able to get grain on demand, so the turnaround was basically how long it took to ship. We now are seeing [three to five] week lead times,” she said. “A lot of the specialty malts are back ordered as well … Yeast that we ordered in July is still yet to arrive. Everything is pretty much back ordered.”
Grain shortages are making it difficult to schedule what beers they’re going to be making. – TWIN ELEPHANT BREWING CO
Cindy DeRama, owner of Twin Elephant Brewing Co. in Chatham, said the shortage is making it difficult for her production team to schedule what beers they’re going to be making, something that typically happens at least a month in advance.
“When we go to try to order the grain, they say half of it’s not available. [Our brewers] end up having to go back to square one redesigning recipes to figure out what we can make with what they have. The stuff that’s available might not be available in a few days,” DeRama said. “It’s a race for base grains and German grains. I don’t know what the issue is with the supply chain but it’s definitely affecting all the way down to the smallest breweries.”
DeRama said that one of the grains Twin Elephant uses in 70% of its beers was out when she tried to order it from a supplier last week. Her brewer is “pretty particular” about the brands of grain they use, she said, but right now, “it’s kind of a crap shoot.”
Without grains, there is no beer. As breweries change around their recipes and scheduled beers based on what grains can be found, though, another shortage plagues them: glassware.
Joe Fisher, owner of Man Skirt Brewing in Hackettstown, has a glassware order that’s been delayed for months. Fisher usually plans for a lead time of three to four weeks, but the current order he’s been waiting on was placed in early June.
Denise Ford Sawadogo, co-owner of Montclair Brewery, surmised that the issue with glassware could be the collective recovery of business around the state and across the country. “It could be with the on-premise re-opening and everyone’s rush to order glasses, but there are some suppliers that we can’t get glasses from right now, and we were warned about two months earlier than normal to order Oktoberfest glasses if we needed them due to the supply chain constraints. Our last order arrived almost a month late,” she said.
Sawadogo said she had to pay a rush fee on 15 dozen Oktoberfest glasses, which she’s “definitely not happy about, because glass is always expensive when you factor in the freight.” She didn’t have a choice—either she paid the rush fee to get everything before the final weekend in September, or she risked putting the event on with no glasses, which are take-home novelties factored into the Oktoberfest ticket price.
Glass shortages have been reported by distilleries in South Carolina, a soft drink maker in Texas, and window repair shops in Montana in recent months. Libbey Inc., one of the largest manufacturers of glassware in the United States and the brand multiple brewers told NJBIZ they use for glassware in their taprooms and shops, did not return a request for comment on the alleged shortage by press time.
Under the worst-case scenario, Sawadogo said she could serve people in plastic cups at Oktoberfest, but they’re in short supply, too: clear plastic 16-ounce cups haven’t been available from her supplier for weeks. Even at members-only wholesaler Restaurant Depot, all she’s been able to get are 12-ounce cups. Montclair Brewery automatically reorders two cases of clear plastic 16-ounce cups every two or three weeks to serve folks drinking outdoors on the patio, but recently had to switch to opaque colored cups because that was what was available.
“The downfall is you can’t see the beer. Even pouring the beer in that cup is harder. You don’t know how much is foam and how much is beer. You can go by how heavy the cup feels but it’s not as beneficial as when we have clear cups, which you can easily see the foam-to-beer ratio,” Sawadogo said.
“From an economic standpoint, in the beer garden, when it’s all clear cups we can see how much beer is left in a customer’s cup easily. So we know when to ask, ‘would you like another one right now?’ But now with the opaque color ups, we have no idea how much beer they have left. It definitely impacts business. We train the staff, if you see their cup’s low, go ask them if they’d like another one or if they want to try something new this time around. Now they can’t do that. They’d have to stand on top of the customer to see,” Sawadogo said.
At Man Skirt, growlers are affected too, and Fisher said, “we’ve been riding on the hairy fringe of it being a problem.” He was out of 64-ounce growlers for a week but had a stock of smaller growlers he was able to use. Substituting two 32-ounce growlers for one 64-ounce growler is a cost because he pays roughly the same for both vessels, “but the customer, it’s not their fault, so I’m not going to make them pay for it.”
A bright spot
The tightknit nature of New Jersey’s small-but-mighty brewing sector keeps anyone struggling with supplies afloat. “Us and other breweries call each other for ingredients, to be like ‘I just need two bags of this, do you have it?’ A lot of breweries have been helping each other out,” DeRama said.
Recently, another brewery needed four bags of grain for beer it was contracted to brew by a specific date. The shipment had been delayed by nearly a week, but Twin Elephant happened to have extra stock of that grain in house. The other brewery picked it up, brewed their beer, and returned the same amount of grain to Twin Elephant when their shipment arrived.
“It’s like a nonstop flowing inventory between a bunch of breweries right now,” DeRama said.
Same goes for hand soap, bleach, paper towels, toilet paper. Anything shops have a hard time getting, they lean on their friends—other brewery owners—for.
“This industry is really good like that in New Jersey. Everyone is a competitor, but everyone isn’t really competing head-to-head. The stronger our industry is, the better it is for all of us,” DeRama said. “At the end of the day, we all want to make beer you drink with your buddies, and it starts with the creators. If we can’t make beer that each of us will sit around and drink with each other, why would our customers?”
Collingswood-based bottled cocktail maker Brody’s Crafted Cocktails nabbed a spot in BevNet’s inaugural Cocktail Showdown slated for Aug. 12.
Owner Cristy Neunson launched the product in stores just two months ago and, after already winning awards for all five of its cocktail offerings, made it into the Top 10 of entrants to go head-to-head in a virtual competition judged by Tony Abou-Ganim, owner of bar gadget company The Modern Mixologist; Molly Horn, manager of cocktail strategy at liquor store chain Total Wine & More; and Heili Dillon Otto, managing director of global beverage investment company Distill Venture North America.
Neunson launched the line in May with her husband John Neunson and beverage professional Ken Dee. The 16% to 25% ABV cocktails are sold at liquor stores across New Jersey and online to 31 states nationally.
It all started a year and a half ago when Neunson was on the quest to find the perfect combination for her favorite cocktail, the French 75.
“I don’t drink wine or beer, so I was trying to find that cocktail that I could enjoy celebrating with friends. The problem is, my husband perfected it in my kitchen, but I couldn’t bring it anywhere,” she said. “I’m sure there are many people like me who would like to enjoy this out with friends or by the beach or something like that, so Brody’s was born.”
Launching was a team effort. Both her husband and Dee worked in the beverage industry, and their connections and knowledge came in handy in regard to sourcing and talking to the right people. Her daughter, a graphic designer, designed the label.
Neunson worked in the nonprofit sector and she knew as soon as Brody’s was created that it had to be a mission-driven business.
“Brody is a combination of all our founders’ dog’s names, and 5% of our proceeds goes to animals,” she said. “Our product’s a lot about connection, celebrating the little things in life. When we think of who’s been with us through thick and thin, it’s our companions, our dogs.”
Turn the bottle over and on the back, you’ll see photos of all the founders’ pooches: Penny, Tebo, Bernard and Rocco.
Shaken or stirred
Brody’s offers five flavors. The minted mule is their take on the popular Moscow mule and is minty and gingery with both vodka and lime. French 75 has notes of bright juniper gin with tart lemon and star anise. Air Mail is a rum cocktail infused with honey, lime and aromatic bitters.
While those three are twists on classics, the Black Orchid and Touch of Grey are John Neunson originals. Black Orchid is a vodka cocktail with black raspberry, citrus and violet; and Touch of Grey is a gin cocktail with black tea, bergamot, black raspberry and honey.
Cristy Neunson and nine other cocktail makers will give four-minute presentations from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 12 that will be live streamed on both BevNET.com and Brewbound.com.
Neunson’s sipped some of the competing cocktails, and plans to try them all before competition day.
“We’re excited to be in this competition with the companies we’re in it with. We’re proud to have made it to the finals, I’m nervous but excited, and I can’t wait to do it,” she said.
The winner of the Cocktail Showdown gets a $10,000 advertising package with BevNet.
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