Mayorga Coffee

801 Pleasant Drive #100, Rockville, MD
Medium cappuccino $3.75

I've had "cappuccino" from Mayorga in the Reagan National Airport a few times, and only out of desperation. Never was it worthwhile. Small, and of course in a paper cup, it always tasted watery, acidic, and slightly burnt. And, as I remember, nearly $5.

Today we visited the Rockville shop hoping for something better. We did not succeed. They did, at least, have 2 ceramic mugs available, but were designed for drip coffee. The bottom of the mug was larger than the top... reminicent of the 1980's era computer keyboard bugs, thus pushing thick, stick foam as high as in paper cup. It wasn't quite right. It was sort of like homemade cappuccino made in a friend's rental cabin.

The roast of the beans was full, and slightly burnt. Subtle flavors did not exist. Milk was normal, hyper-pastreurized supermarket milk, which overwhelmed some of the burnt overtones, actually. The foam was stiff, as mentioned above.

I rate it equal to airport Starbucks, thus not too flattering for Mayorga.

This particular shop is set in a new "urban" development on the edge of suburbian Rockville. "Sterile" is what I said while getting out of the car. The layout of the shop is inefficient and has little seating. The workarea is circle-shaped, with the coffee grinder blocking the barista's view of incoming customers. We had to study a while to figure out where to go to place an order. While nearly every one of the few (very small) tables was full, there was no vibe at all.

It was a zombie cafe not worth waking the dead for.