This past weekend, we ran through the remaining supply of the delicious and fruity Finca Mauritania Triple Process Espresso.  Taking its place is the Espresso Toscano blend.  Toscano is a longtime favorite of a number of our baristas and features delicious caramel and bittersweet chocolate notes and a great creamy body.

This blend is a bit of a departure from the last few espressos we’ve been using and, while we have enjoyed a lot of fruit and brightness this summer and fall, we thought we’d try something a little more earthy and chocolate-y for a little while to match the coming cool weather.  Let us know what you think–we’re excited to be able to switch up the coffees we use for our espresso and want to make sure that the quality is always consistent no matter what goes in the hopper.

Earlier this week, we got a new batch of travel mugs in.  We really love the combination of ceramic and stainless to provide good insulation but still a great drinking experience.

This mug is available for $18.  Come get yours today.

See you soon.

Exciting stuff for Hilloween and Halloween this weekend.

Tomorrow, October 30, Hilloween comes to 7th St SE near Eastern Market and Saturday, of course, is Halloween.  We will have some special Halloween cupcakes from Buzz both Friday and Saturday and some other treats as well.

Some costumed customers will walk away with free Peregrine tshirts, particularly our 12-18 month onesies and 4T kids shirts for the cutest youngins.  Also, we’ll have a bunch of dog biscuits for the furry trick-or-treaters this weekend.

Let’s hope that the weather holds off for a great weekend.

There were a couple of things of note in today’s Washington Post Food section:

1.  An article on Rwandan coffee and a new cafe in NW called Bourbon.  We are excited for Bosco and his crew to be open and serving delicious Rwandan coffee here in DC.  The story of Rwandan coffee is amazing and the taste is, too.  I got to speak with the reporter on my experiences with Rwandan coffee over the years and have a quote in the article.  In case you are wondering, we currently do not have any offerings from Rwanda–this year’s crop won’t be until later this fall.

2.  Tom Sietsema has a First Bite column on our neighbors at Seventh Hill Pizza.  He really likes it and we do, too.  If you haven’t tried it yet, come on by.  They are just a few doors down on 7th St SE between Pennsylvania Ave and C St SE.

Also, check out the brunch ideas including delicious coddled eggs.  Jill and I fell in love with coddled eggs when we were on our honeymoon in Ecuador–we might have to try these recipes.  Pick up some jars like the ones used in the article at Hills Kitchen.

What a great day for food.  Take care.

Click here to see this Wednesday’s article in the Washington Times on DC’s Thursday Night Throwdown.  Also, congrats to Peregrine’s own Jeremy Sterner for winning the October TNT (I think that makes eight times in 13 months!).  These monthly throwdowns have been a great opportunity for baristas across the city to gather, have a couple of drinks and talk about our uncommon passion for coffee.

In other news, we’ve been nominated for Best Restaurant/Cafe/Eatery/Coffee Shop on Capitol Hill in the first annual HILLY awards.  Click here to go to the CHAMPS website and vote for us.  Thanks.

Last weekend, we kicked off our cupcake campaign.  Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we will be offering delicious Buzz Bakery cupcakes to our lineup of afternoon sweets.  Each day will bring two different flavors so stop in often to catch the various options.  Follow us on Twitter (@peregrinedc) for the daily update but here is what we have this weekend:

Friday:  Red Velvet and Vanilla/Vanilla

Saturday:  Caramel Apple and Buzz (chocolate with mocha buttercream)

Sunday:  Pumpkin and Chocolate/Chocolate

Also, we are excited to be debuting a new espresso in the next few days.  We will be switching from the delicious Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza from Brazil to the equally delicious Finca Mauritania from El Salvador.  This will be a blend of three different processes of coffee from one farm–Sun Dried, Pulped Natural and Washed.  We are very excited to feature this coffee and, in case you are keeping score, that puts five different coffees from El Salvador on our menu–Finca Mauritania Washed, Finca Mauritania Sun Dried, Los Luchadores, Finca Kilaminjaro and the Finca Mauritania Espresso.  Taste the variety and see how distinct coffees all hailing from the same country can be.

Have a great Friday.

Well, it’s October.

We have new drink specials:

Bela Lugosi- Pumpkin puree topped with espresso and served with a spoonful of graham cracker whipped cream.

Marco Polo- Curry hot chocolate made with creamy soy milk and garnished with dried mango.

Also, beginning on Friday, we will begin our tart of the week program with Buzz.  We will start with their Chocolate Cashew Maple Tart and switch it up weekly.  In addition, we’ve swapped out our Chocolate Chip cookie for a delicious Ginger-Molasses cookie from Pollystyle.

We just got a new batch of t-shirts in, as seen below.  They are $15 and are a must-have for the fall.

Beginning tomorrow, we will have coffee lineup that I believe rivals any selection of coffees we’ve ever had the privilege of offering.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep much of this lineup for a good part of the fall so take your time working through these fine coffees:

Finca Nueva Armenia, Guatemala

Shakisso Washed, Ethiopia

Los Luchadores, El Salvador

Finca Mauritania, El Salvador

Finca Mauritania Sundried- El Salvador

Thunguri (and soon Ndaroini)- Kenya

Finca Kilaminjaro- El Salvador

Esmeralda- Panama  (only for about a week)

Finally, it looks like 7th St is complete from C St to Pennsylvania Ave so you can all now park in front of our store morning, noon and night.  Recently frustrated by the inability to drive to us??  Problem solved.

Good morning.

First off, we are changing our Friday cupping time beginning this Friday.  From now on, we will be cupping at 4 PM at Hill’s Kitchen every single Friday.  Come and taste some delicious coffee with us for free and buy some kitchen gadgets while you’re at it. (Upstairs at 713 D St SE)

Second, just a reminder that our Pedaler whole bean delivery service is going strong and if you live or work on the Hill, we’d love to add you to our Friday afternoon bike route.  For more details, click here or drop by the store.

Last, if you missed the segment on Hill’s Kitchen this morning on Fox 5’s morning show, click here to watch.  I (Ryan) happened to be in the “class” and you can see me make too-small potato cubes and laugh too hard at the tv lady’s jokes.  If you haven’t yet taken one of the classes from Hill’s Kitchen, you really should.

Hello folks,

Earlier today, we added to our menu a very special and famous coffee from Hacienda Esmeralda in Panama.  This coffee is well-known for winning multiple national and international competitions and for fetching some of the highest prices in the world at auction.  We will only have it for a few days but may have an opportunity to have it again in a couple of weeks.

It will be available for $7/cup until we run out.  If you would like to pre-order an 8oz bag for $35 from our next order on September 28, please contact us only via email at ryan(@)peregrineespresso.com  We do not plan on carrying a large amount of this coffee, so get it while the getting is good.

For more information on this coffee, please click here to read the bio on Counter Culture Coffee’s website.

In other news, congratulations to Stanton-Eastbanc for being chosen to redevelop the Hine School site across the street from our shop.  We look forward to seeing this project develop and are excited for continued positive changes to the Eastern Market-Barracks Row corridor and Capitol Hill as a whole.