The Glass Shop: Tiny Cafe Serves Up Robust Flavor with an Australian Twist

Before it housed a workshop full of glass windows that needed fixing. Now, the primary glass work involves filling one with espresso, texturized milk and a sprinkle of cocoa.

Prospect Heights resident Francesco Agostino is part-owner of the Glass Shop, an Australian-style café. Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Agostino brings the coffee culture of his birthplace to Prospect Heights.

That means that the drinks are espresso-based and have names that aren’t immediately recognizable to most. It also means that they are served exactly the way he’s used to in Australia: in eight-ounce Duralex glasses from France.

The glasses are plain and small, which means less milk, than the average cup of U.S. joe. The milk is steamed and poured in a certain way for a popular Australian foam-infused coffee called a Flat White. No mugs here – in a plain small glass on a saucer, the taste is strong yet smooth.

“We keep it simple,” said Agostino, 35, who uses beans from La Colombe, a Philadelphia-based roaster.

But the formula seems to work. The New York Times included it in its 2010 list of places designated as "New York's Best Coffee" that "not only produce extraordinary coffee at the highest standards, but also do so with consistency, day after day."

Located at 766 Classon Avenue, between Sterling and St. Johns, the Glass Shop's tiny 600 square-foot interior has an understated trendy yet artsy edge, furnished with flee market finds or salvaged wood refitted into tables.

Recycled architectural blueprints cover a wall. The server station, where a fancy espresso machine sits, is covered in subway station-like white tiles. Johnny Cash and Elvis play overhead, where a vintage bicycle also hangs. With warmer weather, a spacious backyard garden with picnic tables will be just a step out the door.

Besides coffee, the Glass Shop sells unique sandwiches like a ciabatta roll with sardines with arugula, tomatoes and and a splash olive oil, or roast beef with mozzarella on a baguette. Most baked goods come from Balthazar but the olive loaf baked by Kate Jones, Agostino’s wife, sells like hotcakes. All-natural New York sodas made in Greenpoint are for sale. 

It's not on a major commercial strip, but with  and close by and favorable reviews, the Glass Shop attracts locals, tourists and bridge-crossers alike.

“It’s off the beaten path,” said Agostino, who’s also a cyclist and vintage bike collector. “But it’s become a destination.”

Kathryn Weatherup is behind the creation of the Glass Shop, too. Part-owner, she also built the eponymous bars, Weather Up, on Prospect Heights’ Vanderbilt Avenue, and in TriBeCa.