Black Fox Coffee is the final Coffee Spot from last September’s visit to New York City. Fittingly, since I started my Manhattan write-ups with a recommendation from my friend Bex (of Double Skinny Macchiato), Black Fox is another of Bex’s many NYC recommendations. Black Fox is an interesting concept, being both a roaster in its own right and also a multi-roaster, featuring guests from around the world on batch-brew filter, alongside its own coffee on espresso, with all the coffee available in retail bags in store and online.

There are currently five Black Foxes around Manhattan, with today’s Coffee Spot located on W 33^rd Street in Midtown. It occupies a spot on the ground floor of the Pendry Hotel and, while a door leads directly from the hotel lobby to the coffee shop, it’s a completely standalone operation. There’s no seating inside, and although it has a couple of tables outside, Black Fox only uses disposable cups, so don’t forget to bring your own. If you’re hungry, there’s a small selection of cakes and pastries.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

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There really isn’t much to Black Fox Coffee on W 33^rd Street. Just around the block from the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, it’s a few minutes’ walk from the new Hudson Yards development at the northern end of the High Line, making it a good spot for a pre- or post-walk coffee. Looking the other way, east along W 33^rd Street, gives you great views of the Empire State Building.

Black Fox has its own door, tucked away to the left of the lobby of the Pendry Hotel, the area set back from the street to form a little patio. There are a pair of two-person tables out here, one on each side of the door, and while the street itself is busy, the patio is relatively quiet. You order (and collect) your coffee inside, where the space is dominated by the L-shaped counter.

Long and thin, Black Fox stretches away ahead of you, the counter running across the full width of the back wall and then down the right-hand side, stopping just short of the front. This leaves space for a door on the right which leads into the hotel lobby. There’s also a small takeaway station here, immediately to the right of the main door to the street, while on the left, a set of shelves carries retail bags of coffee.

You order at the back of Black Fox, where the menus are written on mirrors on the back wall which are far easier to read than they are to photograph! You’ll also find the cakes and pastries on display here, along with more retail bags of coffee on the back wall. Once you’ve ordered, move around the counter, past the Kees van der Westen Spirit espresso machine, which stands parallel to the right-hand wall, to the front of the counter on the right. This is where you collect your coffee and, if you time it right, you should be able to watch your espresso being pulled on the Kees van der Westen.

Talking of coffee, this is the real draw. Black Fox roasts its own house blend (All Day) and decaf (All Night) in a co-roasting space in DUMBO, just across the East River in Brooklyn. These form the backbone of the concise espresso-based menu and are joined on batch-brew filter by a pair of coffees from the current guest roaster. This can be from anywhere in the world, but during my visit, the guest was DAK, from Amsterdam.

Although I was tempted by the guest roaster, I went with a flat white in my HuskeeCup, the All Day blend going really well with the milk to produce a rich, smooth flat white, with some great latte art that lasted all the way to the bottom of the cup. I paired this with an equally rich and this time chewy Kouign-amann.

In a final, but very pleasing twist, when I went to introduce myself, it turned out that the barista and I already knew each other, having met in Octane in Atlanta in 2020. On that occasion, I’d just arrived by train from New York, a journey that I was about to undertake again at the end of my week in the city, a touch of symmetry which pleased me no end!

Liked this? Then take a look at the rest of New York City’s speciality coffee scene with the Coffee Spot Guide to New York City.

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