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Business & Tech

A Coffeehouse Extraordinaire on Long Island

Georgio's Coffee is a real coffee lovers oasis.

When you walk into Georgio's Coffee, a coffee lovers oasis at 146 West Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station, it won't matter that your feet are firmly planted on the ground. You'll be transported with all your senses to Central and South America, Africa, and Indonesia, into the world of true specialty coffee. 

It's not like one of the many franchised coffeehouses; it's a coffeehouse that roasts and sells the 'creme de la creme' of coffee farms, direct from places like Burundi, Honduras, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Galapagos, Kenya and Panama.

Georgio and Lydia Testani, a warm and welcoming husband and wife team have been passionately roasting coffee for 17 years, building relationships with coffee farmers, acquiring over 30-plus roasters--and as you read this article--continuing to seek out the world's finest and fairly traded coffee from farmers who pledge a high degree of sustainability.

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So what is coffee cupping?  Cupping is a coffee tasting, a formalized ritual like wine tasting, observing the tastes, fragrance and aromas of coffee.  This is something the Testanis have done for 26 years and do on a weekly basis in the shop, to decide which coffee and which growers they will enter into a relationship with, to purchase their raw beans for roasting.

Their cold siphoned-brewing process is uncommon, a beautiful thing to watch--and it makes a brilliant Cup-o-Joe.  Siphon pots are lined up at the bar like objects d'art.  Their iced coffee is brewed for 6 hours and the ice cubes are made from coffee--not water!  Oh how we benefit from their commitment to the very best. The tiny store is chock full of coffee, wafting coffee aromas, coffee accessories, antique roasters, photos of coffee aficionados, celebrities, and Jimi Hendrix.  

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There are tables for sipping the best in the world, where regulars come to share in the pleasure.  A long-time loyal customer told a story that when he and his wife go on vacation, they have Georgio's Coffee shipped to them. A former Wall Street coffee trader came to the shop to buy a gift of 15 pounds of coffee. And since Georgio's coffee is priced anywhere from $12 to $100 dollars a pound, the recipient of that gift of coffee is a lucky person.

I had to try a cup of the rare and limited, Esmeralda Gesha from western Panama, one of the world's most celebrated single-estate coffees.  Georgio sells it for $100 a pound, and Lydia will siphon-brew a cup for $10.  Believe me, it was well worth it, and I just wanted more.  Georgio Testani is an artisanal roaster who transforms the raw odorless green beans into the fragrant carmel-colored beans we know and depend on to kick-start the day.  This roasting process is not done at the shop but at a secret location.

While the gregarious Testani is generously painting a rich picture of his professional life with stories I could listen to for hours, his wife Lydia, a coffee roaster from Colombia, quietly works her brewing magic on yet another cup for me.  He then looks over to her, pauses, and whispers to me, "The women are the real brains," and she smiles knowingly.

It was satisfying to leave the shop knowing we have such a treasure available to us in Dix Hills and knowing that buying their coffee either by the cup or the pound will help preserve the farms and families from which they originate. They don't accept tips but they will accept money to contribute to a program that is planning to build a second house in Colombia next year.

Testani's biggest fear is that people will accept conventional coffee as specialty coffee and the market for smaller high-end roasters and farmers who are sustainable will be lost.

Georgio's Coffee Special Events: Coffee & Chocolate Pairing, Sunday October 17th from 4-5pm.  

Cupping sessions will be announced on the website starting in November and December and require reservations. www.georgioscoffee.com

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