Velvet Espresso Bar is located across from Wholefoods in Uptown. It is a very small eclectic coffee shop offering only about 6 counter seats. The shop uses a more sophisticated method of brewing coffee than your average coffee shop (the vacuum brew method). They use two regular beans: Intelligentsia’s and Stumptown. They also offer breakfast and lunch consisting of small sandwiches and sweets (see menu). New Orleans definitely has a void for good coffee shops and Velvet Espresso is a great and desperately needed addition. I hope Velvet Espresso Bar motivates others to fill the espresso void and open more solid coffee shops where the staff are knowledgeable and passionate about their coffee.