Still a million times better than Starbucks.

Back to school means back to time with friends, back to and back to caffeinated nights in Butler. But Brad’s Cafe – that place you may or may not have visited, next to Journalism – closed this summer. Bwog was intrigued by the replacement, so we sent Events Editor Finn Klauber to go check it out.

Yesterday I sat down at the newest coffee establishment to grace Morningside Heights, Up Coffee. As a novice caffeine sojourner who has spent time kicking back at coffee establishments from Hungarian to Kuro Kuma, I was excited to get a taste for the most recent addition to the oversaturated MoHi coffee market.

What Up Coffee lacks in terms of unique appeal—a la the Hungarian aesthetic, which seems to be a cornerstone of the Morningside Heights community—it makes up for in terms of its location and service. The raw layout of the pastry and coffee shop, which Brad’s cemented as both functional and aesthetic for its own purposes, remains mostly the same. The site of the shop itself, past the seating area abutting the Furnald quad and Journalism Hall, shifted slightly as a result of removing the portion of Brad’s which served to make their sandwiches. The 70’s-esque combination of bright colours and chalk menus has been replaced with a more modern decor—more homely than Joe in NoCo, but not as gaudy as Hungarian. And, honestly, this works to its advantage. There are very few niches in the Morningside Heights coffeeshop market, and its wiser to have a tight aesthetic and thematic design than to try and beat Big Coffee at their own game. And the combination of familiar elements—the friendly and youthful service of Hungarian, the “close location” usually associated with Oren’s, the modern aesthetic of Joe—is presented in such a toned down manner as to appeal to a wide swathe of the Columbia population. It wasn’t surprising to see Journalism graduate students writing on laptops, Furnaldians lounging on the grass with coffee and the Iliad, and faculty members taking a break between classes.

The coffee and pastries themselves were nothing to write home about, although I am glad to say as a rabid fan of all flavours of pie and pastries that Up is now best situtated to satisfy that feral coffee-and-pastry craving. And, while I only indulge in basic coffee with a dash of milk, their menu presents a number of interesting coffee selections. A student could spend a deal of time discovering their favourite combinations of drinks and snacks to lounge around with in this nice weather, a positive sensation for Up that Brad’s never really inspired.

But does Up really add anything to the Morningside community? If not for its location, this would be a tough question to respond to. It doesn’t excel at any of the aforementioned coffeeshop elements which have drawn people for years to places like Hungarian and Kuro Kuma and Flat Top. But it doesn’t really need to. Its location and quality of service—which will hopefully be maintained—makes up for anything which it lacks. If even a distinct minority of coffeeshop patrons decide to habit Up as opposed to Oren’s, now needlessly removed from much of Columbia and Barnard’s campus, or Joe, somewhat far away unless you’re spending your time on North Campus or Teacher’s College and incessantly buzzing with activity, then Up will succeed. Who knows? Maybe Up will break MoHi’s careful Coffeeshop Quadrille and cause some real change in our most tenanted coffee and pastry shops.