Peregrine Espresso

I felt hip just by being in this place. Definitely a third wave of coffee kind of place. #bougie#coffeesnob. I ordered a simple late with skim milk and was not too disappointed. Big fan of the coffee art on top of my latte, which I, of course, promptly documented and snapped. I am a full believer in the «If you didn’t snap it, did it actually happen?» type of deal.
The atmosphere itself was conducive to both reading and socializing. I was able to spend an hour or so reading without any distraction, which at times is tricky to find.
Will be back.

Yummmmmm. My all time favorite coffee. I drink it black, and I can taste every flavor so I know a good cup from a bad cup and let me tell you Peregrine is only serving up good cups. Yes indeed. Whether you’re getting a pour over, espresso, or their brewed coffee you won’t be disappointed. Here’s my tip: ask if they have a barista special and try it! In order for their baristas to «graduate» they require them to come up with a coffee drink. The one I had was espresso, strawberry cream, syrup and a basil leaf over ice. It was so good!

Atmosphere: classic coffee shop vibes. Deceiving as it looks smaller than it actually is from the outside. A few tables for outdoor seating as well.
Coffee: nope. Not my favorite, not strong enough and a little too bitter. Weird after taste lingered in my mouth for too long but maybe it’s just because I didn’t like this type of coffee. Maybe I should have tried their pour over, I got a cappuccino.
Service: it was alright, nothin special.
Would I come back? Yes, because I really wanted to like this place. But if I do, I’ll edit and definitely try their pour over.

I received an unfriendly welcome unlike the other patrons. That was my first red flag. After waiting for 10 minutes I realized my espresso had been sitting on the counter. The guy didn’t even call out my drink. You mean to tell me you didn’t notice me, the only black guy in the shop still waiting on coffee. Needless to say I won’t be back I’ll stick to my favorite Ethiopian coffee shop Sodoma.

Ask a Unilocal Whisperer — QOTD
October 30, 2015
Dear YW, so I’m a *huge* Paul Ryan fan, being from the great state of Wisconsin and, well, to the right of Nancy Pelosi. Just a little. Like a few thousand miles, doncha’ know! But I’ll bet that Nan and I share a love of great pour-​over coffee, and since I’m off to the District for a few days to visit the Capitol and do the Mall museum «walk of shame» thing (construction on the grass, again?!), I wanted your vote for good coffee pour-​over spots.
Because I kinda have a dirty secret to share. No, not that I have a life-​sized blow-​up doll of House Speaker Ryan (HouSR, for short) in my closet (do they even make such things?). It’s that I don’t really like dairy in my java. I know, the whole Wisconsin thing. Maybe cheese curds in a triple shot of espresso …
Or maybe not. I like it given to me straight, no sugar or fillers or foamy frothy stuff added on top. Just like I like my House Speaker.
So … where should I go? Not for professional help with the whole HouSR obsession. With the pour-​over coffee recommendation! Whispah it to me, baby!
Chantal H.
Rhinelander, WI
Hi Chantal, I didn’t even know that they *had* Unilocal in Rhinelander. That’s so 2015. Anyway, go to Peregrine, eastern Market location, full stop. They make great pour-​overs, using a menu of 4 – 5 regions of origin to choose from, rotated on a regular basis. You’ll get to talk shop with the staff, about dry versus wet-​processing, about Ethiopian versus Ruandan beans, about Bali and Papua and Sumatra and estates in the Andes and — maybe — whether Paul or Nancy makes the best French Press on the Hill. (I’d tip the hat to Ryan, mainly b/​c of the biceps, although he’d probably call it «Freedom Press» coffee). And you can take that perfectly made pour-​over — order in to get the real mug, not the paper kind — to the outdoor patio, if the weather is nice. And hey, you’re from Northern Wisconsin, so even if it’s cold by District standards, it won’t be a big deal, right?
Pour-​overs are the coffee drinks of the new millennial, post-​Starbucks generation. Simple, sustainable, full of nuance and flavor, and capable of being reproduced at home, unlike a top-​quality espresso pull, which needs time, practice, and expensive gear. If I like a pour-​over I’ve had at a place like Peregrine, I’ll grab a fresh bag of beans for home, where I’ll manual grind them using a Hario slim ceramic model and V60 set-​up, and guess what? Coffee beans are TSA friendly, so bring some Peregrine love back with you to Rhinelander. I’m guessing that you can’t get beans anywhere near this good at home. Or run into HouSR or Nan-​Pol waiting in line for a latte.
Have a good time in the District, Chantal! The coffee in DC is better than ever.

Pretty nondescript little coffee place. They don’t have a ton of seating, though they have a sizeable patio out front.
Lots of different types of coffee if you’re a coffee snob, and way more tea options than your typical coffee shop. If you like sweet lattes, they don’t offer much, mocha and vanilla latte seem to be the limits. I wanted just a double shot of espresso, though, so that didn’t bother me. The espresso they serve is much richer and thicker than your standard, and it seemed to have a little sweetness to it, too. Good stuff. The atmosphere when I come is almost always packed, loud, and a bit hectic, so I can’t recommend it if you’re looking to sit and stay awhile, but they definitely offer up a memorable espresso, so if you’re just picking up a caffeine boost to take with you, it’s a good option.

Really like this peregrine location! I love that they serve counter culture coffee. The baristas are very friendly.
Try their coffee drink of the month! The August drink was unique and delicious. A combination of espresso, grapefruit, simple syrup, ginger and tonic water. I’ve never had anything like it but it was refreshing and memorable.

They make my favorite cappuccino. That’s all that needs to be said.
I think they use Counter Culture beans, if that makes a difference.

While the service was fine and pastries great, the two iced mochas I got were both very milky and weak, and the espresso was sour. Clearly an overly quick shot. Having also got a straight espresso, it seems the short pulled sour shot is more than just a one time occurence, but the norm here. On a positive note, the chocolate croissant and banana chocolate muffin were awesome (hence the two stars). Overall for the three drinks along with two pastries, it was about $ 20, so kinda over priced and definitely underwhelming.

I found the iced coffee to just be okay. Perhaps I will have to try the lattes. I did like that they had soy milk. The only real negative was the space. I felt like the place was a bit sterile and the tables weren’t very clean. It wasn’t too packed, so they could stand to actually wipe off the tables during down time.

Stopped in twice today. Why? Because I just moved to DC and the movers haven’t arrived with my stuff so I have no coffee maker. After moving cross-​country I am still exhausted and will probably be here twice a day for awhile. I should have just gone to Dunkin for the second round so I don’t have to pay $ 3 for a $ 1.50 coffee. but the 50% markup didn’t bother much because the quality is fantastic. This is real coffee, and you can taste it in each a sip. I would give this place 5 stars, but have to ding it to 4 because the atmosphere isn’t all that welcoming. Instead of plush chairs that say «stay here all day» they have small wooden chairs and small tables lined up next to all of the machines. The volume is too loud and the furniture is not comfortable enough to feel welcomed.

Americano is killer. Just get it black and don’t ruin it with some cream or milk substitute. It is one size as it should be. Right balance of water and espresso.

Coffee, beans, and music are all excellent! This is my go-​to place for caffeination in DC!

If you want coffee and espresso prepared right, this is the spot. You’ll find plenty of adorable young families, kids, and puppies in the area, and oftentimes you’ll find a once-​read newspaper from the morning to puruse. Their bergamont tea is also spendid when iced.

Delicious espresso with beautiful latte art. Very busy on a Saturday morning with limited seating. Also, ridiculous draft in the winter. It felt like there was no indoor heater working at all. Even with a piping hot cup of coffee, I was freezing!
Baristas were friendly and service was very quick considering the volume they were getting. I was surprised that they had four full time baristas on a Saturday morning working.

I have to say I was really impressed with this coffee shop. We stopped here after some shopping in Eastern market and had a delicious Kenyan pour-​over. They had quite a few options and the barista was very knowledgeable about each of them. She helped me choose one that wasn’t too strong but had a nice bold, distinct flavor.
Aside from the coffee, my girlfriend couldn’t resist ordering one of their chocolate chip and cranberry oatmeal cookies. It was shockingly good and absurdly cheap at only $ 1.25 per cookie. Not that you should always get a snack or something sweet with your coffee, but if you are going to (or just cave in on-​the-​spot), you can’t go wrong with this cookie.

Very cool coffee shop in eastern dc. Small and narrow, in a new cute shopping center, this coffee shop boasts brightly lit atmosphere, light colors, and a clean modern fines. The staff was exceptionally friendly and polite. More so than most coffee shops. He knew exactly how to make what I asked (flat white with soy and a dollop of honey) which was refreshing. While the flat white is quite a fad lately it seems that many coffee shops fail to make the microfoam correctly. Either way I thoroughly enjoyed my drink. Personally I do not prefer brightly lit shopping center style coffee shops but this was still quite good and I would recommend it if you are in the area.

I’m a big fan of the Peregine Espresso at Union Market so I knew that I would be in good hands at their original location.
Even on a dark, rainy day there was tons of light, seating and outlets dispersed through the shop which made it perfect for this mobile worker to chill out for a bit. The free WiFi was fast and easy to connect to which was welcome.
Baristas were friendly and they were totally on point with my latte art. My mocha was perfect and not too sweet.
I will definitely be adding this to my worker bee coffee shop rotation!

I’m no coffee aficionado so as much as I want to act all pompous and foodie — I will admit that everyone has their weaknesses. To me, I will be very satisfied with something from Sbux.
But man — once I had Peregrine my eyes were opened. It’s as if I had been living in this dark world of sugar from pumpkin spice lattes that clouded my vision of what great coffee is. I guarantee you, get a coffee here and you will be mindblown. The quality of the beans and the baristas are clear from presentation to taste.
Fortunately, I live on the Hill so I can come here every week to get my coffee fix.

Delicious tangerine-​ginger and scarlet teas!
We walked in on a rainy day and asked about the teas — the super nice barista endured our 20 questions with a smile and the teas we ordered were fantastic.
Highly recommend!