Empire Coffee & Tea Company

Best coffee in the area. The «Snookie» is to die for! They have a lot of flavours of coffee to be made at the counter, but they also sell beans in lots of flavours. There is something for every coffee lover. They don’t have a lot of seating or food, but there is a cute gift section!

Best snookie I ever had. Only snookie I ever had. The one and only snookie. What is a snookie?

Magical. Cheapest double espresso in NYC and quite possibly the tastiest. (disclaimer about the fact that I have not had every espresso in NYC)
This place is like a warehouse of all you could ever need, coffee-​wise.
The staff here are awesomely friendly and that is worth more than anything.
Thanks Empire!!!

Getting a second bag of coffee beans as I always prefer some sort of variety. Looked on Unilocal and this coffee shop instantaneously popped up. The best part about it was that they provided half an lb option — essentially you could give a try on something new without worrying about wasting the beans if not like it.
Indeed a great selection in front of me and I already lost my decision making ability… As I prefer a smooth and light coffee, I followed their suggestion and went with the Indian Malibar. It turned out to be a great choice after I brewed my cappuccino at home. Would for sure return and explore something new next time!

Great latte flavors. More of a grab and go place because it’s so small. Some of my favorites are the Moroccan and the sugar and spice

I come here for my yerba mate. The customer service was great when I came in to buy my first espresso beans. The coffee candy is delicious too!

Yes please! They have organic Rooibos tea in the back and a great selection of other loose leaf teas. The coffee is wonderful and just perfect on a cool crisp morning. I looove this place and even though we are from Texas we will still be ordering our loose leaf tea from here :)

This place is great! And very warm :) try the Mexican spiced hot coco, so yummy!

I’ve been here three times now and still haven’t found the appeal of this place. The iced coffee is ok, somewhat watery, and the funky latte I tried was very strange and flavored too strongly. The muffins I tried here were also not very good, and the other food offerings are paltry (biscotti is not my thing for breakfast). I just keep coming here because it’s one of the closer coffee shops near my place, but next time I may just walk a little further to get to Starbucks.

I was excited to try this place out after learning that there were still a few local roasters out there. I eventually got my way over to Empire and was kinda disappointed. First off I was put off by the fact that none of the signage mentioned when the beans were roasted. Also, the employees weren’t all that informative nor did it seem as if they wanted to help. The knockout punch was a cup of bland lukewarm «continental» coffee. Off to the next place.

If you’re jonesing for a caffeine fix (that you brew yourself), Empire will meet your needs. It’s got a pretty extensive collection of tea bags, loose leaf teas and coffee beans. I had a cold when I was there and picked up a nice package of honey lemon tea that soothed my poor throat right away. Service is ridiculously friendly too, with staff that can’t wait to help you out.

Very good fresh coffee beans, good service. I personally like to try 4 quarter pounds of different coffee until I find the one I like most. I never buy more than a pound because I really only like the beans fresh. They only do half pound minimum. No quarters! Well I only bought a half pound. This place is very good but Ii will go to PR company more frequently. In my opinion, dumb business move.

I really like this little coffee shop near Port Authority… you kind of have to look for it, but it’s worth it.
The guys working there are pretty laid back and really know their coffee. If you ask them for a suggestion, they’ll ask you what you like and go from there. We had a regular iced coffee, my order, and boring, but really good! My wife had a hot coffee that had Mexican chocolate and cinnamon I believe… holly crap was it amazing coffee… I had tremendous coffee envy to say the least.
I stay in that area of town often, so I will definitely return. They have pre-​packaged pastries, that looked pretty good as well.

The guy at the counter was nice and engaging, so I wish I could give them 1.5 stars, but when I say this was the ABSOLUTE worst cup of coffee I have ever had in my entire life, there is NO hyperbole in that statement.
We went in July. I had literally a large Iced Coffee. I only take my coffee with milk, but I tried to cut the sewage water taste with Splenda, which somehow made it worse. My boyfriend had something that was supposed to have a spicy kick, and it was extraordinarily sweet. AND it wasn’t cheap.
Sad to say I won’t ever try them again, and I believe in second chances. But it literally taste like I was pulling garbage through my straw.

Super cute shop. Really open feel, reminiscent of some of the shops I visited in Seattle. LOVED The Moroccan Latte (honey & amaretto — both subtly done). Really cute mugs and kettles. Nice selection of beans and teas. Really cute and good quality!

I’ve been to both the Hoboken and NYC locations, and this one is the better of the two. Conveniently located on 9^th Ave, half block away from Port Authority bus terminal and a 1 – 2 blocks away from 42^nd St/​Times Square. The owner is always in the store, providing a knowledgeable and ready to serve attitude. The other baristas are also friendly and understand all that is coffee.
As far as the coffee is concerned, is the good quality at a reasonable price for a local joint. They have a huge variety of whole beans that you can mix and get ground if preferred. I’m generally a drip coffee fan and criticize a coffee shop by just that. Empire does it right. I haven’t tried the teas but I’m sure they are just as divine.
Empire also has homemade fresh pastries such as, muffins, biscottis, and cookies aside from chocolate bars, sweet covered nuts and gluten free products. In addition to the baked and packaged goods, they also sell coffee and tea paraphernalia. Best time of the year to get an Empire fix is in the fall/​winter but the coffee/​tea concoctions on ice are equally yummy.

Great coffee — huge selection of whole beans that they’ll ground for you. Most are only $ 9.99 a pound.
I ducked in for breakfast and was honestly a little disappointed. My drink was perfect but there is a very small selection of food, mostly pastries, and no comfortable seating. The muffin I had was good, but I wish the sitting area was a little more welcoming — it’s two park benches and a small table.
Overall good experience, the staff was friendly. I’ll definitely be back.

I have always found the service here to be ebullient, knowledgeable and downright friendly. There is nothing better than getting a custom blend of coffee or tea and then going back, tweaking the blend until you achieve perfection.
I can only wish they would change out the tile on the floor, which is a bit of a clash to the organics of the place, but, it’s places like this in NYC, that makes living here memorable.
Don’t forget to ask for an Empire card. After the 10^th pound, you get 1 free.

Walking a mile in NYC to catch an appointment on a blustery, winter day, my bf and I ducked into this café to warm ourselves up for a moment or two. Upon walking in, we loved what we saw: rustic, vintage, quirky décor and rows of open bags of aromatic coffee beans lining the walkway. My bf ordered a hot chocolate and I ordered a green tea latte. Sadly, the drinks didn’t live up to the nice interior atmosphere. The hot chocolate was sickly sweet and my green tea latte had the strangest aftertaste… half splenda, half hand lotion (with a dash of shampoo). Perhaps they didn’t clean one of their apparatuses properly? Who knows. At first, I thought I was imagining it but the more sips I took, the more prominent the taste became. I’ve drank many green tea lattes in my life and none were as atrocious as this one. I should have probably asked for a remake but after tasting the sickly syrupy mess my bf got, I decided against the trouble.
I can’t say I’d come back to this place ever though the atmosphere was nice and the service was pleasant. They just serve terrible drinks, sadly.
Food: ¹⁄₅ — This marks the first time I’ve ever thrown out a near-​full cup of green tea latte.
Service: ³⁄₅ — Friendly
Atmosphere: ³⁄₅ — Rustic, vintage, quirky, aromatically welcoming, but with a small seating area
Overall: ²⁄₅ — Sadly, a café with terrible drinks isn’t a café I’ll come back to…

Older style café spot with several seats to enjoy your beverage. Located in a great location Empire carries a big variery of hot beverages, coffee beans and other coffee/​tea like products.
I wound up going with the Nutella latte which was definitely not a favorite of mine. maybe I should have asked for another drink but I wound up sticking with this one, hoping for a chance as it progressed, no luck. It was just a bit harsh and tasted like flavored powder.
It could have just been my poor decision with my choise but I will definitely come back to give other drinks a shot.
FYI…no bathroom. You would have to go to Port Authority which is a short 4 minute walk.