Brooklyn cafe styled as a GI coffeehouse, with a bike workshop inside.
Katie Bishop worked at Bicycle Habitat during the pandemic, then opened Principles in June 2022 after a GoFundMe and a year of saving. In an empty garage on 9th Street, she named the shop for the principles she wanted to run it by, calling it a third-wave GI coffeehouse after the anti-war coffeehouses started by veterans. Batch brew and espresso are pay what you want, even $0, and anyone can use the bathrooms, wifi and bike tools.
A glass roll-up door opens onto a dark wood counter, a bike repair bench with a pegboard tool wall, and a sofa lounge under a skylight. Bishop leads monthly coffee crawls, and the shop hosts alleycat races and a randonneurs 200k brevet.
