Oslo Coffee Roasters has confirmed that its Bedford location “burned to the ground” this morning. The cafe was Oslo’s second cafe, situated in what is known as the “recreated southside” area, with a loyal fanbase that lined up for espressos from their San Marco Leva hand-pulled piston machine. Gothamist has the details on the tragedy:
Fire engulfed the hole-in-the wall Bedford Avenue location of Oslo, a wildly popular coffe shop in Williamsburg. The FDNY tell us the fire broke out shortly before noon and was brought under control within 45 minutes. (As it happens, there’s a fire station roughly a block away.) While the cause of the blaze is still being determined, the spokesman added that it appeared the fire ripped through the shop’s duct work.
On Twitter, Oslo confirmed that the coffee shop had “burned to the ground.” Fortunately, according to the FDNY, no one was injured. Meghan Overdeep, Olso’s social media manager, tells us, “The fire started suddenly. The owners and managers are there now trying to figure out what started it, but the store is basically gone. It’s still standing but it’s been gutted. Thankfully all of our employees and customers are okay.”
Oslo has been roasting for a little under a decade in New York City. From their website:
Oslo Coffee opened over 8 years ago, in 2003, when JD and Kathy Merget moved from their tiny Chinatown apartment to start their own small coffee business in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. At the time they simply wanted to serve neighborhood locals with the best coffee the area had to offer. Since then Oslo has grown to be a place they could only have dreamed of, evolving to become a respected establishment with a name that is synonymous with the best coffee in New York City: their own coffee, roasted in their trusty 12-kilo Probat roaster, as Oslo Coffee Roasters.
Oslo’s flagship location on Roebling Street and its cafe in Manhattan remain open today.
