Tonight, I went to Washington, DC newest boutique coffee shop, Chinatown Coffee Company at 5th and H St NW.   This is the much anticipated return of Nick Cho who ran Murky Coffee both in Arlington and DC until they both closed.

Washington, DC’s Chinatown neighborhood is centered around 7th street.  When I originally heard where Chinatown Coffee was going to be I was slightly nervous because that area has crazy amounts of foot traffic and lots of young kids.    But Chinatown Coffee is on 5th street, which makes it just a lil bit tucked away from the craziness so you can sit and have some quiet.  It will be interesting to see whether or not this will affect their ability to get people in the door.

The interior is very minimalistic.  Other then tables, chairs, and a coffee bar, there isn’t much else there.   I do really dig the exposed brick.  It’s not super big but could probably fit a good number of folks if they added more tables.

Chinatown Coffee carries a pretty simple coffee menu.  It’s very reminiscent of Peregrine Espresso.

And the coffee is just as high caliber.  Man that latte was TASTY.

Originally, the word was that they were going to roast their own beans.  I didn’t get a chance to ask if that was still the case now that things are open.

One thing that disappointed me was that it closed at 7pm.  This is pretty bad trend that I see across most DC coffee shops.   If you want to go out with some friends in the evening, you’re forced to stay home or go to the bars.  Seems like those shouldn’t be the only options.  I understand that it’s hard to get folks to come into coffee shops in the evenings but I don’t think it’s impossible.   (I’ll write more about this later.)

I was reading about Chinatown Coffee on Yelp.  A lot of people seem to take exception to the pricing.  They didn’t like that a cup of coffee was $2 or that a large latte was almost $5.  Prices are similar to Peregrine Espresso which I guess makes this another trend to write about.   While I have been called and accept the label of a coffee snob,  I think these coffee shops offer so much more then a cup of coffee.  They offer a community experience, which I’m willing to pay extra for.

All in all  Chinatown Coffee is a great place but with it closing at 7pm I can’t see myself going there anytime but the weekends.