Culture Espresso
Johnny Norton runs the coffee side here. He cut the food down to the chocolate chip and the oatmeal cookies, and put everything else into the coffee bar.3 It has been at Sixth Avenue and West 38th Street since 2009.3
Why go
Jody LoCascio and Adam Craig opened this in the notions and trimmings end of the garment district. Craig came to it off the bar at Variety Coffee in Williamsburg. Norton joined in 2010 and rebuilt the coffee side. He told Liz Clayton at Sprudge what went in: We chopped the bar down a foot, and upgraded to a Fetco, Strada, Mahlkonig EK43, a gang of espresso grinders, Kyoto drippers, nitro cold brew, and every manual method under the sun.
3
The shop worked through Intelligentsia, PT's, Stumptown, Grumpy, MadCap, Wrecking Ball and Sightglass. It settled on Heart out of Portland. Norton's reason was that Heart kept winning the staff's blind cuppings.3
Molly Fitzpatrick ran The Infatuation's chocolate chip cookies through several rounds of voting in April 2025. Culture Espresso did not win. More than one taster had expected it to.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the chocolate chip, and take it warm.2
- Order: the oatmeal cranberry. Carina Finn picks it over the chocolate chip.1
- Order: an espresso drink. That is what the bar was built for.3
What locals & experts say
- Carina Finn, The Infatuation (19 October 2022):
Culture Espresso is a Garment District coffee shop that makes some of the most excellent espresso drinks in Manhattan, but they also have really, really good cookies... their oatmeal cranberry variation is the one that keeps us coming back. It's a slightly chunkier cookie, with a thicker, chewier middle that gives way to thinner, crispier edges.
1 - Molly Fitzpatrick, The Infatuation (29 April 2025): the cookies are
buttery, with generous melty chocolate and a sugary crust.
2
Good to know
- Where: 72 West 38th Street, a short walk from Bryant Park.4
- Other doors: 247 West 36th Street near Penn Station, and 307 West 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen.4
Verdict
could-visit — Nothing here is booked and nothing takes long.