Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Chinatown Coffee Company


So Chinatown Coffee Company opened up at 475 H Street NW on Monday. After ready the Daily Candy review, I hopped over there yesterday to check it out myself because Lord knows I miss me some Murky Coffee!

First impression walking up is of the cute and unassuming store front - a little more polished than I had actually hoped for - I miss the grunge a la Murky. The interior has the cool urban industrial feel of the exposed brick wall, cement floors, and slick counters. They kept all of the old rickety tables and chairs from Murky which fulfilled some of my yearning for my old "third place" (Hat tip: Mr. McKelvey for this sociological reference). I walk right up and order my usual - Medium Skim White Mocha. She says they don't do White Mocha. Uh! At Murky, the White Mocha was so popular that they often ran out. Just another attempt to shun the yuppies. So I order a regular Mocha. It was a frothy dream and just the caffienated sustenance I've been missing for months on end. The only bummer? My "medium" is now a dainty 12 oz for $4.20 instead of the old 16 oz. for $4.95.

I took a seat in the one and only window seat - locals should note that there are now only about 40 seats at this location with no outside benches or backroom to accomodate spillover. I faced West toward the Chinatown Friendship Gate - lovely view - too bad only one or two people can have it at a time. I could see myself getting there early on a Saturday morning and camping out in the window with a good book. But I do miss my ten minute walks every Saturday morning to my grungy, hipster coffee shangri la.



7 comments:

kate said...

The grunge is the thing that made Murky Murky and that is the part I will miss the most.

Nick said...

Sorry about the grunge-lessness. At murky, the grunge wasn't intentional, it was a combination of lacking the funds to do a renovation (even when we cleaned it like a hospital it still felt grungy) and a touch of neglect.

Whitney Lynne said...

It's ok Nick! I'm sure it's just me adjusting to change. I was just glad to have my amazing coffee fix back!

Nick said...

It's okay.

I fear change too.

:-)

kate said...

Soon we will only have Starbucks left in Arlington, which is deeply unsatisfying to both my palate and sensibilities. Come find a spot in VA because I can't afford to move to Chinatown!

Michael Ross said...

ugh, i don't know why everyone is so sad about murky closing down. that place was a cesspool of health code violations! i mean, we couldn't even go on to the 2nd floor for fear that it would collapse!

theBacchanalia said...

The possible collapse of the 2nd floor was part of it's charm!

Also the chairs and tables out in the parking lot/terrace. With the lightpole and the traffic speeding passed...

It was a surprisingly urban experience for Arlington.