Like several places in the waterfront city, Hudson Roastery feels like a little slice of Europe. The combination coffee shop and wine bar is modeled after businesses that Carolyn Palmieri, owner, and her husband Tony Calderone found abroad. Offering coffee and croissants in the morning then transitioning to wine, cheese, and charcuterie in the evening, Palmieri has brought the quintessential Old World dining experience stateside. “We traveled in Europe extensively, and that’s how it is, everywhere,” Palmieri says. “We felt that it was missing.”
Palmieri and her husband relocated to Hudson full time in March 2020 after weekending upstate for five years. Failing to find a coffee shop open seven days a week, much less at 7am, they opened the Hudson Roastery a year later to fill the gap––but the development of their own proprietary single-origin coffee blends began as soon as they settled in. In April 2020, they came onto the scene at the Hudson Farmers Market with small-batch roasted coffee, originally selling four options. Now, with their brick-and-mortar, they’ve expanded to eight, all of which are organic and most of which are fair trade-certified, sold at retail locations in the Hudson Valley. Almost all the blend names are a nod to the region’s rich geography, culture, and lore, like “Catskill Campfire,” “The Rip Van Winkle Blend,” “Hudson-Athens Lighthouse,” and “Warren Street Café Classic.” “Everything we brew at Hudson Roastery is our own coffee,” says Palmieri. “We roast weekly, so the coffee is very fresh. That’s the notable difference.”
Hudson Roastery is reminiscent of a French bistro or a train station café––casual and modest, but distinctive. Palmieri’s intent was to have customers “feel like they’re anywhere in the world.” Somewhere along the bar, which extends into the back of the café, coffee transitions into wine. “We convert the mood of our space into a wine bar by 2pm, Wednesday through Saturday,” she says. Ten of Hudson Roastery’s wines have a permanent spot on the menu, while the rest rotate regularly. To pair with the wine offerings, Hudson Roastery’s cheese and charcuterie board is an affordable $18. “We feel like our place is for everybody. It’s not pretentious,” Palmieri says.
Palmieri hails from an Italian family of chefs with “a deep knowledge of food.” Her parents ran a restaurant on the Hudson River in New York City for 25 years. Though she previously worked in the fashion industry, Palmieri always cooked and baked as a hobby. “It became a passion, and I made this transition wanting a change,” Palmieri explains. She and her husband moved to Hudson from Weehawken, New Jersey, drawn to the town for its architecture, food, artistic community, and overall appeal. “We wanted to create something that had that kind of charm,” Palmieri says of the Hudson Roastery. Calderone, who studied agriculture in college and helps run the roastery, “has really come full circle,” according to Palmieri. His role and expertise as cheesemonger (“he can tell you what the cow ate for breakfast”) supplements a strong menu. “You get a charcuterie board and you get a story.”
To Palmieri’s surprise, Hudson Roastery’s approachable environment has facilitated friendships with other locals; her customers have become her friends. She just received a letter from a French customer who wrote that their croissants, which are imported from France, made her feel like she was back home.
Hudson Roastery is open Monday and Tuesday 7am-12:30pm, and Wednesday through Sunday 7am-10pm.
Hudson Roastery
4 Park Place, Hudson, NY 12534
