When I was in Milwaukee last summer I visited an outlet of Colectivo Coffee, a local coffee business with 13 cafes in the Milwaukee area, three in Madison, WI, and four (soon to be five) in Chicagoland.
I liked the ambience, the coffee was very good (if not exceptional). Felt like a small, independent cafe, definitely nothing like a shop that’s part of a multi-outlet behemoth.
Continue readingI was a bit saddened today, as for the first time I had to mark one of the coffee shops in my guide as closed.
Spiral Press Cafe in Manchester, VT is no more. In fact, it seems to have closed mere days after I visited it this past August. The owner wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper giving his view on why the business went under.
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A late addition to my recent deep dive into the Georgetown coffee universe. To be honest, I hadn’t included this spot because I didn’t know it existed until reading about it in an article today.
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Our venture through Georgetown ends at what, at first glance, seems to be a nondescript building next to the C&O Canal, its bricks painted the color of Kaopectate. But look a little closer, at the big casement window framed in hot pink, at the built-in marble bench, and then step inside for the neighborhood’s finest cup of coffee.
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Blue Bottle, a roaster and cafe operator founded in Oakland, California, is a leading player in coffee’s third wave. It has grown significantly since raising capital from private equity investors, and global food megaconglomerate Nestlé now owns a majority stake in the company.
What was once a spunky little indie now is a growing global presence, with stores in California, New York, DC, Miami, Boston, Japan, and soon South Korea. But unlike certain other global coffee chains (cough cough), you’ll still get an amazing coffee from Blue Bottle.
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As you work your way down Wisconsin Avenue toward the Potomac, just after crossing the C&O Canal there will be a narrow little one-way street on your right. On that street you will find a small food hall hidden in an 80s era commercial townhouse. It’s not easy, but you should try to find your way there, because one of the stands in the hall is occupied by Grace Street Coffee.
Continue readingupdate 8/9/2021: Georgetown location now closed; five other outlets open in DC
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Just below the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street, Georgetown’s commercial ground zero, you’ll find a handsome spot serving delicious coffee. This old brick building, originally a firehouse, is the home of the Georgetown outlet of Bluestone Lane, a New York coffee roaster and cafe operator which seeks to replicate the coffee culture of Melbourne, Australia. Bluestone Lane can be found in New York, Philadelphia, California, and DC.
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updated 9/22/19: Corridor Coffee has closed permanently as of today’s close of business
Corridor Coffee sits behind an unassuming exterior, located up the hill from Georgetown’s retail center of gravity. The name is quite fitting, given it is sited in one of the neighborhood’s narrow old townhouses.
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Closed in August 2019
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Oh, did this one break my heart. I so wanted to love it, everything looked so promising.
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