Gentle Brew Coffee Roasters in Long Beach reopens after being seized for nonpayment of taxes
Cold brew is a specialty at Gentle Brew Coffee Roasters in Long Beach. Credit: Yvonne Albinowski
Gentle Brew in Long Beach is back to the business of brewing coffee. Shuttered for a week by the state for nonpayment of taxes, the coffee shop has reopened both its main location, on East Park Avenue, and its satellite on the Long Beach boardwalk at National Boulevard.
“We reached an agreement with the state,” said the shop’s general manager, Mel Chiusano. “The whole community has been incredibly supportive while we worked this out."
From its humble beginnings in a tiny Hicksville strip mall in 2011, owner Bryan Baquet has grown Gentle Brew into one of Long Island’s leading coffee roasters with beans sourced from all over the world and roasted in the store. Beans are sold retail at the store, online and at the Huntington and Northport farmers markets, as well as wholesale to restaurants.
At the mother ship, joe is pulled from the espresso machine, dripped, cold-brewed, tapped nitro brew, vaccum-siphoned, French-pressed, poured over, Chemex-carafed or AeroPressed, and can be enjoyed at a table or in an easy chair or sofa, along with home-baked pastries, sweet and savory.
The boardwalk satellite, established in 2017, doesn't have the room to do single-serving pour-overs or siphons, but all other extant Java methods are performed and there’s a selection of baked goods.
Gentle Brew is at 151 E. Park Ave. and on the boardwalk at National Boulevard; 516-605-2370, gentlebrewcoffee.com.
