It seems like an aeon since Friends was on the telly, and Starbucks permeated international culture; since we all learnt new words like mocha, frappé, and Waka Flocka. Oh, he’s a rapper? Anyway, what we now call ‘third wave coffee’ came along, and lattes became flat whites, espresso macchiatos became long blacks, and pour-overs. Christ.
Thing is, coffee shops stopped being twee homages to hippie provenance, we stopped needing a weird tropical mural on the wall to tell us the beans were carefully-sourced, we stopped needing Fair Trade labels to tell us the owners were committed to the greater good; the beards and fixies hanging on the wall told us that.
Soon, coffee shops started resembling laboratories, the craft had become a science. Espresso bars, cold drip things that look like massive bongs … and then, somebody starts quoting Einstein, and American astronomer Carl Sagan. Someone always takes it to the nth degree. Enter, Voyager Espresso, propping up a small corner of New York City’s Financial District with a café that looks like it was designed for a future development of the International Space Station.
Voyager by name, voyagers by nature, seeking out seasonal fresh crop coffees from the United States’ best roasters, and embracing a ‘love for science and art’ to turn out coffees that will keep Wall Street’s space cadets wired from 7.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday.
Photography, Michael Vahrenwald / ESTO
