When the Colombian-American barrista mentions that her baby bottle was filled with coffee on her first birthday—“Seriously, it’s a tradition,” she says—you know you’ve entered heaven for coffee geeks. The Drip Café in Hockessin’s Lantana Square Shopping Center is hell-bent on changing coffee culture by adhering to strict ratios of espresso and steamed milk in its macchiatos, cappuccinos and lattes and by offering “pour-over” coffee—each cup is individually filtered from beans ground to order—of traditionally roasted coffees from single-origin sources. That means the coffee can be traced sometimes to a single farm. That degree of freshness allows for full appreciation of each varietal’s unique flavors, whether a Finca El Valle from Guatemala or the Kochere Mill Yirgacheffe from Ethiopia. “We treat it like a glass of wine,” says owner Greg Vogeley. Add to that a breakfast and lunch menu of local, seasonal foods by chef Brittany Yoder—a menu that changes every five to six weeks—and you have a coffeehouse that feels totally new. Vogeley laughs. “I tell my customers all the time, ‘You just have to keep up with me.’” (234-4430, dripcafede.com)
