Compass was my first planned coffee stop for the day.  The location I visited was just a few bus stops from the Dolcezza.  It is a single-story brick building packed to the gills with coffee products, seating, and what appears to be the compass coffee roasting operation.

I ordered a small drip coffee, which was made with their cardinal blend, and a saag-paneer filled pastry, similar to a bao.  The pastry dough was sweet, and the sag-paneer was spicy and bizarre, but in the best way.  The coffee was smoky and sweet, a little acidic but not very fruity.  The coffee was served in a paper cup.

I sat at a bar in front of their coffee roasters.  Like slipstream, light was provided mainly by numerous skylights and windows rather than with artificial lighting.  This, combined with the brick, gives the place a warm glow.  The place was pretty packed, with a long line when I arrived.  But there was plenty of space inside, and I think pretty much anyone who wanted a seat got one.

As you can see in the photo, they have pretty much every kind of cafe chair, ranging from various heights of 4-legged metal stools, to orange and white metal chairs.  The wood was mostly light colored pine and veneer, which was complemented by the white paint and tile.  The somewhat high ceiling and skylights give it an airy, clean, and open feeling.  this feeling conflicts somewhat with the general cramped mess and busyness of the floorplan.

The CCC lacks the usual signage out front, but once you get inside, it is clear that it is a coffee shop.  They seem to serve intelligentsia coffee, but they also sell retail heart coffee.  As one would expect, the coffee is good. The coffee was balanced, with a smoky aftertaste.  It was served in an hourglass shaped diner mug, like the ones that Diesel sold before switching to intelligentsia-ware.

The interior of the shop is long.  The grey bulkhead that comes out of the ceiling, the rail, and the long coffee bar all help make it seem even longer, emphasizing a far away vanishing point.  Their logo is three cups over two bars, which is similar to the flag of the District of Columbia.  Definitely clever.

On the left side, there are small four legged stools mixed with creamsicle chairs- white on the outside, orange on the seat.  These seats face each other over low spool tables.  In the front of the shop there is a bar at the window, and two very expensive looking tables with matching benches.  These feature a dark wood tabletops, metal frames and narrow benches.  It was a surprisingly comfortable spot to sip my coffee and read my book.

 

Peregrine Coffee was the first stop on my coffee tour.  It seemed easy to get to form the Hirshhorn and it would be my only stop out on the east side of DC.  I arrived at about 4:00, drenched in sweat from my two-block walk over from the East Market stop on the Blue Line.  Say what you will about the heat on the west coast, but at least it is a dry heat!

This location is located right next to a non-peregrine cafe.  I was almost lured into buying coffee from them but the brew-o-matic and lack of coffee menu made me think twice, and check outside.  Sure enough, Peregrine was right next door.

Since it was about 90 degrees and humid, I opted for a smaller espresso instead of my usual small black coffee (the real standard for judging a coffee place).  I also ordered a ham and cheese pastry.

The pastry did not inspire any real confidence in me, with its single roll of ham and sparse cheese, but I devoured it anyway since I was hungry.  It was decent-edible but not a reason to come back.  Eventually my espresso was up (after a mix up that almost landed me with a macchiato).

The coffee on the other hand, was short- by that I mean it was a single shot of espresso.  One unusual thing I learned is that in DC, espresso is normally a single shot instead of the doubles you find in Boston and LA or SF.  Overall I was happy with the coffee.  It as fruity and the acid was fairly balanced.  They clearly have some idea of what they are doing over there with their machine and their counterculture coffee (they also have a house peregrine brand).  It was served in a standard white saucer/espresso cup/spoon, along side what I assume was supposed to be sparkling mineral water in a libbey druatuff glass.  Unfortunately this turned out to be lukewarm water, which was trumped by the free ice water they were also serving.

The decor was cute, but not in a way that stands out.  It felt like it was new and nice, and organized.  Inviting, but not too exciting.  They did have a funny rendition of their name on the wall (pictured above).  There is interior and exterior seating available.  The inside consists of a small square of tables in the front (about 4 people/table), a bar for seating for three, and another line of tables going back to the back of the cafe, each seating two.  Next to the line of tables is the coffee bar, including a pastry case, espresso machine, and retail area.  This cafe (like the rest of the ones in DC) also boasts a restroom.  Outdoors there are five tables that can probably seat three people each.

The tables and chairs were a light blonde wood, probably pine.  The outdoor furniture is metal painted that rustoleum-lawn-furniture-green.  The counter echos this theme with a light wood and glass construction, giving the whole place a friendly (but not enlightening) interior.

When I arrived at Baked and Wired, after a bus and a schlep down 30th street,  I was extremely unenthused to find a line out the door.  What I did not know was that Baked and Wired is one of “those places” where people queue outside in 85 degree heat to buy expensive and trendy pastries.  There is nothing wrong with that, but typically this is not my scene.  I typically prefer a spot where I can grab a quick cup of coffee and a seat and spend a few hours lost in a book, writing emails, or pretending to be productive in some other way.

Once I was inside, I realized that it is actually that kind of place, or rather half the store is that kind of place.  There are actually two totally separate counters inside, one for coffee and one for baked goods, which form a delicious symbiosis.  From the bakery, I purchased a pistacio cupcake.  From the coffee bar, I bought a cup of coffee.

The coffee was acidic and a little fruity- a nice sharp note compared to the creamy sweetness of the cupcake.  And unlike most cupcakes, this one had little nut-nuggets in it to add a nice texture.  Together, the two of them made a lovely afternoon snack.  Alone, I think the coffee would have still been drinkable, but the cupcake certainly enhanced the experience.

The decor could best be described as mixed.  The coffee bar area has no seating.  The bakery is standard contemporary-cute and displays cupcakes under glass beakers.  Down a few steps from the bakery, there is a massive shell-shaped couch that faces an american flag.

In the back, things get real weird.  Napinks are attached to napkins with baked and wired stickers in what must be a fire marshalls nightmare.  Somewhere under all the napkins, I am sure there is a wall with more napkins attached to it via stickers.  Each leaflet in the strata is marked with a thoughtful doodle or a few words.

La Colombe was (and is) my ultimate stop for coffee in D.C.  Ultimate in both senses of the word- final, as well as the best.  If you want to have the best coffee that I found in D.C., this is absolutely the place to go.  Sadly, I did a terrible job of getting photos of it, so you will have to bear with a mostly-words description.

La Colombe is decorated with sedate walnut stained wood, warm brick, and cool steel.  Everything else is black.  The lights are a slightly warm white, and are augmented (and overpowered) by a large skylight and by the windows.  The indirect light from is very warm since it is reflected off the reddish brick and wood surfaces.  The chairs and furniture appear to be site-specific and have matching stain and hardware across the store.  One notable feature is the black and brass features on the furniture- something I have not seen elsewhere.

The coffee was amazing.  I had something fruity from their workshop selection, and it was easily the best coffee I have had in at least a year- maybe more.  I described it in my notebook as “it smells and tastes of cherries.  It is acidic, fruity and clean”.  The coffee was served in a highly decorated mug, with blue and red floral and bird patterns.  The saucer had a matching bird and floral pattern.  Easily the coolest mug to date, aside from the old monkey-on-a-rocket-ship mugs from Diesel.  That is high praise coming from me!

I visited D.C. over the weekend of the 9th to see an exhibit by one of my favorite artists- Robert Irwin.  After that I had a couple days to kill and I decided I would go on a coffee tour of the Capitol.  Based on recommendations from friends and cafes that I stumbled upon, I managed to visit 9 cafes in the D.C. area.  Below are my comments on each one.  Check out the map above for information on location and my recommendation.

Green Star = Best coffee in the area!

Green Pin = I visited and the coffee was good

Blue Pin = I visited a different branch and the coffee was good

Red Pin = I did not visit any of these cafes

Diamond = Would not recommend, better coffee nearby

My strategy was to hit all the outliers that had late closing times on my first “day” from about 3-8, and then sweep the Green/Orange line stops on my way to Union Station on day 2.  I decided to add peregrine to the list of day 1 locations so that I would have about 4 cafes on day one and 4 on day two- to even out the coffee intake.  The day one list was peregrine, filter (since foggy bottom was closed on the weekends, I ended up going to Dupont circle), Baked and Wired, and finally Northside Social, which was far away but had late hours.

Day two began, surprisingly, with Slipstream and Dolecezza, which I happened to run into on the way to Compass Coffee.  After Compass I hopped a bus down to Chinatown Coffee Co and finally La Colombe.

Northside Social

Peregrine

La Colombe

Baked and Wired

Filter

Slipstream

Compass Coffee

Chinatown Coffee Company

Every now and then I run into or chat with people who are really excited about DIYBIO, and it is really these people who get me excited about what I do at BOSSLAB.  I just wanted to give a shutout to a few people who have recently been awesome:

Cellfyre is from Oregon, and intends to start a DIYBIO group out there!  According to her twitter, “Everybody is handed a coupon for scientific knowledge at birth. Many have forgotten to redeem theirs. To create awareness I advocate #DIYBio, #STEM, and #PLoS“.  She came down to BOSSLAB (last week? hard to tell with finals going on) and we talked about what it is like to run a DIYBIO lab, sourcing equipment, and getting people excited.  You can (and should) check out here twitter here!  If you are in Oregon, tweet at her!

Andreas Sturm is a student who works somewhere in Europe (I am unsure of where), and is very ambitious in the development of hardware.  His do it yourself bio-hardware blog should be up soon- I will definitely share it here once it is up!  Since bio-engineering of any kind is very taboo- to the point of being illegal- he has to work closely with his university to do even transformations!  But he still persists in being curious and hacking up useful tools.

Chris Templeman is an engineer and presumably owns Templeman Automation in Somerville.  It turns out he was the driving force behind the sub $200 (if i recall correctly) PCR machine that was released by cofactor bio a while back.  He is smart, excited about biology, so keep an eye out for him.  He is also behind a pretty sweet multitouch computing table kickstarter, here.