While overall engaged in the classic Washington activity of waiting for a phone call telling us our table at Sticky Rice (featuring the most hipsterific wait staff in the DMV) was ready, we walked down H Street towards the Atlas Theater. On the other side of the street, I saw Sova Espresso & Wine, which served, I had read, some of the best coffee in DC.

Sova is actually two places. One is wine bar (which I have not yet been inside) and the other a small, but classic coffeehouse.

The coffeehouse (or should I call it an ‘espresso bar?’) has only a few seats, but is appropriately cluttered with weeklies and flyers and pamphlets for protest marches and yoga classes. A single man behind the counter carefully assembled each order (which waiting in a for longer than one might normally expect, considering how few people were ahead of me).

I ordered an espresso.

Ordering an espresso is an exercise in unfounded faith. Because, let’s be honest, 99.9% of all espresso are terrible. The harsh flavor of burnt, bitter coffee completely drowns all the possible flavors of the coffee bean.

But this was different.

It was the best espresso ever.

It didn’t taste burnt or bitter. The aromatic oils of the coffee were present and the overall flavor had the notes of full bodied red wine.

I told the barista, “That was the best espresso I have ever had.”