Paul A. Romsky Jr. - NYC Coffee Cup

Christmas 2015: Santa gave me just what I wanted! That is, Stacie took the hint... My first gift this morning was a retro NYC Greek diner coffee cup, but imagine my surprise when I opened the 2nd gift and it was the same style coffee cup in Espresso size! Bonus! She disguised them in huge boxes so I had no way of guessing beforehand.
Paper to-go coffee cups like this were very poular all over the New York tri-state area (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) back in the 70's, when bagels were not as popular as they are today. The quintessential NYC breakfast back then was a buttered hard roll (a browned Kaiser roll with poppy seeds on top, sliced, with real butter spread inside) and a regular coffee (full roasted coffee with milk and two sugars). The standard order was: "Gimme a bud'-dud hard roll and a reg'-u-la cuwah'-fee ta go."
Since the early 90's, when coffee shop chains started to proliferate in the city, these cups fell out of favor (but are still available in some places). They have become a nostalgic symbol of New York. These cups can still be seen in many movies and television shows - you know the scene is supposed to be in New York if you see an actor holding one of these. There were many knock-off cup styles produced over the years, but the style shown below is considred to be the purest form. I don't think the Espresso size was ever available in the paper version, but it is a welcomed addition.


The classic 1970's NYC Greek diner coffee cup (left) and the espresso version (right). These are the ceramic versions made by the Solo company, so they will last virtually forever.


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