:3Coffee | Astoria

About four small two-tops, no bathroom per one regular, paper cups only. :3Coffee in Astoria is small in the way that means small. Steinway Street, Colombian-leaning, a charming room that fills up fast and is honest about being a grab-and-go operation rather than a hangout. Customers describe the place as feeling like home, which is the highest grade a small immigrant-run cafe can get.

The Colombian breakfast is the reason to come. Pandebono fresh enough to argue about. Arepa de choclo with scrambled egg. Arepa con huevo. Cafe con leche done the way it should be. Ginger shots if you need the wake-up beyond caffeine. A prosciutto mozzarella arugula sandwich for the lunchtime visit. Fresh-squeezed orange juice. Colombian coffee throughout, plus a cafe latte for the standard order.

The arepa de choclo with scrambled egg is the order that captures what the shop is doing. Sweet corn arepa, a soft warm middle, the egg adding the savory weight. It is the kind of breakfast that does not exist on most Astoria menus and lands like a small miracle for anyone who grew up with it. The pandebono is the second order, eaten on the walk to the train.

Know what you are walking into. The space is tight, the seating is limited, the bathroom situation is the bathroom situation, and laptops are not the assignment. The paper cups give it away. This is the place you stop for fifteen minutes on the way somewhere else, eat well, drink well, and leave with the morning calibrated.

For Astoria residents who want Colombian food done with care, this is the address. For Queens commuters who want a real breakfast on the way to work, this is the address. For anyone who wants a cafe with room to spread out and stay, this is not. The honesty about what it is, and is not, is part of what makes it work, and part of why customers keep coming back even when there are no seats open.