Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
We Are Contractually Obligated To Blog About This Viral Video Of A Subway Rat Carrying A Coffee Cup
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 5, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Ben Yakas Studios
By
Ben Yakas
Published Dec 5, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
I have something to admit. This is really hard for me, you guys. But I have to speak my truth: I love Coffee Rat. #CoffeeRat is all of us, right? Only in New York, right? But I just feel like he/she IS me. I'm always scurrying to catch my train in the morning with a big ol' cup of brew clutched in my disease paws, that is SO me.
Everyone needs their morning fix, amirite? That's Coffee Rat! Life is a rat race...when you're running to get your mud! Don't talk to me before my cuppa joe, rat king! I know it sounds crazy, but I just feel like if I woke up tomorrow in some Kafkaesque nightmare, I'd definitely be a rat who needs his coffee. Rats, they're just like us—always eating garbage and complaining about Mondays and spreading leptospirosis.
“I thought of pizza rat and thought this is so much better,” Melissa Walker, who took the video of my personal hero Coffee Rat at the Franklin Avenue station yesterday, told the NY Post. That's because Pizza Rat is a fucking loser who means shit to me.
You guys, we have to protect Coffee Rat. Move over pole dancing rat, there's a new rat I overly identify with in town! I would literally die for you Coffee Rat. Weekends, coffee and my rat. I'm a nightmare rat before my coffee. I like my coffee hot (just like my rat husband). I am NOT responsible for anything I say or bite before coffee. No coffee, no virality, just rabies. Only in New York, baby!
Update: we have been given permission to embed this important rat content. Hooray for third party licensing services! All is well and nothing is screwed up about how we monetize the Internet!
Tagged
coffee rat
rat
subway
rats
viral rats
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Immanuel Wilkins is upholding NYC's jazz history. He's also dreaming up its future.
The saxophonist performs this week at the Village Vanguard.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Sep 29, 2026 at 11:00 a.m. ET
Ever wish you could get paid to walk through a stranger’s house? ‘The Scout’ is for you.
A new film focuses on the strange career of a location scout in New York City.
By
Sonia Rao
Arts & Entertainment
Ever wish you could get paid to walk through a stranger’s house? ‘The Scout’ is for you.
A new film focuses on the strange career of a location scout in New York City.
By
Sonia Rao
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A massive MTA archive ended up in a Virginia warehouse. A Brooklyn man brought it home.
By
Hannah Frishberg
How a Harry Styles pop-up in the East Village led to a nearby bookstore owner's arrest
By
Sonia Rao
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .