You walk into your favorite cafe for a Saturday morning latte, but a DJ blocks the counter and people in dark sunglasses are dancing in front of the booth. Looks like you’ve stumbled into a coffee rave.
Last year, these morning parties spread across the US and overseas, making their way to DC around February at a wake-up party hosted by downtown DC’s Dolphin Cafe. At some, the music serves as background noise for patrons who sip chai while responding to emails. Other ticketed events—such as the Latin dance party Perreito and Coffee, which is coming to Navy Yard’s Llamabar this month—are marketed as daytime club experiences fueled by caffeine, not bottomless mimosas.
On a recent Sunday, I checked out a free live DJ event at Good Company Doughnuts near the Wharf. An outdoor speaker amplified the house-disco mix down the street as the DJ inside bopped in front of his music deck. But still, the event was less about dancing as everyone went about their days. A girl with blonde curls pressed her hands against the glass doughnut case; a woman coming from church bit into a lox bagel; a banker dusted sugar from his cheek. Customer Danielle Kleinman said the beats created an inviting atmosphere instead of, “all right, give me my shot of espresso in the biggest cup you have.”
The idea for one of the first coffee raves came from a conversation about the New York club scene over late-night falafel. “If a restaurant operated the way that a club does, no one would ever go back,” says Timothy Patch, a co-founder of Daybreaker sober parties. “They’re mean to you at the door, they’re mean to you at the bar, you’re paying too much for drinks, you go to a dance floor, and it’s all wallflowers or drunk bros.”
In late 2013, Patch and his friend, Radha Agrawal, organized a morning coffee rave at a Brooklyn cafe. (Earlier that year, a group called Morning Gloryville hosted one in London.) Now, Daybreaker is approaching its thousandth event, some of which now feature yoga, live DJ sets and performances, and free coffee, matcha, and electrolytes. On Saturday, September 20, Daybreaker will take over the Kennedy Center rooftop from 9 AM to noon, with tickets going for $25 or $45.
Such ticketed parties have proven to be popular around here. When Tugce Matus, the social media manager at Dolphin Cafe, invited a local DJ to play a two-hour daytime set in February, she was shocked when around 70 people showed up. The event ran almost twice as long as planned.
One reason is that the sober-curious movement has gained traction as Gen Z drinks less and focuses on wellness. Myrym, a local DJ who recently played at a coffee party at Santo Cafe on Capitol Hill, says a lot of her friends stay sober when they go out to avoid the next-day hangover. “Rather than going out to drink alcohol,” she says, “it’s more going out to listen to good music.”
Interested? Here’s where to find a coffee rave around DC:
- Llamabar in Navy Yard hosts a DJ every Saturday
- Aroma Express near George Washington University hosts DJs every Saturday from 11 AM to 1 PM
- Dolphin Cafe will host a wake-up party on August 24 from 10 AM to noon
- Perreito and Coffee will host a ticketed Latin dance party at Llamabar on Saturday, August 30
- Santo Cafe on Capitol Hill will host a coffee rave on Saturday, September 13
