hey there. a few odds & ends for you today.
- most recent home milk art attempts, feel like I’m making progress if definitely not all the way to where I’d like to be
- following up on my most recent post, about finding good coffee near work, at DC’s Hive Bar in the Hive Hotel. Been there several times since, and I’m glad I put it as ‘good’ and pointed out that the saving grace is the Vigilante beans. Reaffirmed after returning, and clearly the culprit is the machine. It’s a Nuovo Simonelli Appia II, and watching it work makes me cringe. Huge amounts of steam coming off because the water is far too hot, and the coffee gushes out of the portafiller at an alarmingly fast rate. Never been a fan of NS machines, and I think the water overheating issue is universal (and something a cafe can’t adjust). I’ll still get it because of the convenience and the flavor, I just have to let it sit for a while before I drink it.
- excited to see Sprudge’s recent DC coffee guide, as it lists a lot of shops I haven’t heard of before in neighborhoods I don’t often visit. Looking forward to visiting many of them, and hope to do another travel report outside my earlier Georgetown review. And let’s face it, this blog needs a bit more varied content than cool tunes and pics of my weak-ass milk efforts.