Last day of July

First off, I need to share a picture of a beverage I had on Saturday. We went grocery shopping at My Organic Market and, in the cooler near the checkout, they had Coffee Berry Juice. It was flavored with strawberry juice but still had some coffee berry character to it. The container boasted that it was high in antioxidants and has as much caffeine as a cup of tea.

Things are moving at the shop. Today the Cirqua will be activated and water lines will be prepared for all o the coffee equipment.

We have one sink dropped in place though not yet connected and the other should be done today.

Also, our pendant lights are hung above the bar and have us all pretty stoked, as Peter G would say.

More to come in the next couple of days–sanding the floor on Saturday!!!

(oops.  almost forgot the tshirt)

T-shirts are in!

Hey, folks.

The t-shirts came in this morning and I’ll post a picture tomorrow (though it looks like the picture of the fake tshirt that I posted a week or so ago).  They are black and have the logo on the front in green and grey and cost $10.  We have American Apparel in S, M, L, XL and classic girl S, M.  In the next week or so, I’m going to pick a couple of days to set up shop at store to do pickups.

Also, we will soon be turning all our attention to the detail work and the lovely newspaper will come down.  We should have the coffee equipment hooked up in about a week and a half and will be breaking in the machines while we wrap up the little things.  At that point, if you happen to walk by and the door is propped open, it may be free coffee day.

I’m excited to work my last shift at Big Bear Cafe tomorrow and I am grateful for opportunity they have given to me as a sort-of guest barista these last two months.  Wednesday mornings have been a lot of fun and I’ve really enjoyed the customers, coworkers and neighbors I’ve met or gotten to know a bit better as I try to earn a little grocery money.  Thanks, Lana and BBC.

Progress Report- July 25

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.

Washington Post Food Section

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

Have a fabulous day.  More updates tomorrow.

Progress Report- July 19

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).

Website is (sorta) live!!!

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.)

Logo Unveiled

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.

Hard work

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….

Feats of Geometric Strength

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.

It’s not like we didn’t already know, but…

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.