Warka Coffee

Warka opened in August 2025 in the National Association of Realtors building at New Jersey Avenue and E Street NW, a few blocks from Union Station and within sight of the Capitol, and PoPville covered the arrival. The name is the point of the place: the warka is a broad fig tree that Ethiopian villages traditionally gather under, a symbol of shelter and connection, and the cafe is built around the idea that coffee is what brings people together rather than what they buy on the way somewhere else. Its own summary of the room is the useful one - specialty coffee, signature drinks, breakfast and lunch, and a space built for actually sitting down.

What makes it unusual among DC cafes is that Warka runs the entire chain rather than buying roasted beans from a wholesaler. The business maintains long-term relationships with smallholder farmers in Ethiopia's Yirgacheffe and Sidama regions, imports directly, roasts in small batches at its own roastery in Rockville, Maryland, and serves the results here. That vertical structure shows up in how the coffee is presented. Rather than organising the menu by region and expecting customers to know what that means, it sorts by taste: floral and clean for washed coffees with jasmine lift and a tea-like finish; fruit-forward for naturals and extended ferments carrying berry and stone fruit; chocolate and full for rounder, sweeter cups built for milk and batch brew; and espresso, roasted for pressure and clarity under milk. The washed Yirgacheffe on the roster carries published notes of jasmine, bergamot and honeycomb. Every bag shows its region, process, roast direction and roast date before you commit, and the same coffees are sold to take home.

No alcohol is served. There are two practical points. First, the hours are early and short - 6.30am opening on weekdays but a 3pm or 4pm close, and only 8am to 1pm on Sunday - so this is a morning and lunchtime cafe, not somewhere to spend an evening. Second, there is a second Warka service point inside Georgetown Law's Capitol Hill campus at 111 Massachusetts Avenue NW, open weekdays only, which is a different and smaller proposition than the main room.