WASHINGTON — Cold brew coffee is increasingly popular, and Pentagon City is getting a bar that will be dedicated to it.
Local roaster Commonwealth Joe’s, whose beans and coffees are found in stores including Whole Foods and Glen’s Garden Market, will open its first Commonwealth Joe’s retail location in ground floor space at The Bartlett, a new apartment building at 520 12th St. South in Pentagon City.
The location officially opens Oct. 10.
Commonwealth Joe’s also owns Arlington’s Java Shack.
Cold brew coffee is not iced coffee.
“It is brewed over a time span of hours with cool water and the extraction profile is a little bit different,” said Commonwealth Joe’s co-founder Chase Damiano. “The bittering acids and oils that are characteristic of hot coffee tend to not make it into the actual cold brew that is produced.”
There also is “nitro” cold brew coffee, which is infused with tiny nitrogen bubbles. The Commonwealth Joe’s in Pentagon City will offer that, and it’s also providing a growing number of local offices — including DC’s 1776 incubator and WeWork co-work locations in Arlington and the District—with kegs of nitro cold brew coffee.
“Nitro cold brew is something that has really taken the area by storm,” said Damiano. “We see it as the new watercooler, where office coffee can be something incredible.”
Damiano said coffees served at the Commonwealth Joe’s Pentagon City location will offer a wide range of flavor profiles, from fruity and floral to dark and chocolatey, and sweet and nutty.
The Pentagon City Commonwealth Joe’s is expected to open by the end of September.
In addition to the new location, its Java Shack in Arlington and its coffees at grocery stores, Commonwealth Joe’s also operates three trikes outfitted with chilled kegs of cold brew coffee; you can find these trikes staked out at corners in Arlington.
