Skip Starbucks and coffee chains in New York with an iPhone app

Finding great coffee in New York City is harder than you might think. That's where the New York's Best Coffee app for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad comes in.

If New York City is a new business travel destination for you, or if you're staying in an unfamiliar neighbourhood, you'd be forgiven for thinking that New Yorkers drink either Starbucks or donut cart filter coffee in those little blue and white Greek-styled cups.

But NYC is full of secret coffee shops, whether they're lazy cafés or holes in the wall serving a great fresh roast. The trick is finding them.

If you find yourself needing a caffeine hit, the New York's Best Coffee app will find you the nearest one to your current location, whether you're in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx or Staten Island. 

The app includes many of our favourite NYC coffee stops, including Oslo, Grumpy, 49th Parallel and Bluebird.

The app will tell you which beans the café uses, plus coffee geek info like what grinder and coffee machine it has. The usual location information, map, contact number and opening hours are also included. Usefully, there's also a picture of the storefront so you know what you're looking for.

The app is A$1.19 in the Australian iTunes store, or US 99c if you've taken our advice on how to pick up a US-based iTunes account.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.