For those of us who eat peanut butter straight from the jar and can’t get enough of the rise in nut butter varieties, Buddy Buddy has arrived in New York City to satisfy your nutty cravings.
Hailing from Belgium, the chain’s first U.S. location opened on the Bowery in NoHo, where all drinks and treats come with one of four different nut butter bases — peanut, almond, hazelnut or pecan. Their organic butters are imported from Brussels, where Buddy Buddy oversees everything from roasting to packaging. In addition to espressos and cold brews made from single-origin coffee beans roasted in-house, the menu includes a selection of lattes, matchas, smoothies and specialty pastries.
Buddy Buddy founders Matt Samra and Julien Gaucherot opened their first nut butter coffee bar in January 2020. Following a Paris opening three years later, the NoHo cafe — less than a 10-minute walk from Washington Square Park — is fit with an interior that is reminiscent of its European roots. A long golden-brown counter lines the cafe’s spacious, minimalist interior. Buddy Buddy also has a designated laptop area in the back for customers to work quietly.
As an avid smoothie drinker, I was excited to try one from Buddy Buddy, which contains one of the four nut butters. The Cultured Bud ($17) — which contains pecan butter, blueberries, blue spirulina, ashwagandha, coconut yogurt and coconut milk kefir — boasts gut health and anti-inflammatory benefits, while the Athletic Bud ($15), made with peanut butter, banana, cacao, plant protein, baobab and maca, promises “growth and repair.”
I tried the Focused Bud ($17), with hazelnut butter, cold brew, MCT oil, lion’s mane, raw cacao, banana and oat milk. Despite this smoothie’s laundry list of ingredients and Erewhon-level prices, I could really only taste cacao and banana, with a slight hazelnut aftertaste. It was good — but not $17 good. That price tag likely results from the health benefits that Buddy Buddy attaches to its smoothies, which contain many expensive ingredients considered health-forward. But at the end of the day, they feel more like buzzword accessories than tangible experiences.
Other drinks, however, delivered on the nut butter flavor combinations. Dream Buddy came out of an August 2025 collaboration between Ariana Grande’s makeup brand r.e.m. beauty and the chain’s Paris location and is now featured alongside other signature drinks on its menus. In addition to its main notes of ube and peanut butter, the drink includes vanilla bean, sea salt and the customer’s choice of milk. The drink had a mesmerizing purple ombré and, once well-blended per the baristas’ recommendation, tasted incredible. The savory peanut butter and sea salt balanced out the vanilla and ube, making for a beverage that wasn’t sickeningly sweet. For $8, the Dream Buddy was indeed a dream come true.
The coffee shop’s signature pastries, known as Cheeks, come in a few flavors. Advertised as warm and gooey, these dense, cake-like disks are spread with customers’ choice of nut butter. Though I believed the Peanut Chocolate Cheek’s ($7) flavor combination couldn’t fail me, I was disappointed to find a pastry overstuffed with nut butter and chocolate filling. The Cheek was practically falling apart, mushy from the nut butter, and tasted like an underbaked peanut butter brownie.
For three items, my total came out to $34.30 — which is undoubtedly a lot but not exceptionally uncommon for New York City. Buddy Buddy’s concept is definitely niche and enticing. Despite high prices and some underwhelming items, the right drink would be worth returning for.
Contact Alessa Alluin at [email protected].