{"id":302643,"date":"2026-07-22T08:28:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/302643\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T08:28:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T08:28:28","slug":"at-brooklyns-hyunah-coffee-club-enthusiasts-get-off-the-internet-and-into-the-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/302643\/","title":{"rendered":"At Brooklyn’s Hyunah Coffee Club, Enthusiasts Get Off The Internet And Into The Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

What if coffee was fun again?\n<\/p>\n

Locals to Hyunah Coffee Club<\/a> in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, have the elite coffee world at their feet. The incredibly well-outfitted brewing lab, which opened in 2025, affords members (yes, members) the opportunity to play with a sea of espresso and coffee brewers, using unique, exceptional coffees from around the world. Appointment-only slots ensure enough time\u2014and space\u2014to be inspired, mess up, dial in, and enjoy. And the opportunity for hands-on tinkering and fellowship with similarly passionate enthusiasts is unmatched anywhere in New York City (or maybe anywhere?) There\u2019s even a comfy couch.\n<\/p>\n

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Founders Kate Hyunah Lee and Hafiz Mangalji<\/a>, partners in real life as well as business, came from the hospitality world, where the membership club model has already proved out as desirable to many\u2014especially in a city like New York, where third spaces are essential to human survival. The couple does not have a coffee background; their passion for the craft and all the toys it comes with began to flourish during COVID lockdown.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought, what if we don\u2019t make it a laboratory or a retail store, but a lifestyle lounge environment?\u201d explained Lee (who holds both a BFA and an MBA and experience working with luxury brands.) Mangalji nodded, saying the pair was inspired by the \u201csocial magic\u201d of coffee, another reason that inspired them to make it a club, rather than, really, anything else.\n<\/p>\n

Indeed, it\u2019s anything but a cafe. Enter Hyunah\u2019s space\u2014so homelike, you\u2019ll instinctively move to take off your shoes\u2014and take in a coffee bar where you\u2019re spoiled for choice, and doing every step yourself. You\u2019ll select your own coffee, which during our visit included more than two dozen brands: from Ottawa\u2019s September<\/a>, to Chengdu, China\u2019s Go\u00fbt & Co.<\/a>, to Paris\u2019 Tanat<\/a>, to Brooklyn\u2019s Sey<\/a>, just a couple miles away. You pay by the gram, which allows the ability to \u00a0sample anything you fancy in only the quantity you need.\n<\/p>\n

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Once ready to brew, you\u2019re still not ready. First you get to select from two dozen grinders (think Zerno<\/a>, Weber<\/a>) more than a dozen manual brewers (basically all of them), and multiple espresso makers (from folks like Flair<\/a>, Decent<\/a>, and Meticulous<\/a>). You can enjoy the full list here.<\/a> And rest assured anything recently popularized online\u2014like an OXO<\/a> Rapid Brewer to try out Lance Hedrick\u2019s coffee SOUP<\/a> method\u2014is likely to be on hand for you to try.\n<\/p>\n

There is, of course, also a premixed brewing water bar.\n<\/p>\n

For Mangalji, offering such a broad selection is a way of reducing barriers for the coffee aficionado. \u201cThe equipment is often cost prohibitive, or even if you can pay for it sometimes it can be difficult to source. The latest and greatest can be hard to try.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that we contribute to the consumption and the FOMO,\u201d he continues, \u201cBut a lot of our goal was to alleviate the FOMO\u2014to try things before purchasing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

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The Hyunah model works like this: become a monthly member (and it\u2019s not expensive\u2014at least by NYC standards), and book reservations anytime (including on weekends, which are strictly members-only) as well as receive discounts on coffee and equipment purchases. There are also day passes available, to those who wish only to dabble now and then. There\u2019s also membership in the online community, for people too far to visit, but who still want to geek out together.\n<\/p>\n

Lee and Mangalji tell us the average \u201cdwell time\u201d for a member visit is around three hours (that\u2019s a lot of cups of coffee!) and that members who get to know each other at Hyunah connect on Discord and schedule their sessions together. Despite the friendships formed, the hyperfocus stays specifically on the craft.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one here ever talks about anything but coffee,\u201d says Mangalji.\n<\/p>\n

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Though the founders freely admit they were Nespresso drinkers until the COVID pandemic, they\u2019ve clearly gained coffee people\u2019s trust, and rapidly. Their facility is used on off-days for professional development for other NYC coffee companies, and most famously, Hyunah collaborated on the Sey House<\/a> activation in San Diego in April.\n<\/p>\n

The space\u2014perhaps despite the insured value of its equipment\u2014is unpretentious. Lee and Mangalji, warm and approachable, have translated their goals of accessibility to the room itself. Natural light, warm tones, and a good sound system. One wall of the room houses a small vintage pop-up, softening the feel of brushed metal coffee equipment and masculine vibes. (Hyunah \u201crecently got a couple monthly members that are women,\u201d laughs Lee.) Plans are in the works to relocate to a more convenient space in Williamsburg, where it\u2019s likely the calm vibes\u2014which allow experimentation to take place in a relaxed setting\u2014will continue.\n<\/p>\n

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For now, members\u2014and member-curious\u2014can turn to Hyunah to nourish the spirit of experimentation that too many of us leave behind in childhood. Though Mangalji says, \u201cWe believe the best coffees are made by home enthusiasts,\u201d he and Kate provide them so much more than a place to try out equipment. Hyunah creates a space for the kind of enthusiasm and curiosity that needs other people to flourish, and lets them excitedly pour each other a cup.\n<\/p>\n

Liz Clayton is the Associate Editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Liz Clayton on Sprudge<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

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