At Blank Street, coffee is made by a machine and served by a barista. Customers usually don’t even notice.

A Starbucks for the Next-Gen Set

The fast-growing, tech-bro-funded Blank Street aims to be a younger, cooler version of staid coffee chains. It may have misjudged its customers

By Jensen Davis

When I moved into my Lower East Side apartment, eight months ago, there was only one Blank Street Coffee between me and AIR MAIL’s West Village offices. It wasn’t even a store, but a window. On the other side of a brick wall painted in pistachio green were two baristas wearing black T-shirts and handing over cold brew and croissants. Now if I spit in downtown Manhattan, I’ll hit a Blank Street.

The company started on August 1, 2020, in Williamsburg, as a mobile, battery-powered coffee cart. The second location came six months later, a tiny shop less than half a mile away. By the end of 2021, there were 26 stores, carts, and kiosks—from the Upper East and West Sides down to SoHo and farther into Brooklyn.