Visiting family in DC is synonymous with many a delicious treat — there is always a DC or Presidential based movie to be seen, a delicious restaurant or farmer’s market based picnic to be tried, and coffee… lots of kahve. Whether it is Turkish coffee or new aeropress coffee maker coffee, my brother knows good coffee — the love of great food and coffee must run in the family! My brother, his fiance, and I recently walked through the Cherry Blossoms and picked up a water taxi to try out Misha’s in Old Alexandria, VA.
Taste: 2
I wish I knew how their coffee tasted – I ordered an iced mocha latte and was served some kind of watery chocolate milk. It was so bad I had to go back to the baristas and ask for another (with half the ice!). My barista looked about 16 years old. He kindly obliged my request and while mocha #2 tasted better, it still tasted predominantly like chocolatey-choclate milk. I would have love to have tasted the espresso they so proudly roast in house.
Appearance: 3
Nothing too special to see here, as it is near impossible to create latte art on an iced drink. It must have been 70 degrees that day, so a regular mocha was out of the question. Apparently, that was not the case for my brother Nathaniel, who happily ordered a machiatto. Not sure if this was an appropriate order, seeing as how we took our coffee break after 11am — apparently in Italy, it is not customary to order a coffee drink with milk after 11am. Not sure I can handle straight espresso at this point in my coffee drinker career. But doesn’t his machiatto look awesome?
Ambiance: 4
Misha’s ambiance is much like any small local coffee shop. A bit dirty, boasting local art and activities, college kids making coffee. There are three distinct rooms at Misha’s — a large community room with coffee roaster (pictured below), a central room where you order drinks, and a third room with smaller individual tables (which was the entire Misha’s when they first opened). Since it was a beautiful day, we opted to enjoy our drinks outside. Even if it was not so nice outside, I’m not sure if I would hang out in Misha’s because it is pretty grungy and dirty inside. So enough about Misha’s; I cannot say I’d strongly recommend their mocha or eating/drinking inside. It is a good place for a machiatto, or maybe even a coffee to go while you shop around Old Alexandria.