Another coffee shop has taken over the small storefront at 142 Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint where Clever Blend served coffee to the neighborhood for a short while.
Clever Blend was a family-owned coffeeshop that opened in June 2022 with a dog-friendly focus. Co-owner Nadia told Greenpointers that Clever Blend’s Park Slope location “simply got too busy.” Nadia said that Clever Blend “got a good offer” and thus, the owners decided to sell the Greenpoint location.
Another small coffee shop chain called Poetica stepped in. Poetica was founded in May 2020 and now has several shops scattered throughout Brooklyn. The Greenpoint location opened three weeks ago.
Poetica’s founder, Parviz Mukhamadkulov, told Greenpointers that “the owner of Clever Blend reached out to see if we were interested in purchasing their business.” Like Nadia, Mukhamadkulov said that the Clever Blend owners were unable to run both shops and “wanted to do good by landlord by finding them a new tenant.”
The poetic backstory of Greenpoint’s newest coffee shop begins in Samarkand, Uzbekistan where Mukhamadkulov’s grandparents were well-known poets. (There are even streets and schools named after them there!)
In honor of them, Mukhamadkulov named his shop Poetica, the Latin word for poetry. “Poetry is big in my life,” Mukhamadkulov told Greenpointers. According to him, the “poetry of coffee” is when the “best coffee combines with amazing people in small, but gorgeous places.”
Mukhamadkulov also said that he sees his cafes as places for New Yorkers to enjoy fine coffee and pastries while creating art or working remotely. He explained that all Poetica coffee shops have no laptop policy or limits.
What Poetica coffeeshops do have is a thoughtfully created menu of coffee drinks, teas, and homemade pastries.
The drink menu includes both hot and iced coffee and espresso classics, such as cappuccinos, lattes, and mochas, plus a wide variety of freshly-brewed teas, including Earl Grey, hibiscus, and even an Arnold Palmer.
The food menu includes Central Asian pierogis in flavors like egg scallion and spinach feta, various croissants including chocolate, almond, and a vegan one, plus sweet treats like brownies and lemon bars. All of the pastries are homemade at Poetica’s Park Slope location and then delivered to Greenpoint.
“I think what sets us aside is that we really care about coffee and about our neighborhoods. And that Poetica is a real New York story,” said Mukhamadkulov.
Poetica is open in Greenpoint everyday from 7 a.m. – 6 p.m.