Tynan Coffee & Tea

This branch is CLOSED. Look elsewhere.

Num Nums, good little snacky place and coffee buzz when shopping at Bloomingdale’s all day and need a recharge.

Coffee at this Tynan is a lot easier to enjoy than at the one a block from my house in Columbia Heights. That Tynan is always swarming with hostile hipsters and abuzz with the insectile clacking of MacBooks. This Tynan offered me prompt service, a cozy place to plop while enjoying their fancy java, and a level of quiet sufficient to read for a bit before a movie across the street. Also, the cashier here wasn’t a fascist, which distinguishes her above her Columbia Heightsian counterpart.
The service here was 5-​star; this rating’s a star less for the weirdly pervasive burned flavor and smell of Tynan. Both locations seem to suffer from a smell like the resolution of a bonfire and all the coffee and espresso I’ve had at both tasted as if it were steamed and percolated by brimstone. This, in my opinion, adds to the flavor of a Tynan mocha latte and I assume that their tea is immune to whatever’s the cause if that’s your bag (pardon the pun).
The murals here (one at each location) are amazing. Good call on those, Tynan. I want one for my Facebook background.

Good coffee, good food. Clean bathrooms and friendly staff. Worth a visit if you want a drink and a quick bite to eat.

The dirty chai tastes pretty good. Very sweet and not really chai (I have yet to find good chai in the States outside of a holeinthewall Indian restaurant) but think of it as one of those Starbucks candy lattes and you’ll be happy! Pricy, but what do you expect? It shares a square with Bloomingdales.

Came here because it was the only food place around after shopping at Bloomingdale’s and it seemed like a little cute café. I ordered the quiche and my mother got a turkey sandwich. The quiche was quite disappointing because I’m pretty sure they just cut a frozen piece and microwaved it. It was also slightly burned… The sandwich was better but still nothing amazing. I had ordered a passion fruit smoothie but the lady totally forgot about it so I had to ask again after I was pretty much finished with my meal. She got it to me really quick afterwards and upgraded it to a large so that was pretty nice of her. This café is just mediocre and nice if you wanted to stop by for something quick.

Service is always friendly and they make a great Americano!

Had a business meeting over in Friendship Heights and some work to finish up after that, so I stopped here and ordered a pot of decaf breakfast tea and a turkey sandwich.
Pros: This is a relatively big space for the area and they’ve filled it with spots geared towards the people you usually get in coffee shops — one or two people to a table, working, probably with laptops (you could combine multiple two-​person tables to seat more, though). And they sell actual pots of tea.
Cons: They don’t know how to brew a pot of tea. Seriously. One tablespoon per cup plus one for the pot — it’s not that difficult. There clearly was not enough tea in my pot and it was more like water with a hint of breakfast tea. You might want to blame the decaf, but I brew regular and decaf teas at home, and properly brewed decent decaf tea does NOT come out like this.
Also, they toasted my turkey sandwich with the lettuce still in. Gross. And they have some sort of crappy password wifi situation which is explained nowhere on the premises, but is on their web site. Which you can’t read on site, because you don’t have internet access without the wifi.
I’ll probably try one of their locations again just because they have good locations, plus I’m curious to see if I just happened to get one employee who skipped the tea-​brewing part of training. Let us hope.

A nice new place to grab some tea and get some work done (decent wifi). I haven’t tried the coffees here, but all the people I’ve gone with have had good reviews.

This is one of my fave spots to stop off for DELICIOUS breakfast and good lattes.
I admit when I first visited Tynan, the employees were a bit stand-​offish, but recently they’re a little more outgoing and friendly! Good improvement, and please do keep it up, Tynan.
They have a fabulous Barista who makes the lattes… I wish I knew his name! He made me a leaf design a while back in my latte, and then on my last visit he made a heart per request. I will be uploading these fantastic photos of latte.
The BREAKFAST food is really good. Their Belgian waffles are so yummy and with fresh fruit. The breakfast burritos are fantastic. I’m temporarily giving up meat and a friend and I split the veggie burrito. Yeah, I get that they’re pre-​made, but this was a good burrito… chock-​full of scrambled eggs and plenty of veggies.
My favorite coffee is Kona and they provide that in a Bodum Coffee Press. I only wish they had single serving Bodums… as I don’t always have someone to split good Kona coffee with.
MMMM, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside thinking about the waffles and Kona. :D

Cute and hip little store and a great alternative to the chain coffee stores!
My cappuccino was well made — dry as I like it and the espresso shot was fresh (as against stale and bitter).

Oh Tynan, honey, you need some help! Sure, you look good in the summer with your nice outdoor seating area and your big cute umbrellas providing your customers with some nice shade. But in the winter your minimalist aesthetic just feels chilly (and it shouldn’t! You have a beautiful, sunny spot!). So here are my thoughts:
— the seating here is just terrible. I think they need to consider fixing the layout and even losing those few overstuffed chairs. The space is just too small.
— the people who work here, while lovely as humans, seem to know very little about coffee, tea, and sandwiches. Here’s an example: I saw they had sandwiches on their menu and said «can I get that without tomato?» The guy smiled and said «sure!» Then he unwrapped the pre-​made sandwich, and peeled the tomato away from the turkey. I said «Um, the truth is my husband is allergic to tomato, so I want the sandwich but with no tomato.» He looked baffled! I’ve also long experienced confusion when I ask what kind of tea they have (though there is quite a selection), and on many occasions, I’ve had to wait a long time for a drink even though I’m oftentimes the only person there.
— The food sits in the refrigerated counter a bit too long — it’s not bad, but it means that the baked goods are just a little bit too hard.
So, please, Tynan, get some good café music, make your space a little more inviting, and give your employees some basic training.

This is a great location, and close to my apartment! I just went there last weekend and it was a great alternative to Starbucks. The atmosphere is really conducive to working because it doesn’t get overly crowded or loud, even on the weekends. They don’t seem to mind me sitting there for hours getting some work done. I was actually studying for the LSAT while I was there, and it was possible to focus which is sometimes rare for coffeeshops!
Second, I love their selection of teas and coffees. Especially, the teas — an excellent addition to a coffeeshop. The menu isn’t huge but there is always something interesting to try. I definitely plan to go back and sample some of their other tea drinks while spending an afternoon studying for the LSAT! They give you two hours of wifi free for every item you purchase, which I think is perfectly reasonable.
The atmosphere is nice too — the décor is nice and it looks like fun to sit on the couches in the middle. It’s better than the other coffeeshops you can find in Friendship Heights, that’s for sure.
Only thing is I wish it was a bit bigger and more spacious!

Great chili, sandwiches, and tea, but a tad pricey.
The wifi is free, but you have to ask the cashier for a code which is good for 2 hours.
The service has always been polite and relatively efficient.
The décor is minimalist quasi-​european, which means small tables and chairs in order to fit a maximum amount of seats into the space while still looking kind of cool.
The crowd includes trust fund babies and local workers. Everyone’s polite if aloof.

Convenient and quick service. Just got an Americano and a scone. Seems that the masses will roll on over to Starbucks and have to deal with that nonsense. Don’t think I will be visiting that Starbucks unless it becomes a necessity. ~

Tynan Coffee & Tea is a welcome addition to the Friendship Heights coffee shop options (read: Thank God it’s not Starbucks or Cosi!), offering delicious coffees, teas and food in a casual setting among the hustle and bustle of high-​end boutique shops.
This is the sister shop to its’ other location in Columbia Heights, located below the new Capital Grille, in front of Bloomingdale’s. The space isn’t terribly large but there is ample room to sit at a table, lounge on a couch, do work at the counter while enjoying a deliciously crafted latte. Al fresco more your thing? No problem! There is also an outdoor patio area so you have a better view to people watch.
There is a great selection of coffee drink options (frozen/​blended, drip, iced, espresso), teas (herbal, green, black, chai, iced) and food (pastries, sandwiches, quiches, waffles). I was suffering from a slight hangover from the previous night’s festivities (does just being a Friday night count as ‘festivities’?) and had already brunched so I was just here for the coffee. The pastries did look delicious and the waffle of the day with fresh peaches sounded wonderful, but my stomach was at max capacity. I ended up with a medium iced vanilla latte because it was just too darn hot outside not to have a cold beverage. It was a seriously good latte. It was the perfect balance of milk, espresso and vanilla syrup. Often times, the barista overdoes it with the syrup but this was spot on; slightly sweet, delicious coffee, fresh milk. Yes, please.
I’d love to make my way through the rest of their coffee options because if they’re as good as that latte was, then dang, my wallet is in trouble. Unless, that is, you sign up for the Tynan Coffee & Tea Club Card (free). Each time you make a purchase, they’ll swipe your card and you’ll get points. When you reach 100 points, you get $ 5 on your club card. Also: the club card can also act as a debit card so you can pre-​load money on it as well. I’m totally in love with this card system.
They do offer wi-​fi, however you can only get the code if you purchase something.
I’m happy to give Tynan a good report and thrilled to finally have an independently owned coffee joint in my neighborhood. Peregrine still has my heart but when I just can’t seem to bear the trek to Eastern Market, you’ll find me here.

I got the Frozen Blended Caramel Macchiato, and I was very impressed. Would definitely go again!
The service was pretty fast, and the local pastries looked amazing. Too bad I was heading to lunch — I would have definitely tried one!
My friend praised their Strawberry-​Banana Smoothie as well.

Finally, there’s a Starbucks alternative in Friendship Heights. Nice area with outdoor seating and also very friendly baristas. It might not be the best set up since the place to pick up your drink isn’t near any of the seating area, thus requiring you to actually wait by there for your drink, but it’s a small price to pay for a good drink.
There’s also free Wifi which is a huge plus. They give you 2 hours for free for every purchase you make, and there are no time restrictions like there used to be in the Columbia Heights location. All you need to do is ask for a wifi receipt when you order.

I had been waiting for this place to open for some time. Most of the shops in the new Wisconsin Place complex have been open for some time; this is one of the last to open. So when it did, a few days ago, I tried it.
The Friendship Heights area is a place where they have a LOT of competition. There are two Starbucks within a block or two, Borders has its Seattle’s Best Coffee-​operated café, and even Panera is really competition on some fronts. So I was impressed to see a lot of people had found the place in its first week of operation. Obviously lots of people think they’re good. And I mostly agree.
One thing that attracted me to this place even before they opened was the name «Tynan Coffee AND TEA.» Not like «Starbucks Coffee» or «Seattle’s Best Coffee,» they give tea essentially equal billing to coffee. Since I’m a tea-​drinker, not a coffee drinker, this was a plus. And it shows. They make their tea from loose tea, not bags (of course, so does Quartermaine, and so does the SBC at Borders) and it seems to be high quality. When they serve it to you, in a hefty china cup, they tell you how long to let it steep, so they’ve been educated about this. On the minus side, they have nowhere near Zen Tara’s 100 varieties of tea, but they have a good enough selection (including green, black, and herbal teas, and on a seasonal basis, they have an oolong as well, which I had today and it tasted like a proper oolong). I probably would not travel into the neighborhood just for a cup of tea and a scone (for one thing, anywhere I could get to Friendship Heights easily from, I could probably get to Zen Tara’s Bethesda location easily from as well), but if I am in the neighborhood, which is frequently, I’d come here rather than say Starbucks.
Prices are slightly on the high side — a medium cup of tea and a scone ran me $ 4.66, which is more than anywhere else I go for these things, but the difference is small.

I came in today for their opening day. The service was friendly, my chai was delicious, and my croissant breakfast sandwich kept me stuffed (and feeling like a fatty) for hours. At about $ 9, this was a bit pricey, but I wasn’t shocked.
Unlike the Tynan in Columbia Heights, this one has outdoor seating in the courtyard, but I think most of it is in the shade. There’s lounge chairs, stools, and little tables to sit at. Remember to ask for the wireless code when you order. Once you log in, the code is good for two hours.
If you’re staying there to consume your goodies, they are served on real plates and in real mugs — cutting down on waste and feeling like a fancier experience.
And the bathroom is nice too!