Barabica NYC
Specialty Coffee R&D.
Applied to the real world.
How This Started
How a question became a practice.
Barabica started with a simple premise: specialty coffee, treated with the same rigor as a fine spirit, produces something most people have never tasted. What began as obsessive testing in bars became a documented methodology, a library of original recipes, and a consulting practice for cafes and bars that want to do it right.
The Operator
Joshua Thompson
Bartender · CIA Graduate · Black Coat, Tales of the Cocktail Foundation CAP
Joshua has spent his career on opening teams of some of the most demanding hospitality programs in New York City. Head of Bar Production at Al Coro under Chef Melissa Rodriguez, a two Michelin star restaurant in Chelsea. Head Bartender on the opening team at Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. Opening teams at Bar Contra with Dave Arnold and The Corner Store by Catch Hospitality Group.
These are not bars with a cocktail menu. These are programs where the standard for precision, sourcing, and execution is set by some of the most demanding operators in the industry. Working at that level, across multiple openings, is where the methodology that became Barabica was built.
Credentials
Career
Al Coro, Mel's, and Discolo
Chef Melissa Rodriguez, Chelsea. Two Michelin stars.
Metropolis by Marcus Samuelsson
Perelman Performing Arts Center, World Trade Center.
Bar Contra
Dave Arnold, Lower East Side.
The Corner Store by Catch Hospitality Group
SoHo.
Education and Certifications
Bachelor of Business Management, Fermented Beverage Production — Culinary Institute of America
Introductory Sommelier Certification — Court of Master Sommeliers
Black Coat — Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Cocktail Apprentice Program
BAR 5-Day Scholarship Recipient — CAP (awarded to four people per year from the global CAP alumni pool)
The Practice
Why this exists.
Specialty coffee has a sourcing and processing story as complex as any fine wine. The flavors are there. Most extraction methods and serving contexts bury them. What happens when you take it seriously as a cocktail ingredient? Turns out quite a lot.
The recipes, tools, and writing published here are the working documentation of that research. Everything has been made, tested, and revised at the bar. The consulting practice is what happens when a venue wants to apply that to their own program.
Work With Barabica
Let's build something.
Menu development, staff training, and operations for cafes and bars. Events for any space and any occasion. Research-led work that has been tested. We don't gatekeep what works.