Editor’s note: This is the second in a four-part series on coffee shops in Montgomery County that was printed in the November/December issue of Bethesda Magazine. Read part one here and three and four on Wednesday and Thursday.
Lotsa lattes: La Gelatteria
La Gelatteria owner Elias Montilla says that whenever he travels, he checks out the local coffee scene, getting ideas for drinks. That inspiration has led to some of the dozen-plus flavored lattes at his Kensington shop, including the popular Cinnamon Toast Crunch Latte—a breakfast-in-a-cup combination of espresso, brown sugar syrup, cinnamon and whole milk topped with whipped cream and a shower of cereal. The creativity extends to frozen blended coffee drinks, espresso milkshakes and coffee-based cocktails. La Gelatteria, which serves all-day breakfast as well as sandwiches, toasts, salads, soups and, of course, gelato, uses Counter Culture beans for its drinks. So purists can always opt for a simple drip coffee.
10414 Detrick Ave., Suite 500, Kensington, 301-272-2255, lagelatteria.com
Grab & Go: Grace Street Coffee
Suburbanites looking for a taste of Georgetown’s Grace Street Coffee can find it at this cute walk-up window on Bethesda’s Wilson Lane that opened in 2022. Aside from coffee beverages, you can buy bags of beans, roasted at the Georgetown facility. Pastries come from Fresh Baguette, and the Kyoto cold brew—prepared by slowly dripping cold water onto ground coffee—is a satisfying drink no matter what the weather. Grace Street Coffee is owned by Georgetown commercial real estate developers Ezra and Jessica Glass, whose tiny Bethesda outpost attracts commuters, nearby salon and fitness studio customers, and neighborhood folks walking their dogs.
5021 Wilson Lane, Bethesda, gracestcoffee.com
Coffee & Cookies: Black Lion Café
Coffee—made with the Ethiopian beans roasted on-site—is the draw at the two Black Lion Café locations, as is the quintessential coffeehouse vibe that attracts laptop luggers and table talkers. And while the newer Silver Spring spot, which opened in 2023, serves sandwiches, salads and pastries, we love Black Lion’s unassuming housemade butter cookies with a bold cup of java. The small confections (available only at the Silver Spring shop) are baked into a variety of shapes and sizes, some with a swirl of cinnamon, others embedded with sliced almonds or walnuts. The cookies come in plastic containers, so you can take them to go if you don’t polish them off there. The Rockville locale, opened in 2016 by four Ethiopian families, is more compact and less bustling, but the striking espresso-brown, black and gold interiors at both shops are the same, as is signage that educates customers about Ethiopian coffee regions (we gravitate toward the full-bodied, mocha-flavored beans from the Harrar region). One final decor note: Take a careful look at the artwork for sale in the Silver Spring shop; it was made by Ethiopian-born artist Gelila Reda with coffee paint (a mixture of water and ground beans).
8240 Fenton St., Silver Spring, 301-866-7300; 705 Traville Gateway Drive, Rockville, 240-907-2994; blacklioncafe.com
Everything in one place: Java Nation
Looking for a restaurant that roasts its own coffee beans, makes its own baked goods, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus offers happy hour and live music? Need a carryout cappuccino and a bottle of wine? A spot for a birthday gathering or business conference breakfast with indoor and outdoor spaces? In 2014, the first Java Nation opened in Kensington, and now owners Simona and Henry Cabana have four locations of various sizes in Montgomery County with different combinations of offerings that go beyond the original coffeehouse concept. The couple’s newest Java Nation in Silver Spring—arguably the area’s caffeine capital with its concentration of coffee shops—is the snazziest and most comprehensive to date, with a full-service restaurant and bar, and a separate market with a takeout window. In September, the mini-chain was offering coffee made with the prized Peruvian Red Gesha beans, making for a super smooth (albeit pricey) pour over. The espresso martinis are also a hit.
121 Market St., Gaithersburg, 240-800-1004; 10516 Connecticut Ave., Kensington, 301-327-6580; 11120 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda, 301-836-6022; 1010 Wayne Ave., Silver Spring, 240-705-7080; java-nation.com
Roasted right here
On Saturday mornings, in a quiet industrial strip of low-slung buildings in Silver Spring, Nagadi Coffee’s roasting facility transforms into a bustling coffee klatch for those in the know. One regular jokingly refers to it as a “coffee speakeasy.”
Indonesian-born owner Felix Tansil and his wife, Patricia de Carvalho, from Brazil, both practicing architects who hail from coffee-producing countries, started Nagadi in 2011. From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays only, the Kensington couple open their small plant at 9339 Fraser Ave. to the community for coffee drinks, conversation and bean purchases. Benches and wooden tables accommodate the crowd, while two roasting machines and large burlap bags filled with green coffee beans sit on the sidelines. During the week, Nagadi resumes its operation as a plant, roasting an average of 1,000 pounds of beans over the course of three days, according to Tansil, who regularly sources beans from Ethiopia and Indonesia, in addition to a variety of other countries in Africa and Latin America. Most are single origin—the purists’ preference—rather than a blend from different sources, and are roasted to light or medium.
Aside from online orders and retail sales, Nagadi Coffee supplies Kefe Café’s three locations (the longtime Silver Spring establishment’s original shop on Bonifant Street, plus cafes in the Wheaton Public Library and the Silver Spring Recreation and Aquatic Center).
Another local roaster that opens its doors on a limited basis is Bump ‘n Grind, which welcomes coffee fans to its Kensington facility at 4120 Howard Ave. on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Other local roasteries have a variety of locations and sales arrangements. Among them are the well-known Quartermaine Coffee Roasters, founded in 1991, with its familiar cafe on Bethesda Avenue, and Mayorga Coffee, started by Martin Mayorga in 1995. Both have roasting facilities in Rockville and sell to a wide swath of retailers, wholesalers and food establishments.
Black Lion Café roasts on-site at its cafes in Rockville and Silver Spring. Java Nation’s roastery is in Ijamsville (Frederick County). And Coffee Republic, which runs 10 coffee shops, including a cafe in Rockville and one slated to open in mid-November in the former Peet’s Coffee at 7629 Old Georgetown Road in Bethesda, owns its own coffee roastery, Disco Coffee, with plants in New Jersey and North Carolina. Santa Lucia Estate Coffee has been a wholesaler in Montgomery County for more than 30 years. The family-owned business imports Nicaraguan beans to a New York roaster. Beans are then shipped to Santa Lucia’s Silver Spring warehouse, where they are ground or sold whole online and to many restaurants and hotels in the D.C. area.
This story appears in the November/December 2024 issue of Bethesda Magazine.
