Coffee Ride to Diplomat Cafe

The Ride

Riding buddies love hearing about my coffee rides on Tank of Coffee and ask if they could join me. I often leave pretty early, so the timing doesn’t work for them, but today was an exception, as one riding buddy could make it. I waited for them at our starting point in Cross River.

Our destination today was the Diplomat Cafe on the other side of the Hudson, so we knew it wouldn’t be a quick trip. The Beeline Moto indicated 38.5 miles with compass mode, but we aimed for the Bear Mountain Bridge to cross the Hudson River.

We departed from Cross River, heading north on Route 121. We turned left on June Road, passing the “downtown” of Salem Center. June Road becomes Route 55 near the school at Bloomer Road. The road ends at Route 202, where we turned left to head south toward the reservoirs.

A right turn onto Stoneleigh Avenue (Route 35) follows the East Branch of the Croton River before turning up the hill towards the Croton Falls Reservoir. Route 35 becomes a causeway that bisects the reservoir and then into fun, twisty roads that hug the coast.

Route 35 brings us to a shopping area of Carmel with strip malls on either side, which joins with Route 6. It ends at Lake Gleneida, where we turn right and make a quick left onto Route 301.

Route 301 is one of my favorite roads in the area and is popular with motorcyclists as it follows the coasts of several reservoirs. It becomes a causeway bisecting the West Branch Reservoir and then hugs the coast of the reservoir on the other side as it heads northwest. By Kent Cliffs, we have Boyd Corners Reservoir on our right.

There is a hard left at Meads Corners, and Route 301 passes close to Sagamore Lake. We pass over the Taconic State Parkway as we enter the Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park. As we descend into the valley, Canopus Lake is on our right, and parking lots for the Appalachian Trail are on either side of 301 in this area as we climb back up from the valley.

Just before 301 started a descent, we turned left onto Dennytown Road as I hoped to grab the 6/202 route up to the Bear Mountain Bridge, so we needed to head south. This is a fun, winding road, perfect for motorcycles, albeit not as quick as 301. It becomes Canopus Hollow Road before joining Route 20, which is more of a main road.

A right onto Oregon Road brings us through some residential areas till we can join up with the Bear Mountain Parkway. We are on this for a very short run before we turn onto Route 6/9 toward Annsville Circle.

But as we got to Annsville Circle, the road up to the Bear Mountain Bridge was blocked by a fire truck saying the road was closed. We’ll need to head back north again, so our diversion down Dennytown Road was wrong.

We headed up Route 9, stuck behind a cement mixer. We aimed to turn left onto Route 403, which ran further west, but so did the cement mixer. At Route 9D, we need to head south, but apparently, so does the cement mixer…. Ugh, this is taking forever. If we had stayed on Route 301 toward Cold Spring, we could have connected with Route 9D only a few miles north of where we are now, so our route looks like a few zig-zags. We head south on Route 9D to the Bear Mountain Bridge to cross the Hudson, and the cement mixer turns off only about a mile before the bridge.

While our initial direct compass distance was just about 39 miles, we’d already traveled a bit over 50 miles before we crossed the Hudson River, so I decided to stay on Route 6, which becomes a four-lane highway, to speed the remaining ~25 miles the compass still indicates remain to Goshen, NY.

At Goshen, we exit the highway, entering the village via South Church Street before turning onto W Main Street, where we find Diplomat Cafe on our right, with parking for the two bikes right out front.

Our Rever route recorded 79 miles to reach our destination, so we are eager for some coffee and treats to bring back some energy. See the route below.

The Coffee Shop

We were glad to pull into the Village of Goshen in Orange County, New York, after being stuck behind the cement truck for so long. The village is in the town of the same name, which is currently the county government seat for Orange County. Noah Webster, of the eponymous dictionary fame, taught here in the late 18th century, and the library and one of the streets are named after him.

We’d found parking right in front when we arrived. A sign outside highlighted the coffee options. The building is a small white brick building with an outdoor seating area to the side of it. It was a weekday morning, so we were the only patrons when we arrived.

The owner warmly welcomed us. Seeing me carrying the helmet, she asked if I was with Tank of Coffee, as I’d tagged Diplomat Cafe on my Instagram story before we left for the ride.

We spoke briefly about our mission and how I’d learned about Diplomat Cafe from the Upstate Coffee Crawl. She shared how she wanted to capture the variety of coffees worldwide, emphasizing Europe. They have a special international “coffee flight,” similar in concept to wine or beer flights with samples of coffee from around the world. It’s served on a wooden plank with cutouts for each cup alongside a passport. What a fantastic idea! I’d mentioned how I traveled overseas as a child, as my father was from the Netherlands. She reached behind the counter and gave us a pair of stroopwafel she offered with the coffee flights! While I was already impressed with the space, this did help boost my appreciation even more.

I noticed some wooden rolls on the walls and asked what they were and was told they use them to make Chimney Cakes on weekends. A display case featured several pastries to pair with your coffee choice.

The Refreshments

I ordered a Cortado and paired it with a carrot cake from the pastry display. We chose to sit outside where we could enjoy the clear skies and admire the bikes. I took the BMW R18 Classic today, and my riding buddy was on his Ducati Multistrada.

The Cortado had a smooth texture with a good balance of milk & espresso. Hints of sweetness popped out when paired with the carrot cake. The cake itself was outstanding, with a wonderfully delicious cream.

Sadly, this ride was during the week, so I missed trying the chimney cakes. But that means I’ll need to return.