We in the District and beyond are enjoying the finest coffee we’ve ever known, and it’s coming from all sides and in different forms.

You have shops like Misha’s, M.E. Swing,  Sidamo, and the relative newcomer, Qualia on Georgia Avenue, which all roast and sometimes blend their own coffees. Then you have operations like Peregrine, Chinatown Coffee Co., and Mid City Caffe, and DeJaBel, which all buy quality, freshly roasted coffees from wholesalers like Counter Culture and Intelligentsia. There’s even Shagga Coffee and Restaurant, which has created its own blend through Caffe Pronto in Annapolis.

Wow, who needs another cup of Joe?

Metro Connection host David Furst and I will discuss D.C.’s sudden explosion of gourmet coffee shops and break down the best of the new crop of caffeine slingers. You can hear our discussion today at 1 p.m. on WAMU, 88.5 FM.

It will be replayed at 5 a.m. on Saturday. You will definitely need some coffee if you’re going to listen at that hour.

The French group, Odelaf & Monsieur D, penned this hilariously dark tune about the horrors of caffeine addiction, which has been turned into this equally dark video by Stephanie Marguerite and Emilie Tarascou of the Art School of Angouleme. No matter how much coffee you drink daily, this video will make you feel, well, relatively sane.

Let me tell you how the Hill Rag, a free monthly, cost me $2 this morning.

I stopped on the Hill today to eat breakfast and buy a cup of Joe from my current favorite, Peregrine Espresso, located in the former Murky Coffee spot, site of the late unpleasantness. I ordered a to-go cup made from beans imported from Burundi, a country better known for its ethnic violence and its brain-numbing level of poverty. Coffee exports, it seems, have given this poorer-than-dirt-poor country some hope. (Just don’t tell that to the women during bean-picking season.)

Read More “How a Free Copy of the ‘Hill Rag’ Set Me Back $2″ »

Let’s say you cooked in three to five different kitchens every week, and you did that for a period of several years? Well you’d probably be pretty good at designing a kitchen.

Personal chef Monica Thomas has that background, plus several years catering experience, not to mention a big family that expects some plate-filling from time to time. She bought her house in Hyattsville in 2001. Kitchen renovation came steadily. First, there were the counters and appliances, plus the corner sink (not pictured).

“I didn’t want to commit to the island until I’d lived with the kitchen for a while,” she says.

But after a few years, Thomas said “I do” to a special, custom-made stainless steel number. One night, she, her husband, and some guests broke out a duct tape role and started laying out the palatial island’s boundaries on the floor.

Here’s the rest of what Chef Thomas came up with:

Read More “How a Personal Chef Designs a Kitchen” »

There wasn’t a drop of coffee to be found at the Shanghai House of Tea when I stopped at the Glover Park establishment at 11 a.m. today. I knew there wouldn’t be, and even if there were, I didn’t think I had the stones to ask for it. It’d be sort of like asking for a T-bone at Java Green.

Instead, I asked the waitress what she usually drinks in the morning. She recommended a pot of Dragon Well. It’s a green tea, which promotes good health, she said. (Apparently the stuff helps keep your arteries open, which sounds like a good idea given all the red meat I eat.)

Read More “Can a Die-Hard Coffee Drinker Be Satisfied with Green Tea in the Morning?” »

After last week, in which Y&H spent more time with his computer than his bed, his wife, and his dog combined, and after a full weekend of cooking, eating, and cooking some more, Y&H is ready to ease into his week with some of his favorite blogs.

• Alinea at Home overcomes her fear of the Brine-land to create these little Grant Achatz flavor poppers.

Read More “Daily Food Blog Roundup: A Few of My Favorite Things” »

Much has been written about Starbucks‘ fall from grace. The coffee behemoth’s profits have plummeted and its stock has lost nearly half its value in the past year (never mind how much it’s lost since the beginning of this decade, because who the hell holds stock that long anymore?). Stores have been closed, and baristas have been given their walking papers. The moralists among us say it’s a fitting fate for a company that epitomized the greed and the overinflated sense of self of the ’90s.

But the marketing gurus are trying to contain the damage with a new campaign to convince you that any Starbucks coffee product priced under $4 is a bargain. The Wall Street Journal published a piece yesterday about Starbucks’ new promotional blitz:

Read More “Starbucks Enters the Spin Zone to Convince You Its Coffee Ain’t That Expensive” »

One of the better things that’s happened to our area is the quiet spread of Counter Culture coffee. Yeah, sure, Counter Culture is another one of those companies with all its PC boxes checked—direct trade? check! organic? check! shade grown? check!—but it also produces some terrific java, which you can sip at Tryst and all three Busboys & Poets locations. Today, I found another spot that serves Counter Culture: the DeJaBel Cafe in Wheaton, located right next to the freshly reopened El Pollo Rico.

Named after owner Eddie Velasquez’s three daughters—Daniela, Jasmine, and Isabel—DeJaBel is barely a month old. It’s a welcoming neighborhood spot with lived-in chairs and tables, local artwork on the wall, and friendly staff, but it’s also a work in progress. The place is still trying to find a good source for bagels, for instance. But you can trust the coffee. Trust me.

Read More “It’s Getting Easier to Find a Good Cup of Coffee in D.C.” »