Caffe Capri

c/o The Downtown Diaries

427 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
view map
718.383.5744

Cuisine: Italian Coffee Shop
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $
Hours: Tues-Sun 7am-7pm; Closed Mondays
Booze: None
Subway: L to Lorimer st. or Graham Ave.
Delivery: No
We say:

This long-standing barista boasts the neighborhood’s finest iced coffee (even at $4 a pop it’s a steal) as well as a cannoli that would make an Italian mama blush. The interior, dripping with seasonal Easter bunny cut-outs or fruit-striped candy canes, is warm and inviting and the counter is always loaded with fresh baked sweets wrapped in cellophane. You might catch the occasional shag hanging about, but there are only four tables to lounge around in and the extended family takes up two of them. Plus, owner’s Joe and Sarah nixed their smoking section last year, cutting its hipster lingering down by almost 50%. Don’t worry about losing out on all the fun by asking for it to go-Joe weaves a great two-minute story chock full of neighborhood lore.

Brownstoner says:

This homey neighborhood favorite at 427 Graham Ave. in Williamsburg is the place to go for inimitable iced coffee. Shortly after Sarah Devita and her brother-in-law Joseph Rinaldi opened in 1974, they had the idea of feeding coffee through their gelato machine. The result is a perfectly crystallized coffee. Because no ice is added, the drink stays as strong as when it was first served. Thirty-two years later they’re still serving the same drink made with the same device (served at just a few tables). “We’ll probably stay as long as the machine stays,” warns Devita.

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