Discovering Tarrytown: Coffee Labs Roasters and Joyful Rides

The Ride

Today’s ride was heading to another Westchester County coffee shop—this time in the charming village of Tarrytown, NY.  I climbed aboard the BMW R18 in Cross River, NY, and entered the address for Coffee Labs Roasters into the Beeline app.  The direct as the crow flies compass distance was 18.7 miles, but regular readers know actual mileage is always more than the straight line distance.  See our article on discovering new roads with Beeline.

I started heading west on Route 35, but turned south to pass the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation entrance on Route 121.  The first reservoir I passed was on the opposite side.  This set the stage for much of the ride as I’d be riding along several reservoir roads.

In Bedford, 121 merged with Route 22.  I stayed on this into Armonk, passing the IBM campus, and then turned north on Route 120 by the Kensico Reservoir.  I turned left onto Nanny Hagen Road, which wraps around the far side of the reservoir and climbs up the hill on the other side.

At the end of Nanny Hagen, I turned left onto Columbus, passing through the hamlet of Thornwood.  As I approached the Kensico Reservoir again, I turned onto Lakeview as the compass was urging me westward.

This road then had me cross the Taconic Parkway and the railroad line onto the cross street of the Kensico Cemetery.  Kensico Cemetery was created in Westchester as the NYC cemeteries filled up.  Many were built along rail lines for transport ease.  It began in the early 20th century and served as the resting place for several entertainment figures. It even had a special section for Actors’ Fund of America members.  The baseball legend Lou Gehrig is buried there.

Past the cemetery, I turned south onto Route 100 as the road ended.  I quickly turned right to head west again at 100C, crossing the Sprain Brook Parkway and then 9A, followed by a corporate park called Eastview.

I crossed another major North-South highway, the Saw Mill Parkway, and then rode along the edge of Tarrytown Reservoir.  At the far end of the reservoir, I passed the old Marymount campus on the way down to the coffee shop.  I had to loop around due to a no left turn on Route 9, but it worked out well as the spot is on a hill and the parking directly in front of the shop was blocked off.  I was then able to park heading uphill across the street.  My final route total distance was 26.0 miles.  See the route below.

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The Coffee Shop

Tarrytown is best known for its connection to the Washington Irving story of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  Some of the elements of that story can be traced back to 1681 when Frederick Philipse began buying much of the land in the area.  He had a large holding of roughly 90,000 acres that stretched 22 miles from the Croton River to Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx.  It extended from the Hudson River to the Bronx River, representing a sizable chunk of what is today Westchester County.  In 1685, he began constructing the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, which figures prominently in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow story.

In the late 19th century, the Stanley Steam Car Company built an automobile assembly plant in Tarrytown. Parts of the plant were taken over by Chevrolet in 1915 and became part of General Motors in 1918. It produced a variety of GM vehicles, ending with some of the early 90s minivans, before finally closing down in 1996.

Of course, plenty of other wealthy people followed in Frederick Philipse’s footsteps and set up grand estates along the Hudson River in Tarrytown.  The Lyndhurst Mansion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndhurst_(mansion) sits just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge that crosses the Hudson River just outside the 25-mile zone of the Port Authority of NY & NJ.  Another well-known and still-standing mansion is Kykuit (Dutch for lookout), which the Rockefeller family built.  More than 65 grand mansions were built in Tarrytown, though just a handful remain standing.

Finally, the Tarrytown Music Hall, built in 1885, is just next door to our coffee shop. It is the oldest continuously operating theater in Westchester County. With so much history in one small town, Tarrytown is a great place to visit, and Coffee Labs Roasters is in the heart of downtown.

While the shop is on Main Street, just off Route 9, the street has a downhill slope so that motorcycle parking can be challenging.  During my visit, there was a school visit to the Music Hall next door, so most of the street parking was blocked to allow buses to drop off students.  I got a space on the other side and could back the rear tire against the curb to park securely despite the slope.

The interior has exposed brick on one side, and a series of paintings are on the wall.  On the opposite side is a pale blue paint with the menu in raised lettering above the counter.  When I arrived, a roaster machine was running near the brick wall, and the aroma from it started the salivation.

It was jam-packed with just one spot near the window overlooking the street available, so I set my gear down and headed to the line to order.  There were several other tables in the space, but all were occupied, so I hoped this would bode well for the quality of the coffee!

The menu had several options to choose from, including standard drip, espresso, macchiato, cortado, latte, cappuccino, mocha, breve, americano, and red eye, as well as cold brew and nitro. If coffee isn’t your preferred drink during your visit, they also have a vast assortment of smoothies, sporting names like Tropical Groove, Dark & Stormy, and Riding Giants, which felt oddly simpatico with the big boxer twin I was riding today.

When I placed my order, I was asked if I wanted it to stay or go, which always sounds like a good sign.  My cortado was served in a pale blue ceramic mug, so they were already a few points ahead in my book.  But, they offer paper cups for takeout, as I saw several other patrons take their coffee.

My coffee had a beautiful espresso art that hinted at the flavors hidden beneath the milky top. I noticed a rich, creamy texture with some chocolate notes. The chocolate notes were more prevalent than any sweeter fruit tones and reminded me more of hot cocoa or a chocolate croissant. In hindsight, a chocolate croissant would have been a perfect pairing for the coffee, but having eaten breakfast at home just before I left, I limited my order just to coffee on this visit.

All in all, Coffee Labs Roasters is a worthwhile place for a motorcyclist to visit. While street parking may be limited, it is much flatter if you park around the corner on Route 9. But the rich history of the town and the rich flavor of the coffee make a less-than-ideal parking situation a worthwhile trade-off for what will surely be a memorable visit.