“I never drink coffee at lunch.  I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon.”  - Ronald Reagan

When the brain trust that calls itself the hMAG crew sat down to plan the upcoming issue that sits in your hand, everyone had one thing fueling their cognitive process: a cup of delicious beverage from Empire Coffee and Tea Company. They wanted to share the wealth with you, the reader.  Many may have strolled past the Victorian façade of the well-appointed shop that adorns the southwest corner of 4^th and Bloomfield Streets.  What you’ll find inside is the best selection of artisanally roasted coffees and fine teas in Hoboken.  Most days, you may also find the cheerful proprietor behind the shop, Abbe Rivers.

Abbe and her husband Paul Shaytin have been running the Empire Coffee and Tea Company for almost two decades at their location near the Port Authority on 9^th Ave in Manhattan. They have been providing Hoboken residents with a daily perk for the past 17 years.

After speaking with her, one can’t help but notice the shop is an extension of her bohemian personality.  I entered to the tune of “Touch Me” by the Doors, which Abbe states is typical.  Classic rock is the house favorite, keeping the rhythm of the shop flowing.  “We’re pretty analog here,” Abbe relates about the usual music selection. But more than just musically, an appreciation for the classics shows in their selection of coffees and teas - they will only serve the highest quality goods at the shop.  One senses the focus on providing a great product above anything else.

From beans to brew

That classical approach to providing good coffee shines through in the treatment of everything they provide.  For the uninitiated, a cup of coffee is not just coffee.  There is a fine art to sourcing, roasting, purveying, and brewing.  For the past 10 years, the couple has traveled at least twice-weekly to their roaster near New Paltz, in the Hudson Valley.  The couple decided to purchase the roaster and accompanying property from their previous provider, in order to keep their coffee up to the same standard they had always been providing.

After a full year as an apprentice, Paul finally took over the duties of master roasting. Each week, approximately 2,000 pounds of coffee is roasted, loaded into their van, and brought back to town to be stocked and sold in the shop.  One is immediately struck by the immense variety of beans; both single origin and house blends.  Empire keeps dozens of beans in stock, from your average Colombian, to the coveted Jamaican Blue Mountain that at press time, sold for $50 per pound.  I was told the price of this particular bean has been driven ski high by Japanese commodity brokers gobbling up supply, much like the recent Chinese run on first-growth Bordeaux wines.

The origins of coffee go back to around 800 A.D., where legend has it that a goat herder named Kaldi, of either Arabian or Ethiopian origin, noticed his herd frolicking heavily after grazing on the berries.  Kaldi plucked a few berries to try for himself and soon experienced the euphoria that ensued.  Monks soon learned of the percolating powers, and indulged in the beans for alertness before prayer.  Contemporary Africans also used to snack on primitive power bars, composed of the coffee berries mashed together with animal fat.  Experimentation with techniques of preparing the coffee led to roasting the beans, which first occurred around 1000 A.D.  From there, Muslim traders proliferated the commodity throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean with the expansion of the Moorish and Islamic Kingdoms, and coffee’s conquest of the world began, culminating with a Starbucks on every corner.

Coffee, tea, and Abbe!

When asked about competition from the large coffeehouse chains, Abbe remains nonchalant.  Empire has stuck to its core business model of putting out artisanally roasted coffees, and the people have kept coming. It seems the wave of Starbucks crested and receded long before reaching 4^th and Bloomfield Streets.   The only side-effect Empire feels is that “it is confusing when people come in and ask for a ‘tall’.”  But other than the lexicon, Abbe doesn’t view any of the big chains as much of a challenge, given the vastly different scale and approach.  Luckily, the community has continued to embrace Empire as one of its own, and the coffee speaks for itself.

In addition to the coffee selection, Abbe gives the royal treatment to the second-most popular beverage worldwide: tea.  They have a separate room set up with as many tea varieties as can be imagined, in addition to stocking many more common household brands.  Just about any hot beverage you could desire, the capable baristas can deliver.  Each employee must learn about all of the coffee styles, as well as deliver the right kind froth on any of the prepared drinks.  Although “nobody makes them better than me,” Abbe states modestly, but getting behind the counter unfortunately doesn’t happen too often, given the other demands of the business, not to mention her seven-year old son.

Placing nice coffee-related products, gourmet specialties, and kitchenware pieces in the store is one of those demands on Abbe.  Empire stocks a variety of enticing kitchen pieces, and gourmet accessories.  Abbe stocks pieces that are a reflection of her artistic side.  She seeks pieces that are “high quality and kitschy.”  And the shelves don’t disappoint, they are definitely worth a perusal.  The variety ranges from artsy coffee mugs and cream dispensers to gourmet jams.  Given the swelling in the ranks of the stroller crowd, they even started stocking Pez, and Pez dispensers, alongside the other eclectic sundries and savors.

For those looking for something in time for the holidays, Abbe uses her creative talents to create lovely gift baskets, both pre-made and custom.  She has a background in the arts, being a musician, even having worked for a Chelsea law firm throughout the eighties that doubled as an art gallery.  She performed music in New York for much of the decade, and folks can still catch her around Hoboken these days, most recently at the Hoboken Arts and Music Festival.  But it was in the 90s when she and her husband dove into coffee headfirst.

Abbe herself is a proprietary blend of Puerto Rican and Jewish parents, having grown up in East Flatbush, in Brooklyn.  “I guess I’m a hipster,” she laughs, but she comes from a different Brooklyn than exists today: pre-Giuliani Brooklyn.  The former roaster for the company had an operation on the wrong side of the East River for years; the neighborhood got a little too rough for his taste, prompting him to disassemble the large roasting machine and move it piece by piece to it’s current home near the Adirondacks.  It seems Abbe has found a home in Hoboken, and she has become an institution now, along with the shop.

Finding a home

For the first half of its life in Hoboken, the Empire Coffee and Tea Company set up shop on the east side of Washington Street, but as they were negotiating a new lease, the building housing the original location of the Company was sold and they were priced out of the space.  Abbe had resigned to give up the Hoboken shop and be a full-time mother, given that she had a child on the way at the same time.  Empire was set to continue only in the Manhattan location, but Abbe had too much outcry of support from Hoboken residents.  “Realtors drink a lot of coffee,” Abbe reveals, and with that reliance on Empire, Abbe’s real estate regulars found the space on 4^th and Bloomfield, a defunct Indian restaurant.

Counter-intuitively, Empire has been doing much better since moving off of Washington Street.  The current location proved a boon to business and Abbe has never looked back.  “Fourth Street is pretty bad-ass,” Abbe laughs, but qualifies her statement, “when I say that I mean we’re in good company.”  She is referring to some of the other businesses that occupy the stretch from Washington Street down to Willow Ave.  One notices the constant influx of traffic to the shop, from all slices of the Hoboken demographic.  Abbe is at ease conversing and welcoming all of them into her shop.  At Empire, customers can enjoy the traditional feel of a coffeehouse community.   The shop is always bustling; it is a perfect place to enjoy the proverbial cup of coffee or to select a pound to take home.  Luckily for Hoboken, Abbe is still enthusiastic about being involved, “I can’t see myself doing anything different.”