I had some free time this morning when I stopped by Takoma Bev Co, so I stayed to enjoy my beverage. I’m always delighted when an espresso drink is served on a tray with a glass of soda water, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a coffee in this type of glass before.
The only differences I found to a usual coffee drink were getting a bit more of the aroma while drinking it due to the slightly narrower top portion of the glass, and the visual cue that I was having a stout or chocolate milk. Overall? A nice touch, and it helped prove they made the drink to the correct temperature because the glass wasn’t hot to the touch.
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
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.
DMV Cafés 1. Café Unido 2. The Coffee Bar (Shaw) 3. Baked & Wired 4. Dua Coffee DC 5. Northside Social (Arlington) HM (alphabetically): Kaldi Social House (Silver Spring), Lost Sock, Maketto, Swings (Alexandria), Takoma Bev Co, Vigilante (Hyattsville)
On a bucolic commercial block in the DC suburbs which just screams small-town American goodness, you’ll find Takoma Beverage Company, otherwise known as Takoma Bev Co. This shop has quickly become a mainstay of Takoma Park, MD, a progressive, funky town hard by the DC line.
