documenting the serene design and lifestyle of coffee & chocolate. based in washington, DC
Washingtonian hailed it as one of the “three [DC] bakeries you don’t want to miss,” it had a glowing write-up in the Washington Post, and Eater DC covered this shop as housing the “Steve Jobs of bread.” Welcome to Seylou Bakery & Mill, the capital’s first-ever mill-in-house, whole grain bakery in Shaw.
Continue reading “Our New Favorite Inspiring DC Coffee Spot: Seylou Bakery & Mill”
Last week while at the National Coffee Association Convention (NCA), Ms. Andi Trindle Mersch from Philz Coffee spoke about their made-to-order brand and customer service model, Philz’s “thing” that sets them apart. She also broke the news that cold brew may be coming soon to a Philz shop near you! This isn’t a recorded session living online, so please allow us to reflect and expand upon her words.
Philz’s Made-to-Order Brand Model: In our experience, whenever a customer walks up to a Philz coffee shop counter, they are greeted joyfully, asked for their order — a choice between one of the roasts – light, medium or dark — and then, between sweet or creamy. Once the coffee is made, the customer is always asked if it’s too sweet or creamy or just right. One gets the feeling that it’s truly made for you. In the era of customization, especially for the millennial generation, by asking if the order tastes okay or if it needs adjusting, Philz creates the opening for a second chance. It’s a welcomed chance for the customer to say, “hey, this isn’t quite right, can you fix it before I accept it?” Giving the customer this level of power gives them more ownership of their experience, their coffee and, their day.
Continue reading “Philz to Add Cold Brew +How Philz’s Brand Model Makes the Customer Sovereign”
I’m sure you’ve heard. Tuesday, Amazon selected Northern Virginia and NYC for its HQ2 locations. Crystal City and Alexandria, VA areas will house the company’s new offices and more than 25,000 employees in a new neighborhood called “National Landing.” The area’s culture is most certainly about to change in drastic ways. News articles are speculating about how exactly it will change — increased traffic and expenses (food, real estate), and a better overall food scene are expected, but no one has covered, you guessed it: coffee. And this is big!
From what we understand about CEO Jeff Bezos and the Amazon HQ1 in Seattle, we can only surmise that a robust coffee scene – showcasing local DMV roasters – will be a part of the new Amazon HQ2 at National Landing.
Why do we think that we all should be talking about an exciting coffee scene with Amazon’s arrival?
Continue reading “How Amazon’s HQ2 Will Affect DC’s Coffee Scene”
International Chocolate Day, another beautiful chocolate holiday in the yearly calendar. Which chocolate bar did you enjoy this day? We hope it brought you a time cupsoul, a moment of inspiration and serenity.
Time Cupsoul celebrated with a bar from Harper Macaw. This ins’t a new feat. We’ve already been harping on Harper Macaw, first breaking the news of their holiday bar, Winter’s Cheer, last season, and also, naming them as a truly must-visit/must-taste DC chocolate maker in this guide. Yet, we simply must harp some more. And if we had a real harp, well yes, we would henceforth strum its beautiful strings and sing a romantic ballad to this DC brand.
Continue reading “Harping on Harper Macaw, DC Chocolate Maker”
This month, The Chocolate House in Dupont Circle, DC, had a chocolate tasting for River-Sea Chocolates, a bean-to-bar chocolate company based out of Sterling, VA. Time Cupsoul was excited to discover another local chocolate-maker, especially after the realization that Undone Chocolates has quietly slipped from the local chocolate radar screen. Who knows about that? One loss, but another big gain for the DMV region with River-Sea Chocolates.
Continue reading “River-Sea Chocolates: Local Vendor Provides Delicious Cocoa Escape”
It’s St. Patrick’s Day today, and the name of this brand is Patric Chocolate, not “St. Patric(k)’s” Chocolate, but let’s go with it; this is some magical Leprechaun-worthy cocoa.
Patric Chocolate is special. It’s “American Handcrafted Chocolate,” est. 2006 by Alan “Patric” McClure out of Columbia Missouri, USA. According to the interior of the chocolate bar packaging, Alan spent a year in France in his mid-twenties learning about chocolate. As of 2017, the brand has been rewarded Good Food Awards every year, making it the most decorated craft food producer in the USA. Impressive.
Continue reading “Patric Chocolate: Browned-Butter Bar Happiness”
The cherry blossoms may be on their way, but there’s still time to grab a delicious hot chocolate in the District. There are numerous articles online that list top hot chocolate spots in DC, but none of them match up with this list!
