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In its January issue, Bon Appétit lists the 10 best boutique coffee shops in America, and sneaking in right at the bottom is D.C.’s Peregrine Espresso, which also took home top honors in our most recent Best of D.C. issue.
Writes BA on Peregrine:
You’ve heard of microbrewed beer, but what about coffee? On Capitol Hill, you can get one of several single-origin coffees—for example, La Golondrina from Colombia—made to order just for you.
Y&H is a fan of Peregrine, too, and its obsessive ways. During a visit earlier this year to the Capitol Hill coffee shop, I got into a discussion with a barista over the cone filters used at the joint’s hand-pour station. At the time, the ones that Peregrine used had two holes; the barista said the shop was switching to one-hole cones so that each cup would steep longer, for a more perfect extraction.
God, I love that kind of geekiness.
Which is also why I like Qualia Coffee in Petworth, where the owner roasts his own beans. and Chinatown Coffee Co., where the baristas use the Clever Coffee Dripper to steep the perfect cup.
Peregrine, in other words, has a lot more competition these days, which is why during a recent visit with David Furst on Metro Connection, I broke down my list of favorite area java shops.