Vigilante Coffee | Coffee, It's a Helluva Drug

happy coffeepalooza ’23

This was quite the weekend for coffee obsessives in the nation’s capital. Friday was National Coffee Day, Sunday was International Coffee Day, and these critically important holidays bookended Saturday’s first annual DC Coffee Festival. Held at Dock 5 in Union Market, the event sold out in advance for both sessions.

The hall was filled with roasters and cafe operators, plus a few different coffee-related businesses and a couple food purveyors. Thankfully the good people from Topo Chico were giving away free samples of cold soda water, as things got a little sweaty in a packed hall on a humid day.

The Matty Macchiato 5th Annual Holiday Gift Guide: Part I

So two weeks before Christmas may be a little late to be much help. Remember, if something doesn’t arrive in time you can always print a picture and let them know their present is on the way! Or start normalizing New Year’s gifts.

If for some reason you’d prefer well-written professional writing and images – can’t imagine why – many quality coffee roasters have added holiday gift guides to their websites. You should also check out Counter Culture Coffee’s staff recommendations page for recommendations on the best gear for making great coffee at home.

Many of these are repeats from past guides, but I’ve tried as much as possible to find new/different/improved versions. Okay, let’s go.

Swag ’em up
Everybody loves swag, whether it represents their favorite sports team, beer, or coffee roaster/café. Our beloved Little Red Fox tee is no longer available, but here are some awesome pieces of branded merch from coffee world.

Tees
Verve Coffee Roasters Fuego Pocket Tee, regularly $25, currently on sale for $13(!)
The mullet of coffee tees: all business in the front and all party in the back.

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)

local spotlight on local coffee heroes

The DC area’s Fox affiliate is doing a series on its morning news show this week on coffee. Started today at Vigilante Coffee, one of my favorite local roasters. Nice overview of the roasting process. Check out the video here.

finding the new normal

One person’s adjustments to feeding their coffee addiction in the time of social distancing.

the totally unofficial mattymacchiato power rankings

top five preferred coffee roasters, ranked (ask me tomorrow and this list might be completely different)

tfw……

….you discover good coffee less than a block away from your office.

*source: Simpsonsworld.com, via giphy.com*

Somehow or another, for the past two years I totally missed that there was decent coffee available near my work. The bar at DC’s Hotel Hive is a trendy spot for drinks, but I had not realized it also has an espresso maker going from 7am onward every day. Featuring beans from Vigilante Coffee, it’s admittedly not the best-made cup ever. However, the proximity and the quality of the beans carry the day.

back to school

Since things haven’t been going so well in my never-ending quest to produce even a passable example of latte art, I figured it was time to take another class. So I spent a couple hours today with the good folks at Vigilante Coffee in Hyattsville, MD.