Coffee Fi Roastery opens in Bethesda

Coffee Fi Roastery is now open in downtown Bethesda. It is located at 4929 St. Elmo Avenue, in the St. Elmo's Cove shopping center. Coffee Fi specializes in single-origin Ethiopian coffee "from our farm to your cup." Operating hours on Saturdays are 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Hours on other days are 7:00 AM to 4:30 PM Monday through Thursday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Fridays, and 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Sundays.

Coffee Fi Roastery close to opening in Bethesda

Coffee Fi Roastery looks like it is very close to opening at 4929 St. Elmo Avenue at the St. Elmo's Cove shopping center in downtown Bethesda. All the equipment seems to be in place, though it's unclear how much seating there will ultimately be inside. There are many, many competitors in the area, including the new Paris Baguette Bakery Cafe that just opened on the same block. Coffee Fi's angle is offering single-origin Ethiopian coffee "from our farm to your cup."

Signage installed at Coffee Fi in Bethesda

Permanent signage was installed above the future storefront of Coffee Fi in downtown Bethesda yesterday.  Located at 4929 St. Elmo Avenue, the coffee shop will offer single-origin Ethiopian coffee "from our farm to your cup." It is taking over the space recently vacated by Scorpio Tattoo Studio in the St. Elmo's Cove shopping center. Coffee Fi will have to compete with several other existing coffee shops now open, or opening soon, on St. Elmo and the surrounding blocks.

Bethesda construction update: Simona Cafe (Photos)

Here's a look at the progress at the latest location of Simona Cafe, at 4520 East-West Highway in downtown Bethesda. As you can see, the interior fit-out is close to complete, with tables and chairs now being moved into place. Kitchen and counter equipment are both visible, as is a logo blade sign on the building exterior. The local coffee shop chain has existing locations in Arlington and NoMa, but this is their largest store so far.

Coffee Fi opening in downtown Bethesda

Coffee Fi will be "brewing soon" at 4929 St. Elmo Avenue in downtown Bethesda, according to signage posted in the window of its future storefront. The coffee shop will offer single-origin Ethiopian coffee "from our farm to your cup." It is taking over the space recently vacated by Scorpio Tattoo Studio in the St. Elmo's Cove shopping center. Coffee Fi will have to compete with several other existing coffee shops now open, or opening soon, on St. Elmo and the surrounding blocks.

KaFean Koffee opening soon at Montgomery Mall in Bethesda

KaFean Koffee is opening soon at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Signage has been installed at the kiosk, and virtually all of the equipment seems to be in place. KaFean Koffee will serve coffee from the Austrian coffee roaster Julius Meinl. The kiosk also has a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. When it starts percolating, look for KaFean Koffee on Level 1 of the mall, near the Lego store and Kiehl's.

French Press sets opening date in Bethesda

French Press, a new coffee shop at 4918 St. Elmo Avenue in the Bainbridge Bethesda apartment tower, has set an opening date. The cafe will open tomorrow morning, Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Final preparations are being made inside the space, which was previously home to Clove & Cedar Coffeebar. Complimentary drip coffee will be served all day Tuesday for the grand opening. The French Press menu includes breakfast items in the morning, as well as soups, salads and sandwiches later for lunch and the afternoon.

Update on new French Press coffee shop in Bethesda (Photos)

Permanent signage has been installed over the storefront at French Press, the new coffee shop opening soon at 4918 St. Elmo Avenue, in the Bainbridge Bethesda apartments. The logo presents an interesting juxtaposition of a coffee invention that is over 100 years old with the modern takeaway coffee cup of more recent times. It's a clever way of appealing to both the coffee purist and the Starbucks crowd at once. In addition to morning coffee, breakfast items and baked goods, French Press will also serve the lunch crowd with soup, salads, and sandwiches. It will certainly be a new perk for residents of the apartment tower.

French Press opening in downtown Bethesda

French Press, a coffee shop and bakery, has leased the storefront at 4918 St. Elmo Avenue in downtown Bethesda. The space has sat vacant for over two years, since the closure of the previous coffee shop tenant, Clove & Cedar Coffeebar. In addition to the breakfast coffee and baked goods standards, French Press will also aim for the lunch hour crowd with soup, salads and sandwiches. The coffee shop will be the third enterprise to make a go of the apartment tower's St. Elmo Avenue ground floor space since the building opened in 2014.

UPDATED: Grace Street Coffee to hold soft opening July 20 in Bethesda

UPDATED - 10:59 PM: Grace Street Coffee has postponed its soft opening until July 20. No reason was given for the delay.

Grace Street Coffee will hold its soft opening Wednesday, July 20, 2022. The cafe is located at 5021 Wilson Lane in downtown Bethesda. Grace Street roasts their own coffee in Georgetown, where their flagship cafe is located.

Ceremony Coffee Roasters opening today in Bethesda

It's taken over a year, but Ceremony Coffee Roasters is finally opening its downtown Bethesda location today. They were conducting a final day of training of staff Sunday.

The Annapolis-based chain had recently promised a January 2020 opening after all of the delays, but 10 days isn't much relative to the major construction delays of the past year. Ceremony is located at 7475 Wisconsin Avenue, in the Bethesda Crescent Building.

Ceremony Coffee Roasters Bethesda opening update

The opening of Ceremony Coffee Roasters at 7475 Wisconsin Avenue is almost a year behind schedule. A spokesperson for the company tells me that the Bethesda location is now aiming for an early January 2020 opening. The shop will be in the Bethesda Crescent Building.

Jeff's Best now open at 6 AM for coffee

Jeff's Best Ice Cream expanded into coffee earlier this year by adding a Seattle's Best Coffee vending machine to their self-serve soft-serve business at 8004 Norfolk Avenue in Bethesda. But with demand for coffee at the highest in the morning hours, their noon opening schedule was costing them a lot of potential coffee sales. Now they've fixed that. You can now get into their storefront at 6:00 AM for coffee. Decaf and hot chocolate are also available.

Bethesda construction update: More Than Java Cafe, Vivant Salon (Photos)

The Brightview Bethesda assisted-living apartment building's ground floor retail spaces leased up quickly, even more rapidly than many other post-Great Recession luxury apartment buildings in town. Vivant Salon looks like it's about to open. More Than Java Cafe has made significant progress, including installation of its main coffee bar counter, and counter.

More Than Java Cafe

Vivant Salon

Clove & Cedar to hold grand opening this weekend in Bethesda

Clove & Cedar Coffeebar will host a grand opening this weekend at 4918 St. Elmo Avenue in downtown Bethesda. They will be having Grand Opening hours June 8 and 9, 2019 from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM. 

There will be hourly prize drawings during the grand opening, and free samples. The coffee shop will officially open next Wednesday, June 12. Clove & Cedar is located in the ground floor of the Bainbridge Bethesda apartment tower.

Sign installed at Clove & Cedar coffee bar in Bethesda

One of the permanent signs has been installed at Clove & Cedar, a new coffee bar opening soon at 4918 St. Elmo Avenue. It is a blade sign, which faces pedestrians passing by on the sidewalk in both directions. Clove & Cedar is located in the former Gold Leaf Bakery space in the ground floor of the Bainbridge Bethesda luxury apartment tower.

Jeff's Best now has coffee

Jeff's Best...coffee? The self-serve soft serve ice cream vendor at 8004 Norfolk Avenue has just added another fancy self-serve machine. Jeff's Best ice cream now has Seattle's Best Coffee.