L.A.’s Maru Coffee Expands to Williamsburg

"I visited Maru's Williamsburg outpost at 320 Wythe Ave., and on a recent visit—while new staff were being trained by manager Kyuho Choi, who recently moved from L.A.—it was evident the shop is focused on coffee over cream. The Los Angeles–born café, whose first East Coast location opened in Williamsburg, began in 2016 and built a reputation for properly dosed espresso and a pour-over menu now featuring six single-origin house roasts; demand surged after it started selling cream-top iced coffee and matcha in 2018. The menu highlights unique espresso sets that pair an espresso or cortado with a small drip-coffee chaser (a riff on the off-menu “one and one”), served on custom-etched wood trays with tasting notes or in one-handed cardboard carriers to-go, with prices from $4.50 for a single espresso to $8 for the priciest set. Co-founder Jacob Park, who began as a barista at 15 and learned roasting from an early specialty-coffee mentor, favors a traditional “strong, bitter and dark” profile in the house blend Santo, while the lighter Sanmi (a mix of washed and natural-processed beans) shows up in drinks like an iced breve macchiato that tastes like a fresh-coffee Creamsicle. Drip is brewed every 30 minutes using three-day-old beans—Park prefers the zippy character of extra-fresh coffee even though he acknowledges espresso needs about ten days—and Park also oversaw the shop design: a high‑ceilinged space with intentional wood grain and low tables and chairs that pay homage to the founders’ Korean background, adding a ceremonial quality while serving as an effective laptop deterrent." - Tammie Teclemariam