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Though I know Qualia has been referenced on some other coffee topics, I don't think it has it's own thread. Not in the Dining Guide. Didn't come up with a google search. So I'll create it here because this shop, now three years old, totally deserves to have a little spotlight shone on it. WaPo got it right with their brief review last year. And, even a visit to the content-rich Qualia website makes clear this is a shop obsessed with bean quality and the technique/process that convert bean to great-tasting cup. Today I was in the area of Georgia Avenue and remembered Qualia Coffee was nearby. I'd only been there once before a year or two ago and vaguely remembered enjoying it but I'd had a lot of good/great coffee since then...and had learned a bit more, so I wanted to check back. This time, I talked at length with Joel Finkelstein, Qualia's owner and chief roaster, along with Aaron, also a roaster and a serious and generous teacher of all things coffee to anyone interested enough to ask. Qualia is a Great Shop by my scale as explained here. They offer a large selection of very fresh, frequently changing and clearly dated beans. They roast onsite using a smaller roaster and average 5lb batches. This means they'll run out of a given roast often but then can restock in 2 hours. With a dozen or so from which to choose for a pourover, this means you'll always get freshly roasted beans, whatever the region or varietal. Joel and Aaron both care about roasting intensely. Their knowledge is incredibly deep and their dedication to excellence exceedingly high. I think they do espresso drinks but that's decidedly not the main focus here. It's very much about the world's best beans roasted with a crazy high level of finesse. Oh, and coffee aside, Qualia does seriously good baked goods including bagels from the area's best bagel maker* I had a very interesting Panamanian coffee I really enjoyed followed by a Brazilian Minco I loved. And, I left the shop with a deep appreciation for Joel, what he's doing and how he's doing it. He's thinking about possibly opening a 2nd Qualia downtown somewhere and I hope he does since the only downside to Qualia that I can see is that it's not that conveniently situation for me to be a regular. For all of us that deeply appreciate purveyors who prioritize quality over revenue maximization, Qualia deserves our enthusiastic support. It'd be great to see a few restaurants in town serving Qualia. Qualia won't ever be a multi-million, high-growth business. But it is already a great business because it is first and foremost about Great Product. * Georgetown Bagelry on River Road
