Caffé Panna

Ice cream spun that morning, in Gramercy

Every flavour at Caffè Panna is made in the shop’s own kitchens and spun fresh, which is why the list changes daily and why regulars check before they commit. The Manhattan address is the Gramercy shop, with a second in Greenpoint, and the Italian-inspired idea behind it is ice cream and coffee run as one business rather than two. Hallie Meyer founded it, and production is part of the personality rather than something that happens quietly offsite. The house line, “It’s Panna time,” gets at the rhythm: a dessert stop organised around what exists today, not a menu meant to hold still for a season.

The counter works in formats

Choose the format first, because that is how the counter is built. A scoop is the direct way into the daily list, and the one to start with. A pint is the same ice cream sent home. A sundae is the composed version, the day’s flavours built into something with more parts. Soft serve adds another texture. And the affogato is the order that explains the whole concept, since it puts the coffee side of the business into direct contact with the ice cream. An affogato is espresso poured over ice cream, so it lives or dies on both halves being good, which is a fair test for a shop that claims both. Granita belongs to the wider menu but is Brooklyn-only, so a Gramercy visit runs on scoops, pints, sundaes, soft serve and affogatos.

How to use the shop

The counter moves fast: a queue, a quick decision, and a cup or a cone handed over. Opinionated About Dining ranked Caffè Panna #67 in its Cheap Eats in North America list for 2026, which for an ice cream counter says more about consistency than ambition. The best way to use it is to take one scoop of whatever the kitchen has just spun and one composed order, either a sundae or an affogato, so you get both the raw flavour and the version with something built around it. It is worth checking what is on before you go, because a flavour you liked last week may not be there this week. The daily change is the reason to come back rather than to visit once.