Rossana | Coffee, It's a Helluva Drug

If you’ve spent more than 2 minutes on this site, it won’t surprise you that I’m known to friends and colleagues as “the coffee guy.” More than a few times I’m asked by someone new to town which coffee places they really have to try, and I’m often unprepared for the question.

I’m going to give it a go here. No copping out with ties or honorable mentions. No explanations, other than I’ve limited myself geographically to my understanding of the DC metro area.* No fretting about coffee vs service vs food vs whatever other factors should be considered. Ask me tomorrow and I’ll give you a different answer, and there are a lot of great places not listed, but here are one guy’s rankings of the very best of the best in and near the nation’s capital.

Washington, DC
1. The Coffee Bar (Shaw)
2. Baked & Wired
3. Doubles
4. Café Unido (La Cosecha)
5. Lost Sock
6. Elle
7. Ebenezer’s
8. Simona
9. Little Hat
10. Dua

Maryland
1. Vigilante (Hyattsville)
2. Kaldi’s
3. Takoma Bev Co
4. Vigilante (College Park)

Virginia
1. Rare Bird
2. Rossana to You
3. Caffe Amouri
4. Swings
5. Kaldi’s
6. Simona

* – apologies to the rest of Virginia and Maryland and the eastern portion of West Virginia – I’m looking at you, Red Rooster, Hopscotch, Curate, and Lost Dog.

This is the first of what I hope will become a series of interviews with coffee entrepreneurs about the choices they make in creating, building, and positioning their businesses. We begin the series with sisters Randi and Maria Milton of Rossana, a mobile coffee business in northern Virginia.

Randi was previously interviewed by us when she served as General Manager of Northside Social in Arlington, VA.

How would you describe Rossana?

Maria: Rossana is the culmination of a long-time dream that Randi and I have had to own our own business, and our love for coffee and community.

Randi: Rossana brings more than a mobile espresso experience to you. We are handcrafting espresso beverages, coffees, teas, and small bites with the same level of love and attention of a brick and mortar café, but in a mobile setting.

What’s the meaning behind the name?

Randi: Rossana was our mother’s name. We went back and forth with different names and ideas that would fit into our concept and in the end, Rossana was perfect. Our mother impacted us in innumerable ways; our confidence in ourselves, our passion for life, and love of people, just to name a few.

Maria: Pronounced ROSS-anna. Being from the south, there is a little twang behind the name.

What were your backgrounds before starting the business?

Randi: I worked in many positions in the hospitality industry, first as a prep cook at a local establishment in our home town near Atlanta, GA when I was in my teens, and most recently as the General Manager of both Northside Social Arlington and Northside Social Falls Church. Leadership and hospitality are my passions, and coffee became a surprising bonus.

Maria: We both have had careers in the restaurant industry, and my background is heavily on the beverage side. I focused on craft beers and then moved into wine, followed by restaurant management. I worked in the Northside wine bar when I moved to Virginia, and that is where my love for coffee really started to blossom.

Tag: Rossana

The Decision Makers: Rossana