First Look at Columbia Heights's Newest Offering: Tynan Coffee

After months of ‘walking by down Irving Street’ anticipation, Tynan Coffee has finally opened. I had about 45 minutes to kill while waiting for the Kleiner, so I decided to pop in, have a café au lait and a biscotti and settle in to reading my book of the month (or at 700 pages, maybe book of 2-3 months) Nixonland. Tynan Coffee serves the usual variety of espresso and coffee drinks, a few different chai tea lattes, smoothies, cold drinks, beer and wine and a short list of the usual coffee place casual lunch and dinner options. The atmosphere is slick, rather than homey, with light colored walls, high top seats by the window, and many two seater regular tables. There are a couple of plush, yet modern styled chairs in the back. In a nod to creating a community atmosphere, there is a bulletin board atop a bookshelf of shared reading material.

I wanted to like Tynan – really, really wanted to like it. I absolutely adore a good independent coffee shop for its ability to create a community and offer a place that people feel comfortable meeting and relaxing . I also really wanted it to offer above par espresso that I would want to pay close-to-the metro- Columbia Heights prices for instead of Starbucks (or dare I say, Dunking Donuts ). I wanted it to be a place that I could enjoy a Chai Tea Latte (a personal favorite to try around the different places I go) and a place where I could relax while reading or writing.

Instead, I found it to be expensive - $4.10 minimum for a Chai Tea Latte (around the corner at Potbelly, that’s nearly the price of an entire LUNCH). The biscotti that I had was not produced in house, but was priced at in house, home made prices. I liked the 60’s soulful music playing in the background, until the commercials for ‘Proactiv’ started to play. The baristas were surprisingly lackadaisical for a new, slightly overpriced establishment – I was not given a plate for the biscotti that I was eating in house and the space was a bit of a mess, newspapers everywhere from the customers of the day.

At 6pm though on a weeknight, the place was pretty full. There were groups of girls catching up, students working on laptops, and employees of DC USA establishments having a bite and testing the water.

Ultimately, I think Tynan will be a place that people spend a bit of time when they are early to meet someone, a place that people will meet acquaintances for a quick catch up and maybe a place for work-at-home types to get some air and work outside. Its sterile enough to meet someone for the first time (an online date perhaps : )), but definitely not homey enough to make it a destination in itself the way other very popular independent coffee shops in the district can be (ex: Tryst, Sova, Big Bear Cafe).  A qualifier, I'm not sure if that is their goal.

I hope that the baristars will get more excited, that the music will upgrade itself to XM/Sirius radio at the very least, and that Tynan finds its personality, because Columbia Heights desperately needs a homey coffee hang out, and Tynan could one day fit the bill and I would love to be able to support a great local establishment. Other reviews online definitely are more positive than mine, but, I definitely left feeling merely ‘whelmed.’ TheHeightsLife's review is a bit more positive as is the preview from ThePrinceofPetworth.

What do you think? Did you have a better experience? What would your ideal Columbia Heights coffee place look like? Where are your favorite coffee haunts in the city?