Mockingbird Hill DC Sprudge-3007
Photo by Dave Bise

Thinking about Washington, D.C., politics, transiency, and a high crime rate have generally been the things that come to mind, but the US capitol is slowly growing into its identity as a high-flying food and drink hub. Flagship restaurants from top chefs, pockets of breweries, and brand new cafes are shifting the debate away from whether or not good food & drink can be found, and more towards the internal debate of โ€œwhoโ€™s doing it better?โ€โ€”and better yet, “who’s doing it better with great coffee, too?”ย Stepping right into the middle of that debate is Cory Andreen, with an exciting new coffee service at Mockingbird Hill, a “sherry and ham bar” in DC’s Shaw neighborhood.

Mr. Andreen is a stylish man, an occasional Sprudge contributor, and winner of the 2012 World Cup Tasterโ€™s Championship. Though he’s spent the last few years runningย Cafe CKย inย Berlin, Germany. Mr. Andreen is originally from the DC area. His new cafe is a collaboration with Derek Brown and the folks at Mockingbird Hill, and aims to bringย a slowed-down coffee service to their bar featuring top roasters from around the world.

Mockingbird Hill DC Sprudge-34293
Photo by Ben Blake

While itโ€™s no secret that the coffee scene in DC has been steadily growing for a few years now, the city now seems ready to explode into the abundance of its coffee-friendly siblings up the coast. Mainstays like Peregrine Espresso, Filter, Tryst, Blind Dog, and M.E. Swings have set the stage for others to open their doors over the last few years, including a Counter Culture Coffee Training Center, The Coffee Bar, La Mano, and a La Colombe–as well as the presence of Madcap Coffee at cafes in the area. The increasingย onslaught of coffee services around the city is both exciting and telling of the fact that DC is ready for even more, and Mockingbird Hill aims to deliver just that.

Mockingbird Hill DC Sprudge-3424
Photo by Ben Blake

Andreenโ€™s concept for the coffee service at Mockingbird Hill is unique for the DC area in that it isnโ€™t a cafe. Rather than taking a standard approach, Andreen is using the reputation and layout of the sherry bar at Mockingbird Hill to create something intimate and newโ€”a service-oriented approachย that focuses on presenting theย inherent characteristics of high-endย coffees in a unique coffee experience.

advert but first coffee cookbook now available

 

Mockingbird Hill has an ambitious and exciting global coffee menu, with a rotating selection of 10-15 coffees from reputable roasters like Norway’sย Tim Wendleboe, Denmark’sย Coffee Collective, Portland, Oregon’sย Heart, and Berlin’s Five Elephant, with plans to add Workshop and others into the mix in the near future.

Mockingbird Hill DC Sprudge-3422
Photo by Ben Blake

For now, Andreen says that all pourover coffees will be prepared on black steel Hario V60โ€™s and served in a whiskey tumbler alongside a small glass decanter, while iced coffee will be brewed over ice and served on tap from a keg. Mockingbird Hillโ€™s unique (non-alcoholic) “mixed coffee drink” selections will include things like the “Cola” (Coffee Collectiveโ€™s Kenya Kieni, soda water, bitters, and sugar), an Addis Tonic (Ethiopia Chelelektu and tonic over a block of ice), and a โ€œWhite Colombianโ€ that falls somewhere in between a โ€œCaffe al freddoโ€ and a White Russian.

Mockingbird Hill DC Sprudge-3434
Photo by Ben Blake

Andreen will also offer tasting flights of coffees brewed with theย Espro Pressย and served in stemless wine glasses. While most everything at Mockingbird Hill’s coffee bar is intended to be consumed on-site, Andreen’s brewing up different batches of large format coffee each day as well as iced coffee for to-go options, at approachable price points (and served inย Happy Cups).ย In a move currently to trend in North America, cream and sugar will be available on request, but only to be added by the barista. By design, Mockingbird Hill features no espresso machine, with all theย focus onย Andreen’s filter-brew creativity.

You can also expect no visible menu, and no line. The idea is to sidle up toย the bar, place a drink order, and sit comfortably as a barista makes drinks and serves them to be consumed on site in glassware. According to Andreen, the concept was designed to intentionally pull customers out of their rituals and traditions, and cause them to stop and think about what theyโ€™re drinking. The glassware and bar creates a mental pause for the guest, if only for a second. It’s meant to help change the culture of the city, to get District dwellers to slow down and think about their beverages.

Mockingbird Hill DC Sprudge-3082
Photo by Dave Bise

Thereโ€™s no doubt that Mockingbird Hill faces a daunting goal, and culture change doesnโ€™t come easy; indeed, it is more often a lofty, tedious, and often unrewarding task. Thankfully, Andreen and Co. arenโ€™t aloneโ€”theyโ€™re be working alongside an already outstanding DC coffee scene that has laid the framework for what Mockingbird Hill hopes to accomplish.

Mockingbird Hill‘s coffee bar opens for full service on May 21st at 1843 7th St NW, in Washington, DC, ending nightly as coffeeย transitions over to the Sherry Bar at 5 pm.

Ben Blake is Sprudge.com’s staff cartoonist and contributor based in Washington DC. He draws frequently at DrawCoffee.com.ย 

New Rules of Coffee banner advertising an illustrated guide to the essential rules for enjoying coffee