coffee

Lot 38 Coffee Shop Opens Up at Captiol Riverfront/Navy Yard

By Prince Of Petworth

Dear PoPville,

Lot 38 in Capitol Riverfront is now open. They were giving out free drinks yesterday until 6 pm. [Ed. Note: Oops, sorry I didn’t get that posted yesterday!] I believe the gentleman behind the counter is the owner, but I just snapped the pics and didn’t go for the full (or partial) interview…. The other two pics are from each end of the upstairs seating section. It’s nice to see this finally open as there seemed to be some sort of delay in the middle of the construction process, but I suppose that shouldn’t have surprised anyone.

Great addition to the neighborhood! Lot 38 is located at 2nd and L St, SE.

Update on Coffy Cafe Coming to Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

Dear PoP,

Any new scoop on when Coffy Café in Columbia Heights is planning on opening?

I was wondering the same thing. Here’s an update the owner sent me last week:

Things are chugging along at Coffy! Right now we are painting, building out the counters, finishing the “rough-in” of plumbing and electrical and also finalizing the webpage www.coffycafe.com. We should be completing our first round of preliminary inspections next week. With any luck we will be finished with build-out in Mid-Dec and opening sometime in January.

Coffy Cafe is coming to 3310 14th St, NW across the street from the Tivoli (14th and Park Rd, NW)

Judging Coffee Houses – Cafe Collage

By Prince Of Petworth

When Mid City Caffe closed I assumed folks would head to the Peregrine nearby. I totally forgot about Cafe Collage which went under new management way back in March 2009. Cafe Collage is located right next to Cafe St. Ex at 1346 T St, NW. Their Web site says:

“Our quiet location is the perfect place to catch up on some coffee-infused study or work time, fuel your brain with our Da Vinci Tea St. Special Grilled Veggi, or treat yourself to our renowned Picasso roast beef and cheese sandwich. You can also take advantage of our basement quarters and have an intimate conversation with several family members and friends without being packed against a series of wi-fi users. (Although we do have room for you, too…)”

Looks like they also quote a previous PoP commenter who is a fan. I don’t know why I always forget about this place. You can see their full menu here. And I now see:

“We now feature beer & wine! A glass of house wine, domestic, or imported beer costs only $3.”

Any fans?

The 5pm Post – “Special coffee cupping, free espresso giveaways and discussion with top coffee roaster” Sat.

By Prince Of Petworth

From an email:

“What: Special coffee cupping, free espresso giveaways and discussion with top coffee roaster
Where: Pound The Hill, 621 Penn Ave SE, Eastern Market Metro
Who: Head Roaster of Kickapoo Coffee (2010 Micro-Roaster of the Year), Owners/Baristas from Pound, Coffee Enthusiasts
When: Saturday, 11/5, 2-4pm

As you may know, we are the only shop on the east coast that carries Kickapoo Coffee and we’ve become one of their largest clients. Kickapoo, selected as the number 1 micro-roaster in the country in 2010 by Roast Magazine, is a small buy very high quality boutique roaster out of Wisconsin who is dedicated to fair trade, organic coffees. The owner and head roaster of Kickapoo, Caleb Nicholes, is stopping over in DC on his way to meet with some new coffee growers in Ethiopia and is spending the afternoon at Pound giving away espresso and conducting a cupping to allow coffee connoisseurs and newbies alike to be able to recognize and appreciate the subtle differences from one roast or region of coffee to another.

Caleb will be at our store starting at 2pm and we will conduct the cupping at 3pm. In order to join for the cupping, people interested must email us at [email protected] to get on the list as cuppings are done with a limited, intimate group. But the free espresso is for everyone that comes by and they will get to taste up to three different espressos from Kickapoo and chat with the head roaster himself!”

Dunkin Donuts Finally Opens at 14th and U St, NW

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

The new Dunkin’ Donuts on 14th and U St is NOW OPEN! I pass it every day, and I have been waiting months for it to open up. According to the notices that have been on their windows, they’d been training their staff for quite some time. So I was delighted to see that it was open this morning. The staff is super nice, but you can tell they’re still brand-spanking new and so are just a bit slow (they’re still learning).

And I think there is a special going on? I was running to catch the circulator, so I didn’t stay to find out what it was. But I bought a medium coffee and a flatbread sandwich and I only paid $3.05! So I think maybe the coffee’s free with purchase of a sandwich or something?

In any case, I’m happy Dunkin’ Donuts is in the neighborhood.”

This can be a pretty divisive topic – but I’m with you – this makes me very happy.

New Coffee Shop Coming to Georgia Ave. in Pleasant Plains?

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to a reader for sending this potentially sweet news that word on the street is that a new coffee shop could be on the way to the old building at 2904 Georgia Ave, NW (at the corner of Harvard.) It’ll be great to see this old building get fixed up. Though keep in mind that Sankofa Cafe is located nearby at 2714 Georgia Ave, NW.

More info when it becomes available.


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Mid City Caffe Closing Oct. 1st in Logan Circle

By Prince Of Petworth

First Sparky’s Cafe closes then Cafe 14U and now this…

Yesterday at 5pm I got the following sad press release:

“Logan Circle’s Mid City Caffe has announced that it will be closing for business. The final day of normal operation will be September 30, 2011 with limited hours of operation on October 1. The café was opened in 2009 by a pair of entrepreneurs who turned the interior of the former auto-body shop into a comfortable environment for the neighborhood’s residents to work, relax and socialize.

Unfortunately, the second-story location outside the downtown core proved underperforming. Limited accessibility restricted morning commuter and daytime foot-traffic, and while the café was blessed with a coterie of dedicated regulars, ultimately the volume simply was not there.

Known particularly as a gathering place for the neighborhood’s freelancers and creative professionals, Mid City Caffe proudly served coffee from Counter Culture Coffee and Caffe Pronto prepared by an expertly trained staff. The café’s closing will leave a gap in the expanding, but nightlife-focused, Fourteenth Street corridor.

It has been a pleasure to serve the Logan Circle neighborhood and to be apart of the city’s burgeoning specialty coffee scene. While the ownership and staff are excited to move on to other opportunities, they will miss their devoted customers.”

Mid City Caffe, located above Miss Pixie’s (also likely moving in 2012) at 1626 14th Street, NW, opened up back in Aug. ’09.

Coffee fans will now have to head to Peregrine which opened up down the block at 1718 14th St, NW in May ’11.

Do you guys think that the neighborhood couldn’t support both Peregrine and Mid City or do you think “the second-story location outside the downtown core” was Mid City’s downfall?

Shaw’s Tavern to Turn into a Coffee House?

By Prince Of Petworth

Back in late Aug. we learned that Shaw’s Tavern would be closing at 520 Florida Ave, NW until they got a liquor license.

On the Shaw listserv this morning the CCCA President wrote:

“StevenMay of #ShawsTavern walked passed the casa and told me the jont may reopen as coffeehouse w/o ABRA license. They r working on sidewalk”

I thought Mr. May was no longer affiliated with the project but maybe he heard some scuttlebutt? As of 11am there was no update on Shaw’s Tavern facebook page.

Do you think Shaw’s Tavern reopening as a coffee house would be a good idea?

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