North Brooklyn’s coffee culture expanded once again this week. California import Maru Coffee (320 Wythe Ave.) opened on Monday in Williamsburg.
The small chain started in Los Angeles in 2016 and became popular when it started selling cream-topped iced coffee and matcha in 2018, according to New York Magazine. Maru has since expanded to three locations.
The sleek, minimalistic Brooklyn outpost is Maru’s fourth store and the first location outside of southern California.
According to the newcomer’s website, Maru adopts its name from a native Korean language, San Ma Ru, which means “mountaintop.”
“This is our symbol of quality as the finest coffee beans are grown and harvested from areas of high altitude,” Maru writes on the site. “Born from a love of process and everyday quality, we are inspired by all things analog and the simplicity of good coffee. We believe that quality does not have to be austere and that tradition can be respected as well as re-imagined. Maru is made with intention, balance, and a love for the ritual of a well-made coffee.”
Maru explained that the company roasts all the coffee at its roastery in Glassell Park, Los Angeles, where much of the production also takes place.
New York Magazine writes that when Maru first opened, “it was known as a place with properly dosed espresso shots and a widely sourced pour-over menu that is today filled with six single-origin house roasts of its own.”
The publication explained that Maru’s menu offers espresso sets that pair espresso or a cortado with a small drip-coffee chaser, similar to a “one and one” which includes one single shot of espresso with milk and another shot of espresso without milk.
“When they’re ordered at Maru’s coffee bar, the sets are served on custom-etched wood trays with tasting notes for each drink,” according to New York Magazine, which added that prices on Maru’s menu range from $4.50 for a single espresso to $8 for the most expensive set.
Maru is open daily from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all of these new coffee shops didn’t serve the same two block radius of Greenpoint