(inside “Politics and Prose” Bookstore)
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington DC USA

After a string of disappointments I needed to get back to finding a
top notch caffeine hit. While not a hard rule, generally in Washington
if you want anything like a Melbourne-quality coffee you should look
for those that use Counter Culture beans. Naturally the bean in
itself is not solely responsible for the coffee you’ll get (generally
good to think the 1/3 machine, 1/3 bean, 1/3 barista rule), but it is
an indication of a place that typically professes to take a little
more care in the preparation.

Modern Times is tucked in a cave-like basement of a well known DC
neighbourhood bookstore. Fortunately there are no neanderthals behind
the bar working the espresso machine. The place was ROCKING – great
atmosphere, friendly crowd and some nice tunes rolling in the
background. I went with the usual espresso and caffe latte. First
the espresso: a cup of mixed emotions – while it had a nice aroma with
good viscosity, a chocolatey overtone and a fairly nice texture it was
at the strong end of bitter, but within limits for a nice Saturday
morning hit. I’m not having any luck finding a sweet golden crema in
this town as the dark again dominated the meniscus, admittedly this
time it didn’t seem to be associated with a major problem taste-wise.

Next the caffe latte – while the flavour was alright, it was too damn
hot to drink immediately, another consistent problem I find in this
town. Even through a double cup my fingers felt singed and the heat
killed the essence of the drink on my tongue. I’m suspecting that
scalding hot coffee is an American thing – everywhere you go you’ll
see signs that say “HOT COFFEE”, as opposed to adhering to the idea
that coffee should be immediately drinkable on serving. Maybe it’s
the result of living in a place that has snow, who knows? In this
case I just couldn’t get past the heat to really appreciate the drink,
consequently the taste, while heading in the right direction, came off
as a little weak because of the temperature. So close, yet so far,
but we’ll give this place another run, you can be sure of that.

One bean from my man Eric out in the States: Hey bro tell those YANKS to hit the ‘SWEETSPOT” when heating milk, it gives it that perfect taste.

All the HOTSHOTS in Melbourne know that rule:

http://hotshots.melbournecoffeereview.com/

Till next time, keep on caffeining on…….The CaFFiend!!!

[Support MCR and delight your taste buds by joining our Home Barista Hotshot Club]

Coffee: Counter Culture