Partners Coffee — Williamsburg

Partners Coffee was founded in 2012 by childhood friends Amber Jacobsen and Adam Boyd, who shared a vision of building a Brooklyn-rooted specialty coffee company centered on quality, education, and genuine hospitality. The Williamsburg cafe originally opened under the name Toby's Estate, licensed from the Australian roaster founded by Toby Smith — a lawyer-turned-roaster who started in his mother's garage in Sydney in 1997. By 2019, Jacobsen and Boyd had grown the Brooklyn operation into a fully independent company with its own sourcing relationships, roasting program, and identity, prompting an overnight rebrand to Partners Coffee. The new name reflects what the founders consider the heart of their business: the partnerships they maintain with coffee farmers, wholesale accounts, staff, and their local community. The Williamsburg flagship at 125 North 6th Street is a spacious, light-filled cafe with high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows that create an open-air feeling, long communal tables, comfortable couches, and walnut accents throughout. The modern-industrial interior balances clean design with genuine warmth, making it a favorite gathering spot in the neighborhood. The cafe also houses a Brew School program offering hands-on coffee education classes covering espresso technique, V60, Chemex, French Press, and Aeropress brewing methods — reflecting the founders' deep commitment to coffee literacy. All Partners Coffee is roasted at the company's dedicated facility on Thames Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where Probat G60 and P25 roasting machines process roughly one million pounds of beans per year. The Bedford blend — their flagship espresso built from coffees sourced through two of their longest-standing relationships in Ethiopia and Colombia — delivers notes of ripe stone fruit, citrus brightness, and a syrupy body that pairs beautifully with milk. Green coffee is sourced through direct, traceable relationships with producers in Ethiopia, Colombia, Honduras, and other top growing regions, with an emphasis on equitable partnerships and environmentally responsible farming practices. The visual identity, designed by James Beard Award-winning creative agency Love & War, evokes the heritage of classic mid-century New York coffee counters, while packaging is produced by Savor Brands, a zero-waste company based in Hawaii. Partners Coffee was named a 2026 Good Food Awards finalist for their Ethiopia Suke Quto and has been recognized by the Sprudgie Awards for design. The company has been featured in GQ, Vogue, Bon Appétit, Esquire, Food & Wine, and The Infatuation, among others. Beyond the Williamsburg flagship, Partners operates cafes on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, in the West Village, and in Long Island City, Queens.