I’m indebted to Bex of Double Skinny Macchiato (and her excellent New York Speciality Coffee Map) for the heads-up on today’s Coffee Spot, Terremoto Coffee. Amanda and I were in New York City for less than 24 hours, en-route from Portland (Maine) to Atlanta. Other than quick stops at Café Grumpy in both the Fashion District and Chelsea, we only had time for one prolonged stop, which was at Terremoto.

There’s not much to Terremoto, just a bench outside and three small tables inside, but size is no limit to its ambition when it comes to coffee. Its most eye-catching feature is the gold Slayer espresso machine, but the real star is the coffee itself. Terremoto serves a wide selection of single-origins on both espresso and pour-over (Kalita Wave), one of which is also available on batch brew, plus there’s a small selection of cakes and pastries if you are hungry.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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Terremoto Coffee, which opened in 2016, is on West 15^th Street, half a block from Chelsea Market and close to Chelsea’s southern border with the West Village. Amanda and I called in on Sunday morning before catching our train to Atlanta that afternoon. Terremoto (Italian for “earthquake” if you were wondering) is one of those blink-and-you-miss-it places, on the ground floor of a row of red-brick houses on the street’s southern side. There’s an A-board to catch the eye, and a sign which you can see from a little way down the street, but if you’re not paying attention, you could easily walk past.

The narrow door is on the right, with an equally narrow window on the left, while outside there’s a pair of benches arranged in an L-shape: one under the window, the other alongside the steps of the neighbouring house to the left. Inside, a bench runs along the right-hand wall, while three, square two-person tables run along the exposed-brick of the left-hand wall from window to counter.

The counter, at the back, runs the width of Terremoto with the till directly opposite the door, a glass display case for the pastries built into the counter beneath it. The famous gold Slayer (the only one in America that I know of) is off to the left, while the menu is beyond that on the left-hand wall. The choice of beans, on the other hand, is on a narrow pillar behind the counter, next to the filter set-up.

The coffee’s all from Neat, a roaster/importer in Darien, Connecticut, which only deals in single-origins. During our visit, Terremoto had four single-origins on espresso, with the same four on pour-over, joined by a washed Honduran which was also on batch brew. All the coffees are seasonal, except the Mártir, a washed Colombian single-origin, which is present year-round. Roasted by Neat’s sister company, Osito, it comes from a farm owned by relatives of Terremoto’s owners.

Normally, I’d have made a beeline for it, but our barista told us about the Eugenioides, a naturally-processed coffee from Las Nubes in Colombia. This is a rare species of coffee (ie it’s not Arabica) so Amanda and I instantly wanted to try it! We ended up having it as a pour-over, an espresso and with milk in a cortado.

It’s at this point that I normally tell you all about it, but there’s so much I want to say that I’ve dedicated a whole Saturday Supplement to it, where you can find out what Amanda and I made of it.

In closing, let me just say that we really enjoyed our visit to Terremoto, which is highly recommended whether or not you try the Eugenioides.

Liked this? Then don’t forget to check out the Coffee Spot Guide to New York City for more great Coffee Spots.

For a different take on Terremoto, see what Bex made of it when she visited in 2017.

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