Bushwick Grind
“My great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother and me, we’re all Bushwick girls,” says Kymme Williams, who co-owns the Brooklyn Grind cafe with her husband, Raymond Davis. While her family moved to Long Island when Kymme was eight, she found her way back home seven years ago as she and Raymond noticed changes in the neighborhood. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we open a business here?’” she recalls. “‘Because if we don’t, somebody else will, and they probably won’t look like us or the generations of people who have been here.’”
Determined, the couple sold their house on Long Island, moved with the kids to Bushwick — and obsessively studied third wave coffee culture. In March of 2016 they opened Bushwick Grind, bringing meticulously sourced coffee and provisions to the neighborhood.
“We thought, ‘Why don’t we open a business here? Because if we don’t, somebody else will, and they probably won’t look like us or the generations of people who have been here.’”
Outside of the cafe rests an easel bearing its mission statement: “to host an extraordinary experience so that each guest leaves a little better than they arrived!” That’s not just talk. Thanks to genuinely friendly staff, Bushwick Grind’s excellent customer service makes you feel at home.
“You have hundreds of roasters right here in Brooklyn,” Kymme says. “But one thing that differentiates us is the experience we’re trying to cultivate. We know most of our customers by name. And we might be the only friendly faces you see all day.”
The atmosphere is equally inviting, with quaint furnishings built from reclaimed wood, a bright Ernie Barnes-inspired mural by local artist Rob “TMO” Plater, old records borrowed from Kymme’s father’s collection and no laptop restrictions. (Relax; stay a while.)
Another factor that sets Bushwick Grind apart is seriously good coffee and food, made from ingredients procured with special care. “Our food is as healthy, clean and enriched as possible,” Kymme says of the cafe’s extensive menu, which has a little something for everyone, including vegan and gluten-free options, with no half-stepping on flavor.
At a recent brunch, fueled by beautiful lattes made from sustainable beans, we tore into their crispy, melty jerk panini filled with house-made jerk chicken and pepper jack cheese; the Green Giant spinach-kale-arugula salad with edamame, walnuts, grape tomatoes, dried cranberries and mozzarella pearls; and the Monte Cristo Benedict, perfectly composed of brioche French toast, Canadian bacon, poached eggs and a savory pile of home fries that we’re still craving.
63 Whipple Street, 929-337-6007, bushwickgrind.com
