Driftaway Coffee (85 Debevoise Ave.), an AAPI immigrant-owned small batch coffee roaster in Williamsburg dedicated to sustainability, recently opened a coffee tasting room in the front of their roastery, where locals can try different blends and learn more about java.
Local husband and wife team, Suyog Mody and Anu Menon, founded Driftaway a decade ago. (The brand may sound familiar; they participated in the Greenpointers market in 2023.) After 10 years of being an e-commerce operation, Mody and Menon decided to open a tasting room that was “more than just a coffee shop” with both an espresso bar and a pour-over bar with tasting flights and single pour-overs.
“It’s a space designed to slow things down and engage with coffee in a more interactive and intentional way, perfect for anyone looking to dive deeper into coffee,” the duo told Greenpointers.
Driftaway began when Mody and Menon were working in marketing consulting and feeling unfulfilled with corporate life. They fell in love with making coffee at home, and that passion sparked the idea of starting a coffee company that combined their love for coffee with their problem-solving mindset. Mody and Menon taught themselves how to roast coffee and launched Driftaway from their Crown Heights apartment. They soon moved the roasting to a shared facility in Red Hook, while the packaging took place in Greenpoint, first at 67 West Street and then at the Pencil Factory, where they worked for many years, before landing on Debevoise Avenue.
After focusing entirely on e-commerce and direct-to-consumer sales for years, the pair started hosting events, mostly when their farm partners visited, and “something clicked.” They realized how much they “craved community, connection, and the joy of sharing coffee with people in person.”
“This is our first time having a retail space, and we’re excited to create a welcoming, community-driven space for coffee lovers,” they said. “We aim to create what we call Driftaway Moments with every coffee: time to reflect and recharge, to dream and inspire.”
The opening of the tasting room is just one exciting thing that happened to Mody and Menon this year—Driftaway was also named as a finalist for the 2025 Roaster of the Year by Roast Magazine. The award highlights top specialty coffee roasters worldwide based on their commitment to quality, sustainability, innovation, and impact on the industry.
“Being a finalist for Roaster of the Year means so much to us because it recognizes the values that drive our work: sustainability, equity, and making great coffee accessible to more people,” they said. “At Driftaway Coffee, we prioritize giving credit to coffee farmers, especially those who have historically had limited access to the market.”
More than half of the coffee that Driftaway sources come from women producers, and at least 20% come from minority producers, including indigenous farmers in Guatemala and Black-owned farms in Brazil.
“As Indian immigrants, we’re also excited to highlight Indian coffee as part of our sourcing efforts,” Mody and Menon told Greenpointers. “Our mission is to make coffee inclusive and enjoyable for all,” adding that they wanted to create a space “free of snobbery.”
Driftaway’s tasting room is open Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.