NYC has not great coffee culture (everyones on their laptops) despite some cafes serving okay coffee like Devocion perhaps among others. The Balkans where I am from has completely turned on the third wave coffee and combined with the coffee culture its amazing. People have 2-3 coffees a day just chilling under the sun. NYC should be ashamed. London is much better
NYC doesn't have the time or space for the kind of coffee culture you're talking about, but the coffee itself is as good as anywhere else — not Devocion though, that's pretty bad IMHO. SEY is where you wanna go, or Black Fox or maybe Saltwater if you're in Manhattan.
Definitely has the space, and can make the time but does not want to. It takes immense selfhatred to work that much to please your boss instead of enjoying your coffee with a friend. I will note down your recs though. Everyman espresso and La Cabra are also good. Here in the Balkans in the specialty cafes which are handful, I can actually choose between which beans I want to wnjoy, maybe competition coffee from 1600 meters from Peru, maybe Mexico 1300 meters, maybe Ethiopia or Tanzania, even Indian competition coffee that won the cup #2. I have never seen anything similar in NYC, not even close. The baristas dont even know how many grams they put in the portafilter. Its sad.