Gracenote Coffee Boston

Roasted in Berlin, Massachusetts, Gracenote Coffee was founded in 2012 by Patrick Barter, a Maine native who studied digital music and percussion. Though Gracenote sells beans to other local cafes (such as Simon’s), the brand’s only proprietary shop is a small, standing room-only coffee temple in Boston’s Leather District, on the edge of Chinatown. The attractive, wood-trimmed space packs in numerous considered touches: a Modbar for espresso, choice teas from Camellia Sinensis, and a coffee menu that includes, among the usual options, a delicious, only slightly sweet cardamom latte. The shop came about as a collaboration between Barter and Alessandro Bellino, an early wholesale account, who previously operated a tricycle-bound mobile coffee stand. 


— Alexander Henry