Juan Valdez Café, a coffeeshop chain from Colombia entered the US market this year, opening outlets in Seattle, New York, and DC. How did the District managed to be considered as one of the US' java hotspots, no one would ever knew.

I went to the Chinatown outlet last week when my soon-to-be brother-in-law came to town. It's still too early to tell if they would be able to compete with Starbucks across and the Minneapolis-based Caribou Coffee that's gaining ground here in DC. It's a good thing that Juan Valdez offers something different, while Starbucks' design is more like library-meets-European cafe and Caribou's is winter-cabin-cosiness, Juan Valdez' is very modern and minimalist. It could very well be a cafe in a contemporary arts museum. Me? I adore minimalism, steel, bright colors and clean lines, so the interior is totally working for me. That Colombian farmer logo is quite chic as well, a bit kitschy but still in the realms of modernism.

Now let's talk about what matters: the beverages. I like Starbucks because they're espresso drinks are good, real good. If they were served in ceramic cups, they'd be just as good as any Parisian cafe's. But what they lack is variety. Yeah, they've been trying to come up with new flavors and endless list of frappuccinos but to be honest all their novelty drinks kinda suck. Almost always they'd be too sweet. That's why I opt for Caribou for non-espresso beverages such as Arctic Mochas and Turtle this and that. Sadly, Caribou's espresso drinks are a bit bland. They kinda taste like those made by the no-name coffee stalls at most American airports. They're passable but definitely not worth $3.75. I had a Cappuccino and Otto had a frozen drink made from coffee, milk, and fruits. Yap, fruits. I cringed when they explained what was in it. Otto settled on the mango one and he ended up not liking it. I tried it and I think that was the best new coffee drink I've ever tried. Definitely better than that overrated green tea frapp at Starbucks. My Cappuccino was good, not superb but way better than passable. It's still a tad less strong that Starbucks but I'll settle for JV because the location was just better :) Well, I sure hope Juan can eat up a bit of Starbucks' market share because we definitely have too much green mermaid signs here in downtown DC.