Rare Bird Coffee Roasters
This charming Falls Church City café recently expanded its footprint, having taken over the neighboring space at the corner of North Maple Ave. and West Broad Street. Co-owners Lara Berenji and Bryan Becker also extended their hours (Rare Bird is now open 6:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday). The shop roasts its own beans inhouse and offers free shipping for local orders placed online. The honey-lavender latte was a popular spring special. //230 W. Broad St., Falls Church City
Northside Social
Stop by Northside in Arlington or Falls Church for a rotating menu of specialty drinks made with Counter Culture coffee beans. Both cafés have ample outdoor seating areas (with umbrellas), online and app-based ordering and tempting displays of housemade pastries. Grab an orange-cardamom latte with orange zest, vanilla, molasses and spice to ward off the last vestiges of winter’s chill. Prefer to drink your caffeine in tea form? They have matcha drinks, too. //3211 Wilson Blvd., Arlington (Clarendon) and 205 Park Ave., Falls Church City
Cafe Kindred
Like to change up your joe with the seasons? Café Kindred always has a flavor of the month—March is hazelnut—which can be added to beverages made with Vigilante beans. If you’re popping in with kiddos in tow, the hot chocolate is also pretty sweet. Warmer weather calls for an espresso fizz, made with fresh espresso, ice and sparking water. The Falls Church café offers limited indoor and outdoor seating, as well as online and call-ahead ordering. //450 N. Washington St. (Lee Highway), Falls Church
Sense of Place Café
This cozy Arlington Forest shop run by sisters Kay and Kim Seo serves pour-over drinks made with the café’s proprietary Enzymo coffee beans, which are naturally fermented and roasted inhouse. In non-pandemic times, counter seating provides a perfect perch for watching the brewing process, but for now, that option remains on hold. Sense of Place also sells more than a dozen kinds of Enzymo coffee, which the owners tout for its low acid levels, for home brewing. The most popular is a medium-roast Ethiopian, which pairs nicely with the shop’s housemade blueberry muffins. No phone or web orders. //4807 1st St. North, Arlington (Arlington Forest)
Detour Coffee
Tucked into a tiny elbow of an intersection between Clarendon and Virginia Square, Detour serves Vigilante coffee drinks and offers seating indoors and out. Owner Ahmad Ayyad says his eatery has been selected to be a part of Amazon’s development plans and will be exploring spaces in Crystal City. Pre-ordering is easy on Detour’s website. Add a breakfast sandwich like the Magician, which features fried plantains, egg, avocado, corn, queso fresco and Tabasco cream on an arepa. //946 N. Jackson St., Arlington (Virginia Square)