Despite speculation over at DCist, Nick Cho says it's not an April Fool's joke: He's closing Murky Coffee in Arlington and moving back to the District. He and, he says, most of his remaining staff will move over to a new spot, Wrecking Ball Coffee , at 475 H St. NW.

"We just couldn't make the business model work in Arlington," says the barista made quasi-famous for wanting to punch someone on his dick after he was made quasi-famous for not paying his D.C. taxes. The  new shop will have a new owner, thus avoiding that whole lien problem. (DCist says it'll be Cho's girlfriend, Trish Rothgeb Skeie.) Cho says he will collect a salary and keep far away from the money end.  "There are some things I'm good at and some things I'm not,"  he says. "This frees me up to do what I'm good at." Like run for president?

Cho's public announcement, posted to his site, after the jump:

Read More "Nick Cho Show Moving to H Street" »

Cap Hill is percolating on over to its new coffee shop, Peregrine Espresso, the coffee shop formerly known as Murky Coffee. And guess who else was there? Mr. Murky himself, Nick Cho, who was locked out of the place back in November on account of about $427,000 in unpaid D.C. taxes. Peregrine's owner (and former employee of Murky Cap Hill) Ryan Jensen says Cho came by Saturday to check the place out. Cho also stopped by pre-opening when Jensen got a delivery of mugs meant for his former boss (who still owns and makes national headlines from Murky Coffee in Arlington).

Jensen showed him around the new/old place, no hard feelings. "On some level there were a lot of dreams he had for this place, things that we wanted together...like streamlining this place and getting shiny new equipment, so he was happy for us," says Jensen, who's added some shiny new equipment, along with a new counter, cooler, and a newly designed interior with the help of local artist Amy Herbert.

The new look certainly distinguishes Peregrine from its shabby-chic predecessor, but Jensen and the four other Peregrine staffers who are Murky holdovers aren't trying to distance themselves entirely from their alma mater. "Nick invested a lot into his employees," Jensen says, adding that, in many ways, Cho was a father-figure to Murky's baristas---a father who didn't pay his taxes, but still.

---Rend Smith

Blogger Jeff Simmermon, whose recent disagreement with Murky Coffee in Arlington and its iced espresso policy grabbed headlines, has turned his attention toward more weighty matters. Simmermon is using his blog, And I Am Not Lying, to raise money for the family of Marisol Caceres, the 12-year-old girl found strangled in her Northeast home.

The blogger  knows the victim's stepbrother, Jose Andrade. In an Aug. 6 post, Simmermon tells how he interviewed Andrade in 2006 "about a walkout he and YARG [Youth Action Research Group] put together at his high school to support a just immigration reform."

The writer took an automatic shine to the worldly teen:

Not only was he the most thoughtful, intelligent, precocious and wise 19-year-olds I'd ever met - he may have been one of the wisest human beings I'd ever met. Once he opened up to me a little, he was this busted fire hydrant of knowledge about philosophy, classical music, video games and maybe jazz, too. The only organ bigger than Jose's mind is his heart. I remember a lot of late nights at our friend Danielle's place, him telling me about growing up in Columbia Heights while I made us dinner.

Though he didn't know Marisol personally, Simmermon says he "saw her effect on Jose, and I could feel his love for her just pour out of him when he told me how smart she was, how kind and giving she was even as such a little girl."

After a few more earnest words, the blogger asks his readers to dig deep into their pocket: "Marisol's family needs money now. They need it badly." Among other things, the family needs money to move: "Imagine having to come home to that same apartment every night." A PayPal "Make a Donation" button appears toward the end of the post.

Via e-mail, Simmerman says that the last time he checked, which was Monday, readers had ponied up $2,000.

He adds that the donations aren't the only positives being generated by the post: Marisol's relatives and friends are connecting with each other in the comments section. Particularly moving is a note of support written to Jose Andrade, and left by his evidently estranged father, Jose H. Andrade Sr.:

Son You may not want to read this but I hope you do, I want you to know that I LOVE YOU with all my heart and I wish you would let me help you, you are not alone just open your heart and let me in.

your friend talks very nice about you, so I know you have a big heart Henry jr. I always wanted to be part of your life and now more than ever, son life is short lets not waste more time. I can not fix the past but the future can be better. We remember Marisol when she was little and we know how much you love her. Tell you mom and your sister that we're very sad for your lose and that we're HERE to help this is my email andrade***** I LOVE YOU Darling, Sabrina y Kevin.

---Rend Smith

A discussion thread on coffeed.com reveals D.C.'s much loved and maligned barista Nick Cho isn't done having problems.

The owner of Murky Coffee in Arlington and former owner of the D.C. outpost seized by the city's tax office (a small matter of 40 400 grand in unpaid sales tax) holds another title: chairman of the U.S. Barista Championship (USBC) Committee, a sweet appointment, considering his well-aired problems.

The news of his appointment hasn't sat so well with some in the coffee community. Following the announcement, four USBC committee members resigned their positions. Though it's not clear if all the resignations were related to Cho's ascendance (one resigner claims he stepped down because of the volunteer hours involved) Sarah Allen's certainly was.

On Coffeed.com, Allen explains how she'd been a member of the USBC comittee from the start in 2003 and how, "it broke my heart to leave." Then she goes for the jugular: "I can only speak for myself. I left the committee because Nick was appointed chair of the committee. I have emailed with Nick and he asked me to be transparent about this, so there it is. I like Nick as a person, but had concerns about his abilities to be a committee chair. Let's finally get all this shit out in the open, OK?"

For Allen, who edits the publication Barista magazine, part of getting it out in the open was posting a letter---addressed to "whom it may concern" and written by the owner of Coffee Labs Roasters Inc., Michael Love. A section of the letter states:

Does giving Mr. Cho new Chair positions promote sound business practices to the members of the SCAA? When in 3/21/08 Washington post stated "While conceding that he has been irresponsible, Cho chalked up the tax bill to 'poor cash flow management'" In reference to section 3, I ask is it unlawful to not pay ones sales tax?

Reported on City Blog [sic, City Desk] 2/27/08 "It was old sales tax stuff we missed" Cho explained. Does that free him from the responsibility & discussion of his actions? If one breaks a law or rule because of ones, own ignorance does that free them from retribution with in the SCAA & with its members?"

Interestingly enough, the letter's author knows what it's like to break the rules and pay for it. As reported in a New York Times article, Love, in connection with a checkbook he purloined in 1994 and a few parole violations was, in 2006, sentenced to 6 months in a county jail. Love received a lighter-than-typical sentence because by the time he turned himself in, he had reformed his life and become a respectable business owner with loads of cafe customers willing to vouch for him. ---Rend Smith