Culture Espresso

"It’s not so often that a New Yorker will suggest that anyone should willingly head to Midtown, but Culture Espresso’s three locations, all within a few blocks of one another, are a great choice if you’re out and about touring in NYC. Cookies and coffees are what they’re good at; plenty of flavors to choose from include their Zebra flavor, filled with chocolate and white chocolate chips, their oatmeal cranberry cookie, and even a corn flavored cookie. These are the quintessential ooey-gooey cookies, served warm (eat in-store!) in their messy delight." - Emily Adler

"It’s not so often that a New Yorker will suggest that anyone should willingly head to Midtown, but Culture Espresso’s three locations, all within a few blocks of one another, are a great choice if you’re out and about touring in NYC. Cookies and coffees are what they’re good at; plenty of flavors to choose from include their Zebra flavor, filled with chocolate and white chocolate chips, their oatmeal cranberry cookie, and even a corn flavored cookie. These are the quintessential ooey-gooey cookies, served warm (eat in-store!) in their messy delight." - Emily Adler

"It’s important to have a go-to coffee shop in every neighborhood where you know you’ll never have to worry about your coffee being under-extracted or burned. Around Bryant Park, that coffee shop is Culture Espresso, which has a flawless cortado and one of the city’s best chocolate chip cookies. There’s a fair amount of seating here, but no wifi, so it’s better for a break or a no-laptops chat with a coworker than a place to get work done. " - carina finn koeppicus, bryan kim, neha talreja

"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. Chocolate chip is the most popular, but 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." - Carina Finn

"The garment district isn’t exactly known for a stellar specialty coffee scene, so the fact that there are two excellent options a mere block from each other is pretty great. Culture Espresso is the original, but it’s snug, which means you might have to wait for a seat. The newer and significantly bigger Culture 36 is ideal for getting stuff done, if you don’t mind the semiloud music. Both locations brew Heart Coffee Roasters coffee and serve Culture's famous house-baked chocolate chip cookies (they sell out fast, so come on the earlier side). "