The Coffee Bar

Part of the Fill in the Coffee Map Series

Subject: The Coffee Bar
Location visited: 1201 South St NW, Washington DC
WiFi?: yes
Rating: 6+ [see key]

While seasonal rain is welcome for purposes of irrigation and staving off drought, downpours during a day in the city sure make the day a little more challenging. Fortunately when recently I ran into this dilemma in DC, I had planned a visit to the African American Civil War Memorial Museum and a highly-reputed coffee stop nearby called The Coffee Bar.

With easy street parking available near TCB (the acronym used for The Coffee Bar), I made a stop for coffee first, finding a packed house all enjoying their beverages and, despite it being a Saturday, many working on their laptops. The shop has a lot of high top surfaces, with the only exceptions being the front couch area and a bunch of outside seating for when the atmosphere is a little drier.


After finding a seat at the wall bar for the family, I made my way over to grab some coffee. They had a few different roasters including Onyx, Bespoken and Verve. After some deliberation, I settled on an espresso of a Colombian from Onyx and a pourover of Bespoken's El Tambo Colombia. The espresso, pulled short with brown crema, doled out notes of lemon, chocolate, scone, grapefruit, black tea and a little cane sugar, proving effervescent and toothsome. The pourover also knocked my socks off, wooing me with honey, pear, croissant, cream, wheat and a little bran muffin, proving luscious and syrupy-sweet. 

After polishing off my drinks, my troop headed over for a nice afternoon in the African American Civil War Memorial Museum. All around, an excellent afternoon was had by all, thanks both to history exhibits and the excellent coffee of TCB. Definitely stop by when you get the chance. 

These wonderful folks made this visit possible in part. Make sure to check them out!