Thinking Cup to Expand with an Italian-Leaning Shop in the North End

Pourover brews and (even more) Italian pastries will be available in the North End soon. Photo courtesy of Facebook/Thinking Cup

There’s no doubt that coffee culture has vastly improved in Boston, thanks to the openings of shops like Voltage, Dwelltime, Render, and more over the past couple of years. One such relative newbie, downtown favorite Thinking Cup, will be bringing its pourover Stumptown brews to the North End soon thanks to a new location on Hanover Street adjacent to Modern Pastry.

While the new location, opening by early October, will be near-identical to the current Tremont Street one (save for the addition of seating at the espresso bar), there will be an sweet twist tailored to the neighborhood—lots of Italian-inspired pastries and sandwiches, of course.

Executive pastry chef Thao Nguyen-Rich, an alum of heavy hitters like Sofra, Clio, and UpStairs on the Square, is at the dessert helm, and promises some great ones. “We are going to definitely have cannoli—we want to be right in there between Modern Pastry and Mike’s, and try to show them up,” she says. “We will be doing other classics like tiramisu and zeppole [or Italian fried doughnuts].”

Also expect Italian standards like Panettone at Christmastime, plus amaretti cookies and biscotti—”things that are familiar to people, but I want to change them up and put a fun spin on them,” Nguyen says.

We’re partial to Caffe Paradiso for our North End cannoli fix, but always looking forward to new great alternatives to waiting in line forever at Modern or Mike’s.

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