The Waltz-Astoria
The Waltz-Astoria is a small, hip coffeehouse, wine bar and performance space all wrapped into one. Live music, performance art, poetry readings, artwork and film are on the lineup regularly.
Heights Coffee
Free Internet access, a selection of wines and beers, and bi-weekly jazz evenings make this a great place to hang out or study.
Cocoa Bar
From the site: during the day, cocoa bar is the perfect place to read a book, or surf the free WiFi. Hang out with friends, meet with a business associate or colleague, enjoy the art exhibits or take a nap on the comfortable lounge chairs.
Tea Lounge
The perfect place to go if you're doing an anthropological study of Park Slope. Come by in the morning for yuppy mothers and housekeepers with their babies in strollers. Stroll in at the crack of noon and you'll begin to see writers and other creatives typing away on their Mac laptops, and after work you'll see more yuppies and hipsters sipping free-leaf tea, wine and beer in the relaxed and social day care center / bar / lounge.
Really, though, this place is pretty cool.
Ini Ani Espresso & Wine Bar
An old fortune teller’s parlor converted into an intimate space, intriguingly decorated with over 25,000 strips of corrugated cardboard and a wall of 479 cast plaster coffee cup lids. Ini Ani touts a charming escape through "robust coffee, exotic teas, eclectic wines, and delicious edibles".
Apropos Cafe
This new spot in Park Slope features a modern interior design and monthly wine tastings. It's open early, so it's a good place to grab a cup on the way to work.
Lotus Lounge
A nice coffeehouse & bar in the heart of the Lower East Side serves up nicely made cappuccino and other coffee drinks, with a nice assortment of beers on tap. You decide whether it's a coffeehouse or bar first.
Housing Works Used Book Cafe
A bookstore and cafe run by Housing Works, a nonprofit that runs AIDS outreach programs. This old style bookstore with mahogany staircases and 45,000 new, used and rare books is a quite place to sit and enjoy a cup and read or work. They serve Gimme! coffee, all employees are volunteers, and all profits go to support the foundation.
DT-UT
This nice Upper East Side hangout serves up a variety of well-prepared coffee and chocolate drinks. They also have happy hour on weekdays. Serves alcohol.
88 Orchard
A nice place to relax, with an interesting lineup of cafe sandwiches.
Saurin Parke Cafe
A traditional cafe-bar created in the spirit of the classic artists' haunts of France. Newer, hipper and more expensive than its cousin Hungarian Pastry Shop, Saurin Parke serves a blend of Costa Rican and French roast coffees in giant mugs.
The Perch Cafe
The Perch Cafe is a beautiful and hip Park Slope hangout that serves up ridiculously good coffee, sandwiches and desserts and attracts a wide range of customers, from singing toddlers at the afternoon kids' show in the back, to literary types flocking to hear a great reading on a Tuesday night. There is a busy entertainment schedule: check their MySpace.
Sip
A cafe with a funky vibe, and while this place definitely serves coffee, it's more of a lounge than anything else. It's a tiny hole in the wall just down the street from the Hungarian, but a lot more social.
The food? Tasty. Finding a seat? Good luck.
Zanny's Cafe
Zanny's offers a great cup of joe, but shorter hours than you might expect. Most famous for its Wednesday night film series and accompanying prix fixe dinner & drink special. It's a laid back reading room, live cabaret, and offbeat theatre. All at once, of course.
Read Cafe
Just a block from the Bedford Ave L stop, The Read bookshop and bakery has a large selection of teas, coffees, and pastries -- all baked on the premises.
Red Horse Cafe
This Park Slope spot has a sort of ski lodge feel to it. Regular movie nights, good coffee and comfortable couches will lure you in, and small touches like coffee ice cubes for cold drinks (instead of water) prove that they've put a lot of effort into the experience.
Vox Pop
Part bookstore, coffee bar, Sunday BBQ, performance space, instant publishing center, community center, Vox Pop is sort of a live blog, with tons of atmosphere and cultural vitality.
