Independent cafés: D.C.’s coffee culture problem
Posted by TheShot on 24 Apr 2009 | Tagged as: Add Milk, Café Society, Foreign Brew
Yesterday, Washington DC’s local blog, We Love DC, posted an article on what they consider one of D.C.’s greatest coffee culture challenges: the survival of good independent cafés. To help remedy the problem, the post includes a few promotional suggestions for the area: We Love DC » Blog Archive » We Love Drinks: Coffee Culture.
The post’s author, Jenn Larson, is on a mission we can relate to — given that we started what eventually became CoffeeRatings.com in 2002 to raise awareness of better espresso standards and the good, independent places where you can consume it. Earlier this month, Ms. Larson also lamented the death-by-drowning-in-milk of the American cappuccino — a subject long dear to our taste buds: We Love DC » Blog Archive » “This is NOT a cappuccino”.
We’ve written previously about D.C.’s challenges with good coffee. The transitional status of Murky Coffee hasn’t helped either. Twenty years ago, I was living in the D.C. area myself. The coffee was terrible; the Starbucks invasion was still years away. But right after the first recognizable cappuccino I had — in Berkeley, CA — I immediately moved there. Coincidence?
3 Comments »
on 24 Apr 2009 at 11:39 am +00:00T 1.Jenn Larsen said …
Thanks very much for the mention! I’m glad to help further the cause.
on 24 Apr 2009 at 12:14 pm +00:00T 2.Peter said …
I was just in DC last week. Checked out Peregrine Espresso over in Eastern Market. Don’t know about any other places, but they know what their doing when it comes to espresso.
on 24 Apr 2009 at 5:52 pm +00:00T 3.Mark Ramos said …
I am all for promoting the need for the best local coffee houses, because otherwise, how can we ever get the consistently fresh coffee that we deserve? Great post!