1451 P St NW
Washington, DC

Holy Schmokes, DC has a new contender for the coffee crown.  Sadly, you’ll never be able to get one to wake you up in the morning.  Pitango Gelato is a new-ish addition to the DC specialty coffee scene and to be honest, their emphasis is not even coffee.  Their gelato rivals some of the best stuff I’ve had in Australia and Italy and they’ll tell you that one serving of the coffee flavoured stuff has the equivalent caffeine of two espresso shots!  However while buying a recent gelato with the missus and boy, I spotted a shiny single group handle on the rear counter and asked bluntly “who can make a good coffee here?”. As soon as I could say doppio, the young bloke behind the counter was tamping a shot and I watch a couple of beautiful mousetails flow out of the head.  The espresso was devine – thick, smooth, no bitterness and with heavy chocolate on the palate. As you can imagine after the equivalent of four espresso shots (two in the ice cream, two in the doppio) I was ready to walk a few kilometres to cool off.  Only downside of this place is, they’re open nights only, here’s hoping word spreads and the demand  for morning services leads to increased operating hours.

Three beans.

Coffee:

Zen’s Pitango blend.