A Toast (with Coffee) to 2025

Fresh Year, Fresh Goals, & Fresh Brews ☕✨

Author

Domonique Panton
January 07, 2025

Hey Sipsters,

Okay, hear me out—what if 2025 became the year of the ultimate coffee quest?

I’m talking about FINALLY hitting every single coffee shop in DC exploring way more coffee shops in Northern Virginia. AND going on a few domestic or international coffee tours! YEP.

You heard that right!

Consider this our caffeine-fueled bucket list, and of course, AS ALWAYS, you’re invited along for the ride.

I strongly believe that coffee shops are not only about the drink, it’s about the lifestyle, the aesthetic, and finding spaces to lock in or just be at peace.

Every shop has a story to tell from the beans, to the neighborhood, to the baristas who make our drinks!

Coffee shops are our unique space to gather, make friends, and relax! Let’s get into the goals!

The Caffeinated Goals

Map This Out: curating a list of the coffee shops I’ve been to for you to replicate is my #1 goal for this month! And adding onto it for the rest of the year

A Sip A Day: go to at least 1-2 Coffee shops a week. Basically Explore! Explore!

Sharing is Caring: Making sure you get all the details right here in this newsletter AND on Instagram (@astoldbydomm). We’re doing reviews, aesthetic photos, and lots of coffee runs (like actual runs LOL)

Target:

Northern Virginia: 50 Coffee Shops

Coffee Tours: 4 City Tours

District of Columbia: Finish visiting them all ~ 20 left

Let’s Review Some Coffee Shops That We’ve Been To So Far in 2025 + one in the last 30 days

Northern Virginia Coffee shop #6: Northside Social

We all need spaces where we can come together, grab a coffee or a drink and just hang out. That is just what Northside Social is fully. I ran over here one weekend and it was full of people reading, chatting, or on their computer. Which I love that vibe. I got an ice coffee and an egg sandwich! I love that the oat milk wasn’t an extra charge.

Mother Earth Coffee is a really cool earth vibe coffee shop. It’s giving, home. Like you just entered in your environmentally conscious aunt and uncles home.

They roasts their beans locally and play such calming sit back and relax music. ALSO who can say no to $3.75 coffee!

Save this place if you need a space to work remotely in pure zen. It has a good amount of seating and I loved the incense that they had burning through the cafe. Also side note, it is a plant store, cafe, and yoga studio. ALL IN ONE.

The only thing that threw me off a bit was that there was no brewed coffee. But if thats not your thing than, ignore that and have yourself a lovely iced americano or latte.

As Always, tag me if you visit a cool coffee shop that you think I should check out!

Let’s get this year started!

xx, Dom ☕

[FAQ] 

How often are these Newsletters

No worries, I wont spam you! They will be every Tuesday Morning! With different coffee shop recommendations from different adventures that you can save with with downloadable maps or through your socials. My goal is to share all the great coffee shops so you can create your own adventure or find a nice place to do work in for the week!

How do you rank the coffee shops?

I base the ratings off of the brew, customer service, Atmosphere, and if I would seriously recommend a friend to stop in here! Which is truly such a strong metric!

What’s your favorite caffeinated beverage

You can ALWAYS catch me with a Cold Brew with a SPLASH of oatmilk and usually 1-2 sugars.

Where have you gone to try coffee so far

DC is my home base, so I’ve been to over 100 coffee shops here. Other places have been NYC, Spain, NJ, Northern VA, and soon Maryland

How can we support this journey

Sharing any articles or post truly means the world to me! I also have a “Buy me a coffee” page, so if you want to support this journey financially and give your girl a coffee, I would love love that!

Who are you?

My name is Domonique, but my friends call me Dom. I am a 28 year old coffee lover who fell in love with exploring coffee shops after retiring from professional track and field. It’s been my favorite way to bring adventure into my life, meet AWESOME new people, and dive deeper into this community! I’m really happy you are here.