‘I <3 coffee’
courtesy of ‘erin m’
So I think I might be cheating with this week’s Food Tweet of the Week because the establishment I’m highlighting only wrote about 15 percent of the tweet. But what’s better than some neighborly love on Capitol Hill?

Love this. Okay, so maybe they’re not direct competitors since one them serves lattes and the other does pho…but support is always a welcome thing, especially when the receiver is a new restaurant.

Known for its great coffee (and lines snaking across the restaurant), Peregrine Espresso was born in August 2008 at the site of the old murky coffee.

So how does Peregrine use Twitter?

1) @PeregrineDC amuses its 1,282 followers. Example: “File under: Random Media Coverage. CNN Espanol is currently at Peregrine interviewing a couple of our staff about specialty coffee.”

2) It tells its followers what to do, or at least what to buy. Example: “Coffee delivery is in. You better pick up a bag today for the rain-out that will be tomorrow…”

3) It doesn’t only support new, Vietnamese restaurants, but direct competitors as well! “Don’t forget to check out our neighbors @poundcoffee as they softly open this week.”

I wish more shops would do things like #3. Owner Ryan Jensen tells me that as a small business owner with four-month-old baby boy, he does’t often have the time to communicate menu changes, events and other news via the blog.  In his words “Broadcasting these things on twitter has become natural and something that I can do on the fly- even if I happen to have my son strapped to my chest while walking around Capitol Hill.”

Oh, and if you haven’t had the pork belly at Ba Bay yet…do.

Peregrine Espresso is located at 660 Pennsylvania Avenue SE. The closest metro stop is Eastern Market (Blue/Orange Lines). For more information, call (202) 629-4381.

Tricia Barba

Tricia is a native Washingtonian, born and raised in Columbia Heights. She loves DC so much that she was only able to leave the city for one year after college and immediately came running back. Tricia works in PR during the day, and spends her nights trying out new restaurants in DC with friends or watching The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. Tricia recently decided to eat her way though all of Zagat’s 2011 restaurants until she realized she would be old and broke by the time she finished. Follow her on Twitter and email her at Tricia (at) welovedc.com.