New Coffee Shop to hit Seventh Avenue: Noella Brew Bar

After nearly two decades, Park Slope lost its Seventh Avenue staple coffee shop when Ozzie's Coffee and Tea shuttered its doors this past August. But coffee lovers have a reason to rejoice come December 1, for the former co-owner of Ozzie’s will be opening her new java venture on the same avenue.

Melissa Rapoport’s new coffee shop will be between Berkley and Lincoln places, within throwing distances of her old joint.

To name her new café, Rapoport held and the results are in. Her new coffee shop will be named Noella Brew Bar.

The name, which was suggested by a long-time Ozzie’s patron who lives in the neighborhood, is a combination of Rapoport’s daughters’ names, Noa and Daniella.

The new joint will open before the storefront is complete, which will be modeled after the original storefront in the 1930s—a window from floor to ceiling with five stools looking out on the avenue.

Two Wednesdays ago, standing in her near-complete shop, Rapoport said she is “too amped” to wait for the plate glass window, so there will be a temporary door for the first couple of days of Noella’s opening.

Although there are a few loose strings, the shop has a warm, industrial feel with an exposed brick wall, a long oak butcher-block counter and warehouse-style lighting hanging down from the high ceiling.

At the counter there will be four to five bar stools, for Rapoport found that the regulars at Ozzie’s would always stand at the counter and chat with the baristas.

The back room has 25 seats and small tables.

The past couple of months have been extremely hard and testing, Rapoport said, but starting from scratch gave her an opportunity to examine what worked at her former business, what didn’t and time to explore the ever-changing world of (and science behind) coffee brewing.

"As upset as I was about Ozzie’s, this is truly a blessing,” she said. “I had no idea my life would change so dramatically for the better.”

Rapoport said her brewing methods for her new shop are based off techniques she learned by attending Counter Culture workshops.

The labs she attended explored, explained and taught techniques to improve the taste of coffee. She attended labs on espresso, milk chemistry, the science of coffee, brewing and the variables that affect a good cup of coffee.

Rapoport explained that coffee is over 99 percent water, therefore water has the biggest impact on taste. In the lab they tasted coffee that was brewed with filtered, distilled, and mineral water. 

"The difference was amazing,” she explained. “You wouldn't even know it was the same coffee.”

So, thanks to the experiment, Noella will only use filtered water to brew their java and she has installed filters in the tap, the espresso machine and the brewers.

All their coffee will also come from Counter Culture, a company that has close relationships with organic plantations in the US. The menu will change week to week, depending on what kind of beans are available at that time, and prices will fluctuate too. 

But the ace up her sleeve is what she calls “the golden cup of coffee." 

Rapoport asked for the details of her one-cup brewing method not be disclosed just yet, but it is a pour-over method not commonly seen in New York City.

As a martial artist, she has observed the Japanese tea culture and said that the ritual to tea is analogous to her coffee by the cup.

"You can watch your coffee being made from beginning to end,” she said as she explained the method that she thinks makes the “best cup” every time.

Noella’s will also make their own chocolate, chocolate syrup, soda water and whipped cream.

On the Wednesday before last, Rapoport looked around her near-finished store and smiled:

“I walked in the shop today and said, ‘home sweet home,’” she explained.

Everyone who sent in a suggestion for the name contest will get a free cup of coffee if they print out their email from Rapport and bring it to Noella Brew Bar.