![\"Saul_Zabar_coffee1\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760918767_855_960x0.jpg\")
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A nose knows. Saul Zabar was passionate about good coffee and spent much of his time learning every aspect of it.<\/p>\n
Zabar’s<\/p>\n
Saul Zabar<\/a> died on October 7, at 97, leaving the Upper West Side in New York a little less bright than the notorious orange synonymous with his family\u2019s 90-year old company. For the last 70 plus years, Saul and his brother Stanley led the once 22-feet long shop their parents built into what has become a multi-sensory emporium and a food lover\u2019s paradise. Under their watch, Zabar\u2019s<\/a> grew into one city block; but it\u2019s one that endears the entire city\u2019s heart. <\/p>\n You\u2019ll be hard-pressed to find a New Yorker who doesn\u2019t dip into Zabar\u2019s for something. A staple for all things smoked fish, bagels, coffee, pastries and more kitchen gadgets than anyone could ever need, Zabar\u2019s is a place most simply can\u2019t leave empty-handed. And because of Saul Zabar, we can not only not leave empty-handed, but we leave with our senses having gone on the joy ride of rides. He curated a world where two products that heighten our senses the most–like coffee and fish–create a utopia of which we all want to be a part.<\/p>\n Saul and Stanley Zabar behind the counter. They took the small shop their parents built and turned into an emporium New Yorkers can’t live without.<\/p>\n Zabar’s<\/p>\n Passionate about coffee and fish most of all, Saul\u2019s impact on the whole store is unmistakable. As his family once told me, Saul\u2019s hand was in every pot, so to speak, and he was deeply passionate about his customers. More the front man then his brother, Stanley–who kept much of the engine running behind the scenes–Saul could often be seen at every counter, amidst the aisles, holding court proudly in his crisp white grocer\u2019s coat. <\/p>\n Saul\u2019s daughter Annie said he always perceived coffee like fine wine, giving it the same investment, care, and precision a vintner or sommelier would. He orchestrated a coffee program for Zabar\u2019s long before places like Starbuck\u2019s existed, and he produced a particular light roast that became the store\u2019s quintessential New York blend. Every Tuesday, to this day, the team–made up mostly of family members–hold a cupping session for all the roasts that come in; the ritual is all in honor of what Saul instituted and taught them. In recent years, younger Zabar\u2019s have followed suit learning the ropes of coffee roasting and brewing as well. The company sell upwards of 8,000 pounds of coffee a week.<\/p>\n