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Chronicles of a Coffee Drinker--Log #1: Big Bear Cafe

Over the last few years in DC, I've had large quantities of seriously crappy coffee. Add to that the number of Starbucks in the district alone (DC has the fifth highest number of Starbucks per capita in the country) and my observation of dear friends who keep returning to the same watery, burnt, boiling sewage found close to home or the office because it's convenient and cheap, and it's clear coffee guidance is needed in DC. Coffee can lead to nasty mood swings, hypertension, overworking, stomach ulcers (really) and poor taste, so "It better be worth it" is my motto.

To a non-worker and one-time college student from Seattle, coffee shops are a second home. To those with more to think about than coffee roasting traditions, the beauties of a perfect cappuccino, or the sweet, sweet cafe life (you) much can be learned from the diligent research and trials of a coffee addict. I propose to do the work for you.

DC has a growing number of indie cafes--we all know coffee/life at Tryst and Murky, though there be more out there. Try the coffee I mention and be ready to open your mind and taste buds to stimulation and perfection you never knew one could crave in coffee. (Warning: coffee/espresso drinking can lead to snobbery and a suspected surge in fine wine drinking.)

My (current) favorite stop in town:

Big Bear Cafe

Big Bear has become my favorite in the last couple of months for several reasons:


1. I only learned of it in November (it opened last July).
2. The espresso drinks are consistently awesome (translation: smooth, rich, slightly sweet and caramelly, milk is silky and at the right temperature to not burn the tongue or espresso, done with a foam design so familiar to northwesterners.)
3. It's a neighborhood, non-chain cafe, privately owned, with a very friendly staff.
4. French press coffee is available by the cup or 17 oz press.
4. The great space, large windows, couches, and outdoor tables have a Northwest feel unlike other DC cafes and make me warm and fuzzy.
5. Really great sandwiches, salads and paninis.
6. Movie screenings.
7. Tuesday knitting groups.
8. Listen to me when I tell you about the goodness of the coffee.
9. Free wireless all day, all weekend.
10. Good pastries (croissant w/prosciutto and gruyere), teas (ginger is yummy), and GLASSES available to drink free filtered water, not disposable cups!

Yesterday, I had two macchiatos, a house coffee, and a deelish chicken pesto panini. Big Bear is a little out of the way for those not already living in Bloomingdale, but U Street buses all stop at the corner of Florida and 1st, and street parking is largely available on weekdays (weekends are another story, but not nearly as bad as Adams Morgan or Eastern Market.)

My peeve: the Washingtonian twice listed the city's indie coffee houses and both times forgot Big Bear. Bad news for the many in the District who are still missing out.


Big Bear Cafe
1st & R St. NW

My Love Affair with Tryst

This is my third consecutive day at Tryst, so it seems only right that I give a "hell yeah!" to it's existence as a damn-fabulous coffee shop and a place I could visit nearly every single freaking day if I wanted to.

Let me tell you--When I moved here from Seattle five years ago, I swore that if I couldn't find a respectable place to call my 'coffee home', I was gonna get the hell out of this crummy town before my three-month employment commitment was over. No joke... good coffee is much more important to us Northwesterners than you could possibly imagine... more important than some silly JOB. As luck would have it, I squatted with friends on Biltmore and Columbia in my first week and my tryst with Tryst (could I avoid the pun?) began. It was exactly the magical, caffeinated dream I sought: Cozy ambiance; a perfect work space for students and writers; a neighborhood joint; and damn fucking good coffee.

Here are the top ten reason I love Tryst:
1. Cappuccinos
2. The Portia sandwich (heavan)
3. Everything served with Nutella
4. The Cuban Coffee
5. That orange juice and cardamom infusion tea thing (so classy!)
6. Chai Tea Latte (the best in the city; only the fallen Sparky's could challenge it)
7. Iced Green Tea (garnished with a piece of pineapple)
8. Lemon Poppyseed waffle
9. All the other waffles
10. I can sit for as long as I goddamn please

Despite your pissyness about Tryst---how damn impossible it is to get a seat, confusing table service, how easy it is to feel ignored or forgotten, and your issues with it being "sceney"--I will argue that you need to get your issues and your shit together.

My tips: Go during the day, know what you want, waive to your waiter when you want something else or the check (they prefer it to reading your mind), and smile. (It's hard for the waiters, too... just so you know.)

Here's an apt pledge from their website:
"The French have their cafes, the English their pubs, the Greeks their tavernas and bodegas; what do we have in America? Somewhere between home and work we all need a ‘third place’ to go -- where we can escape the stresses of everyday responsibilities but still connect (with high speed internet access if you choose) to the outside world. Tryst is defining that third place for us."

In case you didn't realize the additional and crucial (in my case) true brilliance of Tryst COFFEE: Tryst serves Counter Culture Coffee, which is one of the most respected coffee rosters on the East Coast that delivers to all the top coffee counters in D.C.--such as Murky, Big Bear and Dolcezza. Counter Culture epitomizes sustainable and artisanal coffee as a company motto. David Fritzler of Tryst works diligently to select the best crafted coffees for your Tryst consumption, which are brewed to perfection every time. And lets talk dirty about the espresso: the perfect pull of the shot, savory and sweet creme, the exact temperature for silky-smooth froth in the milk-based drinks... like a tall, hot drink of milk that you never saw coming because you had no clue what real, sultry, naughty coffee pleasure was in the first place....

Plus, I love the staff! Can I give a shout out to Aya, David, Kat, Stephanie, Orlando, and Jocelyn! They've been there at least five years or more--as long as I can remember--and they know their shit.

So don't crowd my space, but let's give some proper cred to Tryst.

State of My Life Address

Sitting at Tryst today, again, drinking bloody good coffee to finish up some writing before going to the gym and then heading out to hear Bush go on about loving america. Which reminds me... I remember a particularly ridiculous Bush S.O.T.U.A. day when I cried a lot at a bar after drinking many martini's. It was, in all truth, only somewhat connected to what was being said on television, therefore I had disappointment coming from many directions and suffered an all-around particularly pathetic state-of-my-life. Remembering this embarrassing little affair (thank god the bartender who handed me tissues that night soon left said bar, taking with him the only witness account!), it's hard to not look in the mirror each time this year and consider the present and how it compares to this day, one year ago. Let's see... unemployment has gone up, economic outlooks are spotty at best, but growth levels are good and could expand exponentially in short time. Morale is sensational all things considering, enterprising and educational investments are up, technical and trade stocks continue to rise. Personal investors are seeing the payoff of a delightfully less-bitchy me. Health and haircut are the best they've been in ages. All in all, a pretty fucking great State of My Life. Aside from Bush, of course.

A Week In Review: Think Cheap and Sustainable

I hate to admit it.... but money's running PRET-ty thin, and in one direction: right out my senseless little fingers as if I had oodles of it coming from a generous, seductive little money fairy. This week was time to get serious on expenditures... and make a real budget and reschedule my day so that all my pricey little habits could be avoided. But then I bought a new pair of shoes and pants on Tuesday (they were on sale, I needed them).

I pledged to try again starting right then, and went straight to Dupont Circle to sit for free with the homeless people and ruminate on my potential future.

I thought, "Think cheap... free even." By god--I bet I could do the stuff I like to do for less or no money but I've been too lazy and too proud and too picky. I could have done this when I had a job. Happy hour specials, for instance... I should drink the happy hour wine instead of good, flavorful, full-bodied wine... if I must. I could also make my coffee at home though it's never the same, eat my lunch at home though I can't cook, watch movies at home on my smallish HD TV without Dolby digital surround sound... and NEVER LEAVE MY HOUSE.

I had a little time to think about things... life, the economy, the planet.

ON SUNNY WEATHER IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER:
Wednesday: The warm wind blew through my just-washed hair, I was outdoors and happy and guilty and had the willies... because our planet is about to melt from the effects of global warming. I thought: Why can’t we all just buy TP made from post-consumer (recycled) material and use clear, reusable WATER BOTTLES and get the planet back on track? I vowed to do both, felt good about doing my part to save MILLIONS of gallons of oil and nearly half a MILLION trees, and was intent to spread the good word. The Washingtonian suggests clear Nalgene bottles (I like Klean Kanteen) and a purse made from bottle caps.

ON COFFEE:
Why is it so damn expensive? Not only did Starbucks go up, like, 11 cents last October… now milk is more expensive per gallon than oil. How am I expected to have my two delicious cappuccinos a day in this kind of economy? I consider switching to maté exclusively and decide I will sleep on it for a couple of months. In the meantime, I’ll go to a coffee cupping this morning.

ON MOVIES:
I love movies nearly as much as Fandango loves me and those services charges... but I have to pay my cell phone before it's disconnected. So I need to find some free screenings. Saw Star Wars last night, for the umpteenth time. Two free movies on my list for this weekend: The fab Audry Hepbern in Charade @ the National Postal Museum; and The Gates--a documentary about those oh-so-quirky NY artists who did that crazy instillation thing in Central Park that one time a couple years ago and can explain it to us after the screening.

ON THE RECESSION AND THE HOUSING BUBBLE:
Boy, I sure hope this doesn't happen or things will really get tough....

With that in mind, a few no-cost events this weekend:

• Vagabond Opera
• Dead rock-star costume night
• Brit new-wave films
• Freaky French dance party
  

FREE MOVIE Alert!

Free screening of STAR WARS at Big Bear Cafe tonight at 7:30 pm.
(But you might want to buy a coffee or something....)

Morning Rituals, Daily Accomplishments

Mornings used to be a real nightmare. The insomnia-induced television marathons until 3 am the first two weeks didn't help, then there's all the crap around the house to keep you busy and in pj's all day long. Add movies or playing with the cat--or the best, seeping until 3pm-- and you'll be destined to fail at joblessness.

A friend on vacation for a week asked, "How do you do anything worthwhile all day when you're at home, where it's so easy to do nothing?"

Well, although my genius is too early to reveal, I'll give you a little something to get you by for now. Here's how I get things done at home, in semi-particular order. See what it can do for you:

1.Get out of the house ASAP. I leave for coffee before I even take a shower to see that life does still exist out there. It's so easy and fun, even if you're half asleep. Do this until necessary.

2.If you've got the stuff, go to the gyms/run/be active in the morning. You can scoff at all the suckers going to work and get a good high first thing in the am for hours of productivity.

3.Have at least one exciting thing to look forward to that wakes you up in the morning. Today, it's the High Heel Drag Race on 17th St, which got me out of bed early so that I could get all my crap done before 6pm to make it to the Fox & Hound for prime seats. Yeah!

4.Have at least one project stress you out so much that it wakes you up in the morning. This is usually an involuntary perk, but it sure as hell works.

5.Calendars and check-lists rule! I have several Google calendars, I use iGoogle ToDo lists and have several widgets stickies on my dashboard. These lists occasionally clear by the end of the day... very satisfying.

6.Pick the most fun and constructive of the list of things you imagined doing even if they may never amount to anything, to keep yourself happy and maybe even support the right path to whatever. Some on my list: Blogging, volunteer in my dream job, painting, more photography, and order the piece missing on my sewing machine. And a few others, big and small. Prioritizing these.

7. Set up meetings. Make them for coffee with a friend in the morning, anything, just commit to being somewhere outside your place at a certain time and keep it. Talk to people, too--don't be a hermit.

8.Nothing improves the spirits like a midday siesta. Nap, walk, eat, (shop) or do a completely selfish and jealousy-generating activity at least once a day. Otherwise, why the hell are you doing this?

Unfinished Business

Maybe it's the three coffee's I had today talking, but I feel like total crap, like I can't get anything done lately. Exhibit A above: The table I was stripping last week until it rained for 40 days. I'm guessing my foul mood has something to do with going into work today, combined with the paradox of a fast approaching state of being broke. When it takes at least two weeks for the work your doing to equate to cash, or of course months or NEVER as with many of my projects, today can seem like a total beast. If I were feeling at all like being positive, I guess I would say I just have to wait out the couple of weeks until I'll be sitting pretty again with a little wad in my pocket and the adventurous twinkle back in my eye. Yeah, well... it sure as hell better be that way.

Coffee Cupping Morning in Adams Morgan

MMMmmm, A perfect day for a coffee tasting! Every Friday morning at 10 am, the new Counter Culture training center in Adams Morgan generously opens up to the public for a lesson in coffee tasting, aka "cupping." This is a complete win-win situation: You finally know what they hell your drinking and they get a little public survey of the coffee they're roasting. What's that aroma you get? Somewhere in the realm of chocolaty, blueberry-y and green peppery? Awesome, we'll write that down.

The session is soul-searching and I'll even say mandatory for anyone who considers themself a coffee drinker. I, in particular, had never paid so much attention to El Salvadorian coffee or the natural roasting processes in Ethiopia. And it was so easy: just taste, write down your notes, repeat taste, talk as a group. Everyone has something to learn here and it is quite a high, caffeine excluded in that exclamation.

Plus, if you don't already know, Counter Culture is top of the line for environmentally and socially responsible artisan coffee. They pay serious attention to the bean, the roasting, the brewing.... translation: Very good coffee. It's like wine tasting in Sonoma.

Although I strolled in half-awake at about 10:20, I recommend you get there at 10am sharp and maybe even call or send Ryan Jensen, the D.C. center customer relations contact, an email ahead of time, especially if you want to come with a group. 202-903-4802, rjensen@counterculturecoffee.com

The training center is at 1836 Columbia Rd NW, next to the big new interior design place with the yellow store front. Go to the undisclosed door on the right and dial them up on the call box.

See you there next week!