East One Coffee Roasters: Pride of Brooklyn

If coffee were words, you’d find the finest poetry at East One in Brooklyn, New York. Operated by two artists of the roast,  it comes as no surprise to us just how successful East One already is after a mere 4 years in the business. 

This is a sponsored post, where we’ve received compensation and/or free product in exchange for our honest review. All opinions are wholly our own.

The Origins of East One Coffee Roasters

East One Coffee Roasters was founded by Tom Cummings and Morten Tjelum, who previously owned cafes located in the East One district of London. Selina Ulrich, Director of Coffee, was working on a double major pre-medical program when she got her start in coffee. She began by working at a New York City café and soon became interested in the production side. The expertise and purity with which the beans are roasted are the results of Ulrich’s dogged pursuit of coffee production knowledge.

Ulrich saw this same tenacity in Emily Wendorff (Production Roaster and Quality Control Liaison), who worked at East One after transferring from a café in Wisconsin, where she was also pursuing a double major (psychology and music). Together, this power duo has created not only a superior coffee roasting process but also a transcendent coffee culture. 

East One Coffee Roasters not only prides itself on its coffee, but also on diversifying the often homogenous coffee scene by creating a transparent mentorship process that breaks down the glass ceilings of gender, race, and sexuality in coffee culture. Likewise, East One is intentional about cultivating community through coffee, both among employees and customers. (source)

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Catching Up with Selina Ulrich and Emily Wendorff

We had the honor of catching up with Ulrich and Wendorff for an interview about their mission and vision for East One Coffee Roasters:

HD: How would you describe the purpose behind East One Coffee Roasters?

EO: East One’s mission is constructed of three pillars:

• carefully sourcing and roasting resonant, dimensional, full-spectrum coffee
• serving ambitious and progressive coffee with confidence and kindness
• prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of our business. 

HD: How many locations do you have?

EO: We have two locations: our Roastery, café, and restaurant in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and our café in Chelsea, Manhattan.

HD: What makes each location unique? What are some deciding factors behind opening a new location?

EO: Each location aims to reflect the needs of the community in which it is situated. Our Carroll Gardens space is a welcoming place for the many families of the neighborhood to start their days, catch up with friends, or take a moment between school and activities. In Chelsea our community is comprised more of people commuting to work, taking a meeting offsite, or visiting the city. 

We picked our Carroll Gardens cafe and roastery location because it’s a great old space on a nice corner across from a park, and we thought this neighborhood would be open to an all-day cafe concept. 

We chose our Chelsea location because we wanted to spread our footprint to Manhattan and happened up this space that was just begging to be a coffee shop. that it’s an amazing great location with high foot traffic, we directly next to an entrance to a 1-train subway stop and are on the corner with high ceilings and floor to ceiling. It’s a bright space to showcase the coffee and feel welcoming.

HD: How would you describe the quality and characteristics of the roasts at East One?

EO: We roast with the intention to highlight the qualities inherent to the coffee itself and, to the greatest extent practical, minimize the influence ‘roast’ character has on the cup. We roast quite light, just trying to focus on the pop and sparkle that well-produced coffee has.

HD: What is your favorite way to drink espresso?

Ullrich: I am an espresso person (if there is such a thing) and really enjoy it on its own, preferably in a tall vessel with no handles that I can swirl and rest in my hand. There are so many ways to see a coffee speak as espresso, I love seeing what different members of our team have to say with the coffee. 

Wendorff: I also enjoy espresso most by itself.  Additionally, as a lactose intolerant person, this has proven to be the path of least resistance for me. I typically drink a maximum of half an espresso at a time.

HD: Selina, what drew you to coffee after studying for a double pre-med degree?

Ulrich: I took my first job in coffee when I was in desperate need of a break from the tremendous pressure I had been under and thought that working in a barista role would allow me to develop my (at the time very poor) social skills. I quickly became extremely interested in the coffee itself and started to dive deeper and deeper into the “why” of what I was doing and how the way I had been taught to think as a ‘science person’ could be applied to coffee.

HD: Emily, after working as a barista, what made you want to learn more about the roasting and production process?

Wendorff: When I first started working at East One as a barista, I had never really tasted coffee that was roasted this way before.  I wanted to know as much about that as I could, and so I kept asking questions about it and trying to learn as much as possible and gain experience.  Paired with Selina as a mentor, I was able to gain a comprehensive skillset and I found that I really enjoyed the process.  

HD: How do you feel your purpose to bring diverse representation and a better model of mentorship to the coffee world drives your company culture? 

EO: We really try to make our workplace open to collaboration and feedback by listening to the voices of our team at every level. We believe that cultivating a workplace where policies and procedures are developed in collaboration with our team is key to building the type of engagement that leads people to ask good questions, pursue their own ideas, and seek solutions to the problems they encounter. When people are empowered to seek answers and solve problems creatively, growth happens.

HD: Likewise, how has this company culture cultivated community among your customers?

EO: The presence of people behind the counter that are clearly engaged with the product they serve and comfortable in their environment tends to welcome customers to become comfortable in our spaces and with us. We have a great deal of regulars at both locations that know a lot of the staff by name and have made friends with other people who are around at the same times, which is always really nice to see.

HD: What are your dreams for the future of East One?

EO: We hope to see East One expand into more communities through the expansion of our retail and wholesale presence. Personally, I would love to grow more opportunities for BIPOC and/or Queer people in coffee to be taken seriously and pursue excellence in the community with other people aiming to drive coffee forward.

HD: What progress do you hope to see in the coffee industry in the next ten years?

EO: Leaving aside my obvious desire to see coffee mature into an industry where BIPOC and/or Queer people see themselves represented at every level and are given meaningful opportunities to advance; I really want to see coffee shops become more differentiated and see coffee professionals gain more confidence to serve the menu and coffee they really want to offer without apology. I often hear people saying that they ‘have’ to serve a certain product or beverage because either “everyone only wants x” or “everyone is doing y”. I think that the more we, as an industry, embrace different shops being different and serving what we want to serve the more we will be able to bring in and keep talented, creative people in our industry. 

This is certainly not to say that I don’t want people to find what they want in our shops! I absolutely care about the desires of our customers but if you only give people what they are telling you they want you are only bringing them the experience that already exists, that they know to ask for. If we are to advance, we need to lean into our creativity and cultivate a variety of distinct experiences for people to choose from. Have courage, coffee people, good things can be ahead of us. 

Spill the Beans: East One Coffee Roast Review

Alright, let’s get to our favorite part, shall we? We reviewed three of East One Coffee Roaster’s finest beans. We did a finer grind and brewed each in our trusty Bialetti with filtered water. Here are the results:

Roast #1 | RARO NANSEBO

Origin: Guji-Uraga, Ethiopia
Notes: Jasmine, Ripe Peach, Cordial
Review: This roast was our first impression of East One Coffee, and it sure was a lasting one. The smoothness of these beans was simply off the charts. It’s the absolute perfect espresso to serve alone because you can taste the simplicity of the bean without sacrificing flavor. I’m not sure if you can brew this coffee bitter if you tried.

Roast #2 | WORKA SAKARO

Origin: Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia
Notes: Berry Jam, Honeycomb, Tidal
Review: East One’s Yirgacheffe, Worka Sakaro, was bold and delightfully flavorful with an aroma that added its own presence to the room. There are very few roasts in our years of coffee tasting whose flavors jump out at you, and this was one of them. Accompanying the rich coffee flavor was a lingering sweetness from the Berry Jam and Honeycomb notes. This roast would make an excellent pour over.

Roast #3 | OKOLUU

Origin: Guji-Shakisso, Ethiopia
Notes: Persimmon, Sweet Cream, Aloft
Review: As with the others, this roast was absolutely delicious.

Jason and I have been recommended a lot of coffee, and we expected this to be decent, considering the brand presence and recommendations that accompany this roastery. But to be honest, we were blown away by just how pure and wholly flavorful these beans were. And the caffeine kick was out of this world to boot. 

Dare we say it? Yep, this is the best coffee we’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking.

How to Get a Cup of East One Coffee

If you’re visiting NYC (or live locally), you can grab a cup of East One Coffee at their location in Carrol Gardens or Chelsea (below).

If you’d like to order beans for home (highly recommend), you can do so at eastonecoffee.com.