peregrine espresso

Hey.

I just enjoyed a piece of Leah’s birthday cake over at Hill’s Kitchen and am watching work being completed in the space.  At some point earlier this week, the cabinets looked like they were in the right place and the counters (while not attached) looked ready to hold some wonderful coffee equipment.  All of that was done in order to push it all to the side and finish the floor so that they can be permanently attached.  And so that the electrician can come in and make his plan for running all the electrical.

Apparently, a 4-group La Marzocco GB5 takes a 50-amp 220 rather than the 30-amp that a 3-group takes (which is what was in here before).  Also, we needed to run a phone line from the back room (where the phone jack is) to the cashier station (where the POS system will be).

The t-shirts are shipping out today to arrive on Tuesday.  I’ve run into some folks on the street that are hoping to have some set aside.  There should be plenty for everyone–I ordered over 100!–and it’ll be easy to get some more so have no fear.  I’ve also been told that I should start a coffee bean delivery service to keep everyone satisfied for the next month.

That said, I realize that I haven’t given an updated estimate for opening:  well, we are looking at late August at this point.  That’s all I can really say right now.

Check out this article about the DC coffee scene in today’s Post:  click here

Have a fabulous day.  More updates tomorrow.

At the end of another week, we find ourselves with plenty left to do but a lot of checkmarks made on the task list.

I realized that I hadn’t yet posted a pic of our official building permit.

We got our countertops in and put them where they will eventually go.

Sometimes you need to ruin something in order to fix it.

We also ordered t-shirts after receiving a sample fabric (seen here tested on an actual t-shirt).

We’ll let you know when the shirts arrive (and sorry, no baby or dog sizes this time).

Good news, all.

Although it cost access to my email for most of yesterday, we now have a real website up at peregrineespresso.com

For now, all of the updates will still occur at this blog, but within a couple of weeks we’ll be shifting everything over to the real website. Thanks again to our good friends Scott and Amy Herbert of H Designs for another beautiful project.

(If you tried to email me at any time yesterday at either ryan@ or info@, please try it again–it’ll make it to me now.)

Here is the logo as created by the fine folks at H Designs–friends of ours and Capitol Hill neighbors.

We should have t-shirts by next week and I’ll post some pictures of us modeling them.  Also, version one of our website should be live by the end of the week.

My tummy hurts from eating pastries all weekend but it was enjoyable.

We just got some samples of pastries from a few local bakeries and are having to do the hard work of tasting them. The life of a coffee shop owner….

Over the past few weeks, I’ve lost a number of hours of sleep to the Pythagorean Theorem.  You see, we’ve purchased a very large fridge for a very small room and an even smaller hallway to get into very small room.  I’ve spent a good chunk of time laying in bed working the dimensions through the Theorem to determine whether or not the fridge will make it from the narrow hallway (beginning lengthwise) into the small storage room, turning through a doorway.

We had maybe an inch to spare.

The pictures don’t look as impressive as the reality of the situation.  Since the space itself is real small, there isn’t enough room for enough refrigerators to store enough milk to stay open through a busy weekend.  So, the extra fridge wedged in the back storage room is crucial and it would’ve been a shame if we couldn’t have made it work.  Alas, I’ll sleep better tonight.

And a (working) wireless router and a new ice machine in boxes.

We’re #1.  We’re #1.  We’re #1.

Although Big Bear got the nice mention, we’ll take the nice neighborhood.

I redid the newspaper taped to the front window today.  Pretty exciting stuff.

In addition to making final menu decisions and securing their sources (bakeries, dairy, teas, etc, etc) we will be getting the final version of our logo in the next couple of days. With that, we will be ordering business cards and t-shirts.

So here’s the deal: American Apparel Jersey T’s with our logo on the front. $10-12 each. We’re going to be selling the first batch of shirts at cost to get them around the neighborhood. Aaron Ultimo insists that we order plenty of Men’s Smalls but we’ll be sure to get a spread of sizes to please everyone. We’ll post the logo when it’s done and also find a couple of days to set up shop at the store to distribute.

I realize that we haven’t shared much, so here’s a sneak peek into some of our partners and suppliers in this endeavor:

Davenport Designs (design and construction)

H Design (interior design, logo, future website)

Counter Culture Coffee

Rishi Tea

Trickling Springs Creamery

We’ll be working on finishing some of the wood in the space tomorrow and making a plan for repairing some tiling.

And I have my first meeting with a job applicant–how exciting!

A few more small steps in the last couple of days:  We got our phone and internet hooked up at the shop but we don’t yet have the wireless active so keep your laptops at home for the time being.  I’ve also been focusing some attention on our food vendors and making sure we’re all set to go.  Also, yesterday we got new cell phones for the first time in three years-somewhat work related because the phone I’ve been using hasn’t really been working out.

We are currently waiting for a few more pieces of equipment to arrive to make sure we are building everything exactly right.  Also, the actual countertops are set to arrive this next week which will enable the last step of building phase.  In the meantime, we will be redoing the tile on a few sections of the floor behind and under the bar and working on the finish for the wainscoting.

Because of the holiday, there isn’t much that can happen today.  Instead, I’ll be trying to figure out how to use the new phone and enjoying the day off.  We hear that Good Stuff Eatery is giving away free ice cream.