The Best Coffee Shops For Getting Work Done

Apartments in the city are increasingly cramped, wifi is increasingly terrible, and your roommates sit on the couch all day watching Real Housewives of New York City. That’s where coffee shops come in.

But you can’t work at just any coffee shop. Your workspace needs wifi, a bathroom, and preferably some food. Because loitering for a few hours in a place with outlets and free internet requires adequate sustenance. Here are 16 of your best options around NYC.

THE SPOTS

If you want to handle some emails in a space that looks like the inside of a salt cave, head to Daughter in Crown Heights. The cafe has huge street-facing windows and a bunch of built-in banquettes that look like giant stones. More importantly, they turn into a wine bar after 4pm, and we tend to work harder when we have something to look forward to. Come in the AM for strong wifi and coffee, and then start Happy Hour early, because why not.

There’s a very long list of enjoyable things to do on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Getting work done isn’t on it. But with more than 50 coffee drinks, bialy egg sandwiches, and 7am-11pm hours every day, Prince Coffee House makes working about as pleasant as possible. It’s also right at the entrance to one of Little Italy’s most concentrated strips of great shops and restaurants, so when you need a break, you’re not far from a bakery, cheese shop, or massive botanical garden.

Burly Coffee has three locations in Bed-Stuy and, for some reason, the one on Throop doesn’t get as crowded as the others. There are some cafe tables in the front, and two long tables in the back with plenty of outlets. King David breakfast tacos and donuts from Dough are on hand, along with the excellent coffee, and house-made breakfast items on weekends. Burly’s newest location on Atlantic is a bigger, brighter, modernized space, but we like the local, personal feel of this one more.

Buunni is a coffee shop that specializes in small-batch coffee beans from Ethiopia (where the owners are from). They have several locations in Washington Heights and Inwood: the one in Pinehurst has a communal table and a few counter seats inside, but the Inwood location is the largest. So if you’re looking for a calming space with plenty of seating and lots of natural light, come here. The coffee is truly special, and they have snacks, including Ethiopian wraps. They also often host evening events, in case you need to unwind after a long day.

If you live in Ridgewood, this should be your go-to spot for laptop loitering. Milk & Pull has some hanging plants and hardwood floors that you’ll wish you had in your own apartment, and a nice amount of space, including a big communal table that you can use for a group hang. Go sit there and work with a friend, while you eat a donut or a bagel sandwich.

Perk is really just a nice, plain coffee shop on the Upper East Side, where you can grab a stool and sit for a while. It isn't especially big or fancy, but they have Stumptown coffee, Dough donuts, and—most importantly—wifi and a bathroom. So if you’re looking for a coffee shop in this part of town, consider this one. You might have to sit at a communal table with a few other people, but there are worse things in life.

With its open floor plan and excessive foliage, K’Far is kind of like an upgraded WeWork. The Israeli restaurant spans the entire hotel lobby at the Hoxton in Williamsburg, with a coffee cart and bar on one side, and a dining room on the other. Start your day on the coffee side, which has a ton of comfy chairs and some outlets. It turns into quite the scene by 10am, but if you don't mind some chatter, it’s a fun place to hunker down with a Yemeni latte and breakfast sandwich. You won’t get any free beer when you’re done, but you should definitely hit the bar for a martini.

The bathroom here is nicer and cleaner than most of our apartments. Granted, you don’t know what our apartments look like, but trust us. It’s nice. And so is the staff. This place was opened by a couple of Australian designers, and it’s a great spot in Williamsburg to sit with your laptop while you maybe eat some avocado toast. There are also a few seats outside, for those few weeks between summer and fall when you actually want to be outside.

There’s just something about the Park Slope outpost of Variety roasters that makes the coffee taste better than at their other locations. The cafe is big and sunny, with ample seating and fast wifi. It’s also close to Prospect Park, so you can take a walk if you need to clear your head in the middle of getting work done. But Variety's other locations around town are pretty good too.

Odd Fox is such a pleasant place to hang out with your laptop that we actually suggest taking a “fake commute” here if you’re a remote worker who doesn’t live in Greenpoint. They brew Parlor beans, so the coffee is well above average, and there’s wifi as well as ample indoor and outdoor seating.

Have you ever wanted to answer emails in the middle of a rich person’s greenhouse? Hanging out at Remi43, which has two locations in Midtown, feels like that. It’s so lush and luxurious, your coworkers will probably ask where you are when you sign on for that quick daily meeting.

Blank Slate feels like it should be in Brooklyn or Tribeca, not a few blocks from Murray Hill. So if you find yourself in the neighborhood, make the most of it. Spend a few hours here, and maybe get a sandwich or some s’mores dip (exactly what it sounds like). And feel free to transition from coffee to rosé as the day goes on.

This is another cafe that turns into a super casual bar in the evening. Sensing a theme here? We could make a whole separate list for the work hard, play harder types among us, but for now, you should know that they have everything from lattes and sandwiches, to chaga (mushroom) coffee, natural wine, and cocktails. During the day, sit with your laptop at a table or the long counter with plenty of outlets up front. When they turn the lights purple, you know it’s time for that wine.

Devoción roasts their own beans, and they have an exceedingly nice coffee shop in Williamsburg with exposed brick, a skylight, and repurposed pipes. So stop by and grab a table by a chest on a rug near a leather sofa that would look nice in an office of your own.

Ground Central is where you go when you’re in Midtown and you have work to do but no office to do it in. Although, if you’re in the neighborhood, you could also just come here to hang out and drink something caffeinated. There’s a nice sitting area with couches in the back, and they offer free wifi.

This coffee shop has a two-hour limit in terms of how long you can hang out without buying more stuff. We actually think this is a good thing, because it means you can usually get a seat here. The space has a chic living room feel, and you can choose between desk-type or couch-type seating. The coffee is pretty good, too.

If you’re a coffee snob who lives in Astoria, you should be working from Kinship. This sleek modern cafe has their own line of single origin beans, and they actually have a robot-type machine that makes pour overs, so you don’t have to worry about pesky human errors ruining your perfect cup. There’s also a bathroom, strong wifi, and tons of seating both inside and outside.