espresso – A Jumbled Little World

Cappuccino Review: Cafe Domestique

557 North St., Madison, WI 53704

https://www.northstreetmsn.com/

3.5 out of 5 (Good to Very Good)

This summer a developer turned a former chemical reagent lab in Eken Park into a hipster shared-space for three existing businesses. It houses a coffee shop (Cafe Domestique), a tasting room for Young Blood Beer Company, and Bloom Bake Shop. Cafe Domestique and Bloom are open mornings and afternoons, with the beer tasting room open at night. It is a really cool idea that maximizes the space, especially as coffee shops have been closing a bit earlier post-pandemic. If you haven’t been out there, you should certainly check out the building, which also features some really cool murals (sorry for the terrible pic). It is also on the same corner as Ogden’s diner and The Tip Top Tavern, and down the street from North Street Cabaret, making North and Commercial perhaps the coolest intersection in the city.

This is all very exciting, of course, but what makes this even more exciting for me is that it is all just down the street from my house. For my entire coffee drinking life I hoped that one day I could just stroll down to a hipster coffee shop, instead of planning a trip. When I was in DC I was always in coffee marginal neighborhoods. My neighborhood was never cool enough for 6oz cappuccinos and latte art. But with the “arrival” of Eken Park on the scene of top hipster neighborhoods (we have a record store in the basement of the parole office and a hipster coffee shop in an old chemical facility), things sure are looking up.

Cafe Domestique’s first location is on Willy Street, and is adjacent to a bike shop (that is sort of their theme). It is a cool little shop, that has the additional benefit of serving baked goods from Batch Bakery (two doors down), which I thin

k is the best bakery in town. In the Eken Park location, you get your baked goods by walking down the hall to the bakery counter. Don’t miss Bloom, because they are very good (especially the sweet potato donuts). And, of course, if you stay until 3pm you can grab a beer right after your cappuccino.

The cappuccino itself was quite good, but the milk was better than the espresso. The milk had a perfect consistency and sweetness. The latte art was also quite nice. However, the espresso itself was a touch bitter, which I could taste even through the sweetness of the milk. It wasn’t off-putting exactly, but the best espresso in a cappuccino will tend to complement the milk (with its caramel,

chocolate, fruitiness, etc.) rather than fight with it. It was actually more of a problem when the drink was hotter, and got better as it cooled. This isn’t too uncommon, but kept the cappuccino from being among the best the city can offer. I’m not sure what caused this. Cafe Domestique serves Ruby coffee out of Stevens Point (along with some other roasters), and I know that those coffees can be quite good. It’s possible that the espresso was slightly over-extracted, though I can’t be sure. However, for this part of town I think Ledger serves up the better espresso.

All of that being said, I will of course be back to Cafe Domestique on North Street. They have a solid cappuccino offering, and the addition of a bakery in the same building along with awesome space makes it a great place to enjoy your coffee and hang out.

Cappuccino Review: Mother Fool’s

1101 Williamson St, Madison, WI 53703

https://motherfools.com/

4* out of 5 (Very Good)

Note that they are check/cash only.

Mother Fool’s was one of the first cappuccinos I reviewed back in 2009. They made a great cappuccino then, so this was certainly a shop that I wanted to get back to for this round of cappuccino reviews. I had a pretty busy end to my summer, but in late July I stopped in to try out their cappuccino again.

Some things haven’t changed at all. It is still a classic Madison “hippie” coffee shop, and one of the few with live music. For a long time they have featured a good selection of vegan baked goods, but the big change since the pandemic is that their espresso drinks are now vegan only as well. It’s a pretty radical move that puts them in a small club nationally. Certainly, I don’t know of any other vegan only coffee shop in Madison (though I’m not vegan, so I might just be unaware).

The lack of whole cow milk left me in a bit of a quandary as far as a review goes. Oat milk was the recommended dairy replacement for a cappuccino, but I can’t say I have ever had it before. And it is also hard to compare the cappuccino at Mother Fool’s with other shops, because whole milk is a central component to a traditional cappuccino’s flavor and texture profile. With all that in mind I’m putting a “*” next to this rating, because it seems a little strange to compare a vegan cappuccino directly to a milk-based cappuccino. But my rating just reflects how much I liked the drink itself, so just take this all at face value.

I had an oat-milk cappuccino and a vegan donut (which I have had before and are great). I was a bit surprised at how good the oat milk tasted in a cappuccino. When integrated with the espresso the oat milk gave the drink a nice “baked-good” taste of caramel and brown sugar. It had a surprisingly neutral creaminess, though the flavor profile certainly was different from any cow milk cappuccino that I’ve ever had. The consistency of the oat milk seemed a bit thinner than whole milk, though not nearly as much as I had expected, and so I’m guessing this hurt the definition of the latte art. That said, the steamed milk still had a good amount of microfoam and a nice consistency.

I still like whole milk more than oat milk, but Mother Fool’s makes a great cappuccino regardless of the type of milk. It should certainly be a destination for any vegan, and also one for non-vegans to check out.

As this is the first coffee shop I’ve reviewed from my 2009 list it is worth noting that the drink they are serving now is likely better than the one I liked so much more than a decade ago. However, the ’10s were a period of pretty dramatic improvement in the Madison coffee culture. Mother Fool’s has certainly kept up, and it will be interesting to see if others have too.

Baltimore – Some communists and some coffee

Baltimore is quite similar to many other cities in the US. It has a city core that has seen some successful development, where any yuppy can walk around feeling safe and content, there are some bastions of blue collar urbanity, and some areas where no one with other options would live (or even visit). The last aspect of the city was featured in the HBO crime drama

P1010399 — Even benches speak the truth in Baltimore.

The Wire (which is pretty amazing). But I won’t talk about the last group of places, because I typically try to stay away from them (and anyway, they usually have disappointing espresso offerings). However, on a recent trip to Baltimore, Taryn and I checked out a few parts of Baltimore, and I learned a few things about the place. The most important being, that communists make pretty bad coffee (but I’ll get to that part soon).

In DC most of the large “classic” markets are dominated by yuppies and other upper-middle/upper class types. This is not the case in Baltimore. So if you are in Baltimore, go to Lexington Market (Open since 1782! – as their sign proclaims) to see what a non-yuppified market looks like. It is especially worth going to Faidleys fish market inside of Lexington. Their crab cakes are quite good, and if you order a fish sandwich they give you an entire fish on two pieces Wonder bread – good stuff.

But that all sounded like a plug for a tourist trap. We first checked out a communist coffee

shop located in the Mt. Vernon area. Red Emma’s features all of your favorite leftist books and pamphlets, including a rather impressive section of books extolling the virtues of Fidel Castro, Mao, Lenin and other communist revolutionaries. Strangely, Stalin was less well

represented; given that he was at least as good at executing capitalists and other enemies of the state as Mao, I think he deserved some more attention. Maybe I should send them a note. Anyway, I suppose history can be rather cruel to perfectly effective leaders. Oh well.

Although Red Emma’s certainly has an interesting book selection (and I’m being honest here), this socialist experiment fails in the way that matters…their coffee isn’t good at all. Being a socialist (or so I’m told), this fact frightens me a bit. I guess I had always assumed that the alienation of a barista from what she produced was behind the terrible coffee at capitalist coffee shops like Starbucks, and that the elimination of this alienation would bring about a superior drink. My experience at Red Emma’s seems to disconfirm this. Perhaps Red Emma’s needs a bit of the fascism that other socialist states have used for “quality control” purposes. Who knows; well at least they are nice enough to have several computers that just about anyone case use, whether customer or not. So, as with any socialist state, it is probably best if you don’t contribute anything but use the goods the state provides.

We then hopped on the trolly to check out the Hampden neighborhood, which is adjacent to John’s Hopkins University. The neighborhood is well known for people saying “hon” to each other (as well as the certain type of people who are called “hons” – they have really tall blue hair apparently), and they even have a Honfest every June. But hipsters have also invaded. As you walk from the trolly stop, you will walk past modest homes with (at this time of year)

P1010397 — So you know where the money is at.

awesome Christmas decorations out front. It has a definite blue-collar feel that is terribly lacking in many cities. But as you walk east, you eventually reach a decidedly hipper part of town. The stores sell expensive home-goods and clothing, and cafes sell $3 coffee. However, we had heard about a coffee shop here that many think serves the best coffee in Baltimore, and we eventually stumbled upon the little pretentious coffee house that we were seeking.

Spro coffee boasts the most impressive selection of coffee types and brew methods that I have ever seen. You can have your cup made by Aeropress, Chemex, Clever, Eva solo, french press, pour over, Vac Pot, or espresso. However, it is quite expensive; a cup of one o f the more exotic roasts can range anywhere from $3-$7. We passed on the fancy brews this time; I ordered a cappuccino and Taryn ordered a spiced chai latte. The place is tiny, but we luckily were able to get a table.

Our drinks took a while, and the baristas seemed rather disorganized, without an efficient system for making drinks. I found this rather odd, given that people seemed to be mostly ordering espresso and pour over, and there were three people working behind the counter. My cappuccino came eventually and looked beautiful, but Taryn was given a normal latte instead of a chai latte. Although the latte was good, for a latte, she told them about the mix-up and they seemed quite confused.

Eventually Taryn’s chai latte came out, and it was quite good, with an interesting spice combination. The cappuccino had excellent art, and the foam consistency was very good. This foam added a good body and sweetness to the drink that any good foam should. However, the espresso itself seemed a bit flat, without any interesting characteristics of its own. It simply had some basic chocolate elements, but even those were not very vibrant. So the cappuccino was ok, but I expected more from a place as pretentious as Spro. However, because I didn’t try a non-espresso drink (which seems to be their specialty), I’ll not pass judgment for now. I’ll certainly be back next time I’m in Baltimore. And I will be back; this is a cool town.

Peregrine Espresso – As good as it gets in DC

Peregrine Espresso

1718 14th St NW
Washington DC 20009

and

660 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington DC 20003

www.peregrineespresso.com/

Read about my planned cappuccino tour around the DC area.

Read about my first visit to the 14th street Peregrine just after its opening.

14thstPeregrine — Peregrine along 14th st. NW (from a previous post)

I discovered Peregrine Espresso shortly after moving to DC, and I have been going there pretty frequently since. As I wondered around the DC espresso scene, I soon realized that they likely have the best cappuccino in the district, but I haven’t had a chance to do a review. But last week, I took my camera with me to 14th street location to drink a cappuccino and get some work done. It was as good as always.

Peregrine has two locations; one in the lovely Eastern Market neighborhood of SE DC, and one on 14th St NW in the Midcity neighborhood. It was started by an ex-barista of Murky Coffee, which was at the Eastern Market location before its owner Nick Cho was banished from DC. The Eastern Market shop is Peregrine’s original location, and is a little larger than the 14th street location (though they are both small), but both have the same sunny interior.

This time I checked out the 14th St. location, because it is on the green line of the Metro (and I wanted to head to College Park afterward), but I usually prefer the Eastern Market location because its neighborhood is one of the nicest in DC. The large market there is open every day and carries many meats, fishes, and vegetables; there is also farmers market and flea market on Saturdays and Sundays. It is all worth checking out. That said, 14th street is a pretty interesting area as well, close to the U st corridor, featuring several music venues, bars, restaurants, galleries, and furniture stores (actually, a ton of furniture for some reason).

Ok, now to the consumables. Peregrine has really good muffins and other baked goods, but the real show is the espresso. They serve Counter Culture Coffee, which is phenomenal stuff. I almost always order the cappuccino, though their espresso and

PeregrineCap — Sometimes the latte art is even better.

pour-over coffee are also great. I’ll give my tasting notes from this week’s visit, but it was entirely consistent with my other visits there. The latte art was exceptional, and the microfoam was perfect. The underlying espresso was a bit nutty and sweet, with the microfoam and milk mixing in to yield some nice milk chocolate notes. Exceptional all around. Ok, the numbers (all out of 5):

Smoothness: 4.8

Presentation: 5

Strength: 5

Complexity: 4.2

Foam: 5

Mean: 4.8

SD: .35

If you are in DC, you should head to one of Peregrine’s locations; it will be worth the trip. I’m going to predict that this will be the best cappuccino that I find in DC, though there are several others that might come close. In the next few weeks, I’m going to try to hit some of the places that I think are top contenders to match Peregrine’s cappuccino. So we shall see.

Pound Coffee now on Capitol Hill

Today I checked out Pound Coffee (621 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003), which recently moved to Capitol Hill from NOMA. I hadn’t yet tried Pound at its previous location, but my interest perked once I heard that they are now serving Kickapoo Coffee from Viroqua, WI. My favorite cafe in Madison, WI (and by extension, the world…) serves coffee from this roaster, so I had high hopes for a shop that serves it. It was also apparently the best microroaster in 2010 (by Roast Magazine), so I’m not the only one who loves this stuff.

So Taryn and I stopped by Pound coffee to give it a try. Luckily, I overheard a conversation between some of the baristas and a manager about the introduction of new size tomorrow….the classic cappuccino, which is 6ozs. Their normal

cappuccino has apparently been 12 oz. So I inquired as to whether I could obtain one of these new fangled cappuccinos, and the manager seemed pretty excited that I was interested (he was complaining how Starbucks has made many customers expect every espresso drink to be at least 12 oz). So I might have gotten the first “proper” cappuccino produced by Pound Coffee (that’s going to be my last snobbish sentence in this post, I promise). It was pretty good. The foam was near perfect, and the taste was quite nice. I didn’t take a picture until it was half gone, but the cappuccino had some decent latte art when it was first made. It didn’t quite match Peregrine, which is just down the street, but it gave me some faith that they will be making excellent cappuccinos in short order. I also had an espresso, which was ok, but a bit awkward. I imagine that any failings in their cappuccinos are coming from the underlying espresso. It is possible that they haven’t quite adjusted for the change in coffees.

But can they seriously compete with Peregrine? Well, if you really just want the best espresso in the city, then head on over to Peregrine; but Pound also has a full food menu (which looked pretty tasty), and Peregrine only has baked goods. So if you want very good coffee and are a bit hungry then Pound should prob

McPSQ1 — Occupy DC tent city in McPherson Square

ably be your destination.

I also headed over to the White House area today for the first time since the “occupation” started. I have to say, McPherson Square

is a mess.

I think I’m going to try to do some more dc cappuccino reviews this week; I have a lot of grading to do….

Big Bear Cafe – Hip but Relaxed

Big Bear Cafe

1700 1st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20001

http://bigbearcafe-dc.com

Read about my planned cappuccino tour around the DC area.

Although much of the recent development in DC has occurred along the green line of the Metro in NW, these are not the only areas that have been changing. One of these neighborhoods is Bloomingdale, and is composed mostly of rowhouses and some small commercial areas (especially along North Capitol St.); consequently,

the area is quieter than the more densely populated neighborhoods to its east and west. In fact, many consider Bloomingdale to be one of the best areas to find a deal on a home in an otherwise overpriced DC housing market.

Big Bear Cafe opened up in a building that was previously a liquor store on a pretty crappy corner, and has managed to make the area a pleasant reflection of the best elements of the neighborhood that surrounds it. It is a very relaxed place compared to other coffee shops in DC, and that adds to its charm. They have an often-changing menu with normal cafe fare, and they often use local ingredients. I didn’t have anything fancy while I was there (they had a number of sandwiches and breakfast items made with ingredients from local farmers), though I did have a bagel topped with apple butter, which was delicious. The cafe inside has quite pleasant, with high ceilings and a decent amount of seating (for DC at least). There was also ample seating outside.

Big BearCap — It was prettier before I shook it trying to open a door...

I ordered the cappuccino, and I was pleasantly surprised by the decent art; this is usually a good sign, as good art is only possible with well prepared foam. Big Bear uses Counter Culture Coffee and Trickling Springs Creamery milk (from PA), both of which are popular among top coffee shops in the DC area, so I expected a good showing. The foam was excellent, with the sweetness of the milk adding quite a bit to the overall taste of the drink. The espresso was somewhat nutty, which was interesting, though the flavor overall was a bit “hazy,” with a slight bitter element. This made me wonder whether the milk to espresso ratio was a bit too high. Ok, here are the scores, all out of 5:

Smoothness: 4.7

Presentation: 4.8

Strength: 4.4

Complexity: 4.0

Foam: 4.9

Mean Score: 4.6

SD = .36

Overall I was impressed, and I’ll certainly be back to try more of their food. Going here is certainly a good excuse to see the Bloomingdale neighborhood, one of the (pleasantly) quieter corners of DC.

A trip to Chicago’s Intelligentsia Coffee

276 — I knew there would be good coffee the moment I spied the fixies out front.

Taryn and I take a yearly trip back to Wisconsin from DC, and this year we decided to spend a few hours in Chicago before heading up to Milwaukee. Neither of us have spent any significant time in the city, so we thought this would be a good chance to do some exploring. The original idea was to visit one of Chicago’s northern neighborhoods (Lakeview), where Intelligentsia Coffee has its original coffee shop (at 3123 N. Broadway St.), via the L. Intelligentsia is one of the best coffee roasters in the country, and some of the best coffee shops all around the country use their beans, so their shop seemed like a good excuse to travel out of the Loop. So that was the plan. Plans don’t always work out, and we found ourselves at the downtown location instead (apparently L stations require exact change…my fault! Though I have to say that my short experience with the L made me long for the New York Subway, or even DC Metro).

But everything turned out ok, because Intelligentsia’s coffee shop at 53 E. Randolph St.is beautiful and spacious. It is really quite shocking, for someone used to the cramped coffee shops of DC, to see what reasonable rents can allow. So there was no trouble finding a seat. We both ordered cappuccinos, and the

latte art was beautiful (and unique) on both of them. The foam texture itself was nearly perfect. The espresso was quite complex, with hints of both berries and cocoa, though there was a slight bitterness that was slightly off-putting. We both speculated that a sweeter milk may have helped this a bit. I won’t give a rating but I think this cappuccino fell just short of some of the best coffee shops in DC (Peregrine) and Madison (Bradbury’s), though daily variability likely places Intelligentsia in the same league as those other places. However, from what I tasted, I certainly don’t think that Intelligentsia is significantly better than these other places (many claim that they serve some of the best espresso in the country), and it doesn’t match the phenomenal cappuccino that I had at 9th Street Espresso in New York last summer (although the latte art was exceptional, I don’t give this a great deal of weight – cappuccinos are primarily for drinking, not looking). But if you are in Chicago, go to one of Intelligentsia’s locations; you won’t be disappointed.

New Peregrine Espresso location on 14th st. NW

I finally got a chance to check out the new second location of Peregrine Espresso, which opened up a few weeks ago at 1718 14th st. NW (a few blocks south of the U st. metro stop). The shop is a little smaller and a bit more urban industrial (exposed brick abounds) than the Capitol Hill location, but the coffee and baked goods are just as good. I have yet to formally review Peregrine (I’ll get back to some more reviews next week), but in my opinion they serve some of the best cappuccinos DC. Some of the baristas who have created such wonderful espresso drinks on Capitol Hill have moved to this location, so you can expect the same artful deliciousness. Outdoor seating should be set up in the next few months. Happy (coffee) drinking!

Chinatown Coffee – at least it is hip

Chinatown Coffee

475 H st. NW

Washington, DC 20001

www.chinatowncoffee.com

Read about my planned cappuccino tour around the DC area.

When Chinatown coffee opened in 2010, there was a great deal of excitement surrounding it. Nick Cho, of Murky Coffee fame (who I have mentioned in previous posts), was even general manager at Chinatown for a while (before DC went after Cho for back taxes, and they ended their “relationship”). In fact, Chinatown was the first coffee shop I went to in the district; it was supposed to be among the best. The shop is located in the very lively Chinatown district of DC, close to a number of large offices, shopping areas, excellent places to eat (along with a good number of really crappy Chinese restaurants), and museums. On paper, the place has a lot going for it. However, I have always found it to be a bit of a letdown; I have been here many times while living in DC and it has almost always been consistently worse than other top coffee shops. But we will come to that a bit later.

Chinatown coffee is a rather small exposed brick shop; it is what you would expect from the pinnacle of hip urbanity. They serve bottled beer and

ChinatownOutside — from Bill Walsh at Honestcooking.com

baked goods along with their coffee, but no other food. I have to say that the muffins are delicious. Recently they have also hosted a variety of food trucks (all the rage in DC) on Thursday nights, very cool! It is always seems crowded (regardless of the time of day), so expect this if you visit; as with many DC coffee shops, getting a seat can be a chore.

The cappuccino looked very nice, with perfect microfoam. This sort of foam-perfection is the norm here. However, I was not impressed by the underlying espresso, which is odd given that Chinatown uses one of the best coffees in the country (Intelligentsia, out of Chicago). I’m not positive about why this is, but I

ChinatownCap — A really nice looking cap

saw that they were selling some coffee beans that were well over a week old; it is possible that they were using beans that were a little past their prime. Regardless of why the espresso was lackluster, it lacked any real complexity and had an off-putting bitterness. This is certainly unfortunate given how seriously they seem to take the preparation of their coffee drinks. Here are the ratings, all out of a possible 5 points:

Smoothness: 3.3

Presentation: 5

Strength: 4.7

Complexity: 4.0

Foam: 5

Mean: 4.4

SD: .74

Chinatown is certainly the best coffee shop in its part of DC, however there are better offerings in nearby Capitol Hill and Dupont Circle. If you are in the area it is certainly a place to check out, but if you are willing to travel a bit there are better offerings elsewhere.

Qualia Coffee – some local beans

Qualia Coffee

3917 Georgia Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20011

http://www.freshofftheroast.com/qualia.html

Read about my planned cappuccino tour around the DC area.

Qualia coffee is (to my knowledge) the only small scale coffee roaster in the district. They roast their beans in the backroom of their little shop, offering new batches of freshly roasted beans most weekdays. I’ve often used these beans for both espresso as well as pour-over brewing, though I don’t think they quite match up Counter Culture (one of the other major brands used at coffee shops in the DC area). So, I can already vouch for Qualia’s whole bean coffee, but I wanted to find out how their cappuccino stacked up.

The shop is located in the Petworth neighborhood of DC, which has historically been the northern edge of a historically African American area of the city. It is actually an interesting region because it has, for the most part, maintained a

large middle class population even though there has been, until recently, very little investment there. However, it has recently become more diverse as an influx of upper middle class professionals and other young people have begun to buy and rent here. Although this change has not been as rapid as that of nearby Capitol Heights, Petworth is certainly different than it was 10 years ago; for one thing, there is now a hipster coffee house serving expensive espresso drinks.

The shop is located in an unassuming row house along Georgia Ave NW. Inside the first floor is a small seating area and the coffee bar. I have to say, the entire place is quite gorgeous, and it is obvious that a lot of care was taken in setting it up. Also, if you visit make sure to check out the roaster in the backroom of the first floor; many days you can watch them roast the beans that they serve. There is also a larger seating area on the top floor, accessible from the outside using a door code. It is one of the more pleasant coffee shops I have been in, and I really give them credit for having so much class.

But of course, the cappuccino is what I was really interested in on this trip particular trip. On this trip, they gave me a cappuccino that certainly was not a pretty as what I have come to expect in DC. There was no art, only a plop of white in the middle of the drink. I think this is a problem of consistency, because I have gotten drinks that looked far better from the other barista here (this is a small place, so there are just a few people on staff). When I took a sip I

QualiaCap — I wouldn't call it "art;" though who am I to judge?

realized why the barista was not able to make very good art; there was too much macrofoam on the top of the drink. A drink of only microfoam is required for decent foam-art. So, the barista messed up a bit frothing (though it wasn’t terrible). I was made a bit happier with the underlying espresso. There were some nice chocolate and fruit notes, though there was a (very) slight bitterness from (ever-so-slight) over-extraction. So, I was quite pleased with the espresso that they are serving here, though the poor frothing left me feeling a little underwhelmed. The ratings follow (all out of 5):

Smoothness: 4.4

Presentation: 3

Strength: 5

Complexity: 4.6

Foam: 3.9

Mean Score: 4.2

SD: .8

I’ll be back to Qualia to buy their beans (especially because they are just down Georgia Ave. a bit from where I live), and will certainly get a cappuccino while I’m here. I’d recommend that you come by and visit too!