The Coffee Bar

The Coffee Bar, known to regulars as TCB, opened in December 2012 on S Street under founder Cait Lowry, in a historic building dating from 1880 on the edge of Shaw and Logan Circle. The idea was to bring back the social side of the neighborhood coffee shop, and the room still works that way, with a row of planters and tables along the sidewalk.

Rather than roasting its own, the shop is one of the few in the city that serves several roasters at once, with Ceremony Coffee Roasters and Onyx among the partners, and the offerings change with the seasons. The menu keeps to classic espresso drinks with a few signature additions, and the staff do not do grande. A second shop sits downtown in the Golden Triangle.