Espuma No. 21

Espuma: a weekly curated collection of coffee & chocolate themed articles, items & thoughts.

What she (the octopus) taught me was to feel… that you’re part of this place, not a visitor. That’s a huge difference.
My Octopus Teacher, Netflix

[New Coffee Shop Alert] Washington, DC: “An industrial-style all-day cafe that roasts coffee from countries such as Ethiopia, Colombia, and Guatemala opened in Arlington late last month and just started serving food this week. Origin Coffee Lab & Kitchen takes up a 2,000-square-foot space on Pentagon Row, which recently rebranded as Westpost.”
[New Coffee Shop Alert] Washington, DC: “Lost Sock Roasters Open Their First Shop for Fruity Coffees and South American Snacks: The wholesaler for D.C. favorites like Baked & Wired opens a cafe in Takoma that sells pour-overs and Argentine empanadas” Read more!
Trending: Chocolate and Candy to Play Central Role in Valentine’s Day 2020. We knew that 🙂
Reading: Chocolate Brand Looks To Carbon Insetting To Transition Farmers To Regenerative Agriculture
Reading: How One NYC Café Plans to Turn Customers Into Owners
Reading: Biggest Food Photography Lessons in 2020
Reading: Coffee Filters May Protect You Against Coronavirus

News: Govida is sadly closing all 128 of its stores in North America at the end of March 🙁 Read why, here.
Local: Have you heard about DC’s Ratzilla? Seen it? Did you hear that DC may get mopeds? Ciao!
Trending: Ben & Jerry’s has new flavors (7) topped with chocolate ganache: Whiskey Biz, Chocolate Caramel Cookie Dough, PB Over the Top, Salted Caramel Brownie, Strawberry Topped Tart, Thick Mint and Tiramisu! Yum. Which one will you try?
Valentine’s Gifts: Discover Bar & Cocoa’s top picks for Valentine’s Day gifts, here.
How-To: Tips from a florist. Increase your sales for Valentine’s Day in 2021!
Listening: This podcast episode with Carla Martin on fine cacao and chocolate, what ‘soil’ means, ethical research, and more.
Reading: Why you’re more creative in coffee shops. One of the reasons is a moderate level of ambient noise.
Reading: Speaking of moderate ambient noise, how does noise affect how people taste bitterness, acidity, sweetness and coffee aroma + how much we’re willing to pay for coffee? A new study explains how. You can read the full paper, here.

Local/DC: Happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating the festival of lights! Big news! Laderach Swiss chocolatier is coming to Union Station in 2021 🙂
Trending: Everyone is making chocolate charcuterie boards? Count us in! Need some tips? Click that link.
Trending: An Olaf hot chocolate bomb! How cute.
Trending: Our article on Beyond Good Chocolate is trending this week! Gotta love a good lemur. Wonder if it’s because they were recently in the news for traceability, here? 🙂 Have you tried Beyond Good?
“Premium” chocolate is winning during the pandemic.

JUST THE CAPPUCCINO FROTH. FOR YOUR WEEKEND.

Local/DC: The brand Via Volcan Coffee, which directly translates to: via the volcano, is now officially open! The Alexandria, VA roastery will serve coffee at the Cleveland Park farmers market on Saturday, the 21st. From their website: “SINGLE ORIGIN COFFEE GROWN ON OUR FAMILY FARM ON THE SLOPES OF THE BARÚ VOLCANO IN THE PROVINCE OF CHIRIQUÍ, PANAMA.” Have you tried their coffee? The Panama “Geisha”?! Here’s their Insta for some on-the-ground info 😉