The Coffee Bar | Coffee, It's a Helluva Drug

Beauty

Love the new-ish La Marzocco machine at DC stalwart The Coffee Bar‘s Shaw location.

well, since you asked… DMV power rankings

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.

it’s time to throw down!!!!

Last night I attended my first Barista Throwdown. Before I go any further, if you’re not sure what that means, the good people at Boomtown Coffee have a great explanatory piece with all the deets.

My social media feeds occasionally have mentions of area Thursday Night Throwdowns, and since this edition would be held practically in our backyard at Lost Sock Roasters‘ pop-up at Brightwood Pizza & Bottle, I figured it was time to experience one for myself. And I’m so glad that I did.

I wondered what I would find when I walked in. One of the things I love about coffee shops and the specialty coffee community is that almost everyone is incredibly welcoming and happy to share their passion. I didn’t know if I would find some version of that friendly, open, positive mentality, or a highly competitive, nervous vibe, or a group of coffee pros closing themselves off from normies like me.

Well, here’s what was waiting for me:

another something special

I was in line at The Coffee Bar in DC today when I noticed a new addition to the signature drinks menu on the board. And the drink was boosted by the fun letter board.

Now is the point at which I admit I snuck a look at my phone to figure out what yuzu is. Finding it to be a citrus fruit with a tart and sour taste and a touch of sweetness, I figured I’d ~~continue expanding my horizons~~ at least be able to get a post out of the experience, and ordered one.

let’s try something special for a change

It’s not hard to find unique coffee beverages, most every café comes up with hot and cold drinks matching coffee with various flavors. I’ve never been one to get flavored syrup in my drinks, and other than the capuorange, I usually give the special creations a pass in favor of old reliables.

I stopped by The Coffee Bar‘s Shaw location recently, and while waiting for my turn at the register took a gander at the menu board.

Hey, look, signature drinks.

whoa

This is a first:

Good thing this wasn’t a Starbucks, it would be weird drinking a macchiato with “Mort” written in the foam.

that didn’t last very long

The excitement over last summer’s debut of Tigerella’s coffee shop in DC’s Western Market is now officially extinguished, as it is permanently closed.

The coffee side of the business closed in December, with a sign in the window announcing a holiday break with a January reopen. I was in Western Market today and the space is now bare, except for a few fixtures; a bagel shop will soon take its place. Tigerella’s restaurant is still open, but its only coffee option is French press.

Coming soon after the closing of beloved Little Red Fox, which is ceding its space to a different local bagel chain (one which, IMO, is very overrated), this ain’t good. Let’s please wrap our finest DC independent coffee stalwarts like The Coffee Bar in bubble wrap and keep them as safe as possible.

photo of person standing in between trees — my current vibe
(photo by Min An on Pexels.com)

P.S. Sorry not to post part II of the Florida travel piece yet, it’ll be up soonish

Some DC coffee news

Great to see that DC multi-roaster The Coffee Bar reopened its 17th Street NW location. While TCB’s Shaw home base stayed open for the duration, the 17th Street shop closed for a significant stretch during the pandemic. The shop resumed operation in October, and hasn’t skipped a beat.

This nugget of wisdom was recently on their sidewalk chalkboard:

While that’s a wonderful development, there is also some very unfortunate DC coffee news.

Power Rankings: August 9

One man’s opinion. Ask me tomorrow and I’m likely to tell you something completely different.

Roasters
1. Onyx
2. Heart
3. Verve
4. Sweet Bloom
5. Counter Culture

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)