A little bit about Prodigy:

While tasting Prodigy’s coffee, I spoke with Manager Ashley.   Ashley informed me that Prodigy has been around for 3 and half years.  Owned and operated by two long time friends and restaurant veterans.  Chris (part owner), is also the owner of Gotham Coffee Roasters in Brooklyn, NY where Prodigy does its roasting.  Both Chris and other part owner Ira have been in the coffee industry for 30 years!  Ira (other part owner) and Chris as well as their staff at Prodigy, are very much purist/passionate coffee lovers!  They are of course part of the 3rd wave generation coffee roasters and sellers.  No extra glitz, glamour or outrageous coffee drinks here.  Prodigy offers a simple, pure and tasteful cup of coffee from a plethora of countries no matter what you order!

Have you ever had a cold brew, or even an iced coffee over shaved ice?  Well today I did! I tried Prodigy’s Frost Bite, which is a single origin cold brew over shaved ice.  A specialty coffee if I’ve ever seen one!   It seems these days in this 3rd Wave generation of coffee lovers; we are all inventing our own brew to separate us from other 3rd Wave coffee roasters.  I am seeing it more and more with each shop I have walked into during this 5 shop coffee blog.  It keeps things fresh and exciting, as if the whole 3rd wave generation roasters didn’t do enough already!

The Frost Bite

Prodigy’s Cold Brew (Frost Bite):

I have never had a cold brew over shaved ice before I thought to myself.   I was so intrigued and excited to get my first one!  The cold brew was a Guatemalan brew roasted by Prodigy themselves and brewed for a short 12 hours.  The cold brew is a straight concentrate and is not diluted when served.  This means you are getting almost 3 cups of coffee in one cup of your cold brew, because it is not diluted. (More bang for your buck that’s for sure!)   I did add a touch or two of milk into my coffee to lighten it up a bit too.  If you are interested in the quality of milk for your coffee, Prodigy uses the creamy Hudson Valley Fresh for the best taste possible.

The Frost Bite was robust and energizing.  The brew consisted of tasting notes similar to caramel, nut and dark chocolate.  There was an appetizing chalky taste to the brew almost like the taste you get when eating a dark cacao chocolate.  The brew being straight concentrate was quite thick, but with a little milk, it definitely lighted it up a bit.  Also as the shaved ice melted, it helped to add a bit of water into the mix.  The shaved iced really kept the coffee freezing cold and lasted much longer than I would have thought.  I was worried it would melt quicker than normal ice cubes, but was surprised and wrong!  I had just tasted my first coffee slushy and I loved it!

Prodigy does offer a few featured drinks, which you can see photographed above, but being that I was tasting cold coffee drinks, I decided to try Prodigy’s iced coffee and iced Americano.  The iced coffee consisted of 2 oz.’s of their cold brew concentrate plus their Brooklyn blend drip coffee (consisting of two central American coffees) over ice.  The Americano is created with their NY minute espresso, which are Guatemalan beans mixed with two Brazilian beans.  Both drinks equally great, but I do recommend going for the Frostbite if you are going to head over to Prodigy.

Prodigy roasts weekly in Brooklyn at their sister company Gotham Coffee Roasters.  They import their beans through a secondary company in Baltimore, Md., dedicated to selling and buying the freshest beans possible from around the world.  Prodigy also works directly with a farmer in Ethiopia to offer their Ethiopian Yirgacheffe beans.

Prodigy is located on Carmine St. in the West Village and is a great place to stop in for a coffee before or after our Original Greenwich Village or Heart & Soul of Greenwich Village food tours.  They have a quaint / quiet little shop where its easy to sit down and enjoy your cup of Joe.  The atmosphere is airy and open with big windows filling the shop with natural light as well!  Prodigy accepts credit and debit cards.  The frostbite is $6, iced coffee is $3 and iced Americano is $3.50.