Harrar Coffee & Roastery

Harrar sits on Georgia Avenue NW just north of Howard University, on the Park View stretch that runs up towards Petworth, and it is both a coffee house and a working roastery. It is family-owned, and its stated vision when it opened was narrow in a useful way: deliver outstanding coffee to the immediate community, and become a fixture for neighbourhood regulars and local businesses rather than a destination. Its own description of the room is worth repeating because it explains the format - a place to escape the daily stresses of life, to meet a friend for coffee and conversation, or to get comfortable with a book.

The roasting practice is the part that distinguishes it. Harrar roasts daily rather than producing large batches that then sit, and it deliberately roasts only as much as it needs, so what goes into the grinder is days old rather than months. It extends the same advice to customers buying beans: do not buy more than a month's worth, because the cup at home should taste like the cup in the shop. The range is almost entirely Ethiopian and it is organised by region and roast rather than by blend name, which makes it easy to drink your way across the country's growing areas. Ethiopia Harrar, which gives the business its name, comes in medium and dark and carries the full-bodied, mocha-ish character the eastern highlands are known for. Yirgacheffe, in medium and dark, is the floral and citrus-bright one. Sidama runs in medium, dark and a medium decaf, and Limu in medium and dark. On top of the regional roasts sit named single lots - Sidama Sibune, Yirgacheffe Yirhama, Harrar Haruva - and a three-ounce Ethiopian Collection for anyone who wants to compare several at once. A small number of non-Ethiopian coffees, including a Colombia Supremo, round out the shelf.

No alcohol is served. The practical constraint is the clock: the shop closes at 2pm on weekdays and 3pm at weekends, which makes this firmly a morning and lunchtime venue rather than an afternoon or evening one. Georgia Avenue-Petworth Metro is the closest station, a walk up the hill, and the Howard University campus is immediately south.