What began in 2012 as a humble coffee shop in Denmark soon expanded into bread and pastries, growing a global following along the way. Driven by Piper’s meticulous obsession with detail, today, La Cabra is a beacon of Nordic craftsmanship in New York, celebrated for its long-fermented loaves, fragrant cardamom buns, and terroir-driven coffees.
With a name like La Cabra, one could easily think that Piper would be slinging birria tacos on Metropolitan Avenue. “I know it’s a bit confusing with a Spanish name and a Danish guy. It’s okay if people don’t get it,” Piper admits with an aura of gentle mystery. His beloved cabra, or goat, is inspired by a sketch by Picasso. He points at his shoulder, “I have the same one tattooed here.”
Now with locations in the East Village, SoHo, and Bushwick (as well as Oman, Bangkok, and Piper’s native Denmark) it would be an understatement to call La Cabra just a coffee roastery and bakery. More fittingly, it’s a grouping of craft-focused temples, where Piper’s team combines attributes of both Buddhist tranquility and Bauhaus precision.
FROM AARHUS TO BUSHWICK
Piper’s coffee journey was inspired by his youthful travels and the pursuit of new tastes. “Initially I was just fascinated by how young the industry was,” he says. “Coffee seemed new and exciting and it was pure motion. There wasn’t that much literature, so I needed to travel to find perspective and ideas on it all.”
When he returned to Aarhus—a city no New Yorker dare try to pronounce—Piper opened a small café in a quiet corner of his hometown. “We saw an opportunity and seized it out of a love for coffee. I was still in university at the time, but I knew I wanted to throw myself into it fully.”
The first La Cabra didn’t start as a bakery. The focus on developing quality bread came later—by chance—through an introduction to a talented local baker. “One day he brought me a sourdough loaf and some butter. I had a Kenyan coffee and a slice of bread,” Piper remembers. Most would find this combination pedestrian. For Piper, it was otherworldly. “That combination sparked something in me.”
While not a baker himself, Piper carries a deep reverence for bread. “Before that sourdough, I had just had franskbrød (white bread). When that baker came, I knew it was different. When he cut into it, there was so much more depth to it than I thought was possible.” Piper pauses for a few seconds before admitting he sees sourdough loaves as nearly divine in nature. “I put bread and butter on such a pedestal.”
“INSTEAD OF TRAVELING JUST FOR COFFEE, NOW I VISIT BAKERIES. I TRY TO GET INSPIRATION FOR HOW WE CAN ELEVATE THE EXPERIENCE.”
FROM THE EARTH
Piper’s approach to bread mirrors his coffee philosophy: meticulous, patient, and uncompromising. “Grain can be like coffee,” he asserts. “It’s all about time and attention to detail.” He views the inherent inconsistency of these natural products as something to appreciate, akin to the vintage of a fine Burgundy: “It’s harvest, water, and all these elements we believe we can control but we can’t.”
Wine, as it turns out, occupies a special place alongside bread and coffee in Piper’s mental ledger. Mirroring his epiphanic moment with Danish sourdough, he sighs as he recalls a 25-year-old Radikon with a reverence most people reserve for a spiritual experience. “I was completely stunned.”
Reflecting on the growth of La Cabra’s bakery program, Piper acknowledges the struggle of sourcing quality grains locally: “When we started in the East Village, the flour was just not there. Even though we experimented before we opened, it was always the flour that was challenging. Since opening here, we ended up at a local mill. We have gone through more than 10 different ones, and we’re constantly experimenting with grains.”
NOT FOR EVERYONE
Piper has been unrelenting in his efforts to showcase the depth of flavor possible in sourdough. He sees parallels between the renewed interest in artisan baking and the boom of third-wave coffee. Both industries looked very different when La Cabra started out: “Acidity, and even sour notes, were unfamiliar and off-putting to many. A lot of guests were scared away. But we stuck with it because we believed in it, and we were on a mission to change people’s perspective on what these products can be.”
While there’s a growing interest in quality bakeries in New York, Piper says there’s still room for development. He gently challenges the city’s bakers to rise to a Scandinavian standard. “Copenhagen and Denmark in general were very early. When we opened in Denmark 10 years ago, we focused on bread and laminated pastries. For that, no city in the world can compare to Copenhagen.”
The numbers in Piper’s head quietly guide him through every decision, every new loaf, and every espresso pull. His philosophy remains elegantly straightforward: “Give me a great loaf of bread, good butter, and a beautiful cup of coffee—that’s everything.”
LA CABRA
SoHo
284 Lafayette St
East Village
152 2nd Ave
Bushwick
1329 Willoughby Ave