Filter coffee and rare Taiwanese tea in Carlton
Plus a six-stop New York walk and the cold brew ratio worth writing down.
Three things this fortnight: a Melbourne shop that takes tea as seriously as coffee, a New York route you can actually cover in a day, and a fridge job you can start tonight. No detours through anything you didn't ask for.
One café: Assembly Store, Pelham Street, Carlton
Most specialty bars keep a token tea on the menu. Assembly Store buys rare Taiwanese teas with the same seasonal rigour it applies to green coffee, and the staff will talk you through both without making you feel tested.
It has been on Pelham Street since 2013, and it sells brew equipment alongside what it pours, which means you can taste a filter and then buy the thing that made it. Espresso, pour over, batch and drip are all on offer.
Go mid-morning, sit down, order a single-origin filter and then a Taiwanese tea after it. Compare how the two finish. That is the reason to make the trip to Carlton rather than drink somewhere closer.
[See Assembly Store](https://remembrew.com/cafes/assembly-store-melbourne)
One city: New York, north to south to east
Start at The Oma Shop on Amsterdam Avenue in Hamilton Heights. Counter Culture espresso, homewares from Black, POC and LGBTQ+ vendors, white walls. Take your time, because the next leg is long.
Ride down to Black Fox at 70 Pine Street in the Financial District. Weekday espresso crowd, pour overs, and pastries baked in house with seasonal produce, so eat here rather than saving your appetite.
Cross to Williamsburg for Devoción at 69 Grand Street. Everything is Colombian and flown in green within days of dry-milling in Bogota. Order a washed Colombian on the pour over bar to taste a single estate on its own. Then push east to Sey on Grattan Street in Bushwick, where the filter list runs three to five single origins and laptops are not allowed. Order the least familiar one.
Finish in Long Island City, where Ninth Street Espresso's roastery cafe on 12th Street and Joe Coffee's on 23rd Street sit close enough to do back to back. At Ninth Street, ask what came off the roaster this week.
[All 50 in New York](https://remembrew.com/cities/new-york)
One thing to try: Cold brew at 1:8, and leave it alone
Most home cold brew is weak because people brew it at drinking strength. Make concentrate instead: 1 part coffee to 8 parts water by weight. For 100g of coffee, that is 800g of cold water.
Grind coarse, coarser than you would for a French press. Stir once so nothing floats dry, cover, and put it in the fridge for 15 hours. Overnight plus a slow morning.
Strain, then dilute to taste when you pour, roughly one part concentrate to one part water or milk. The concentrate keeps in the fridge, so one jar covers most of the week.
[The Cold Brew guide](https://remembrew.com/brew/cold-brew)
If you run the New York route, log the six as you go so you remember which Sey lot you actually liked. See you in two weeks. Povilas