Behind the Counter: A Conversation with Ayat Elhag

Back in August I had the good fortune of having Ayat Elhag on Foodie and The Beast.  A beautiful person, inside and out, Ayat is the coffee director of YELLOW and Albi. She helms a beverage program that blends creative, Levantine-inspired specialty drinks with intentionally sourced Counter Culture coffee. This Annandale, VA native has roots in Sudan, where she has spent summers traveling and experiencing the different ways countries enjoy and ritualize coffee. Before deciding to pursue a career in coffee, the Counter Culture-trained barista was a neuroscience major at the College of William and Mary. So she know science and coffee! Her central belief is that coffee is more than caffeine...and more than just drip. Coffee lovers, this one is for you 

Ayat Elhag, Coffee Director of Albi & YELLOW

How did you first get into coffee?

I was looking for a job! I had a very romanticized idea of what being a barista would be like, but I wanted to get paid for being at a coffee shop since I was already spending so much time at different cafes. I had left college after deciding a degree in neuroscience wasn’t for me–I was at a point in my life where I didn’t really have any direction and coffee was comforting and exciting. I stumbled upon YELLOW in 2020 during the pandemic and felt connected to the menu immediately. I wanted to see what I could bring to the team.

Does your background in neuroscience show up in your coffee career?

Absolutely. I loved lab work because it was quiet and methodical. Brewing specialty coffee follows a lot of the same principles of controls and variables. If you change x, how will it affect y? In our case, y is the taste. There are so many variables that you can change to affect how your end product tastes: grind size, brew time, temperature, water quality. These all change from brew method to brew method.

I also like the service industry because I think it’s a very specific insight into human behavior. It’s cool to see the social capital that a cafe can bring into the community, and watching people’s connections over good food and coffee brings me a lot of joy.

How have Arabic coffee rituals inspired your approach and philosophy?

Many different cultures have been drinking coffee for so long, and you can see the ways it becomes ingrained into daily life: the proliferation of coffee during the golden age of Islam, its role in the Industrial Revolution for Europe, instant coffee in times of war for the US. I think we’re at an interesting point in time for coffee. There is a huge disconnect between coffee-consuming countries and coffee-producing countries. My family is Sudanese, and Sudan sits at this crux of Arab and East African influence. People enjoy coffee throughout the day, drinking small cups where the connection from bean to glass is much shorter than it is here. In Sudan we would have the coffee roasted at home and brewed immediately, perfuming the glasses for this heady experience. A lot of conversation, comradery, and pleasure.

For people curious about getting into coffee at home, how can they get started? What are your tips for learning about selecting beans? Any equipment recommendations?

The best thing you can do for your coffee at home is get a grinder! Ideally, you grind your beans just before the brew. Just like spices–you get to taste much more of what the bean has to offer.  Also, as you begin to understand grind size, know that the first cup is not always going to be the most delicious! Take note of what changes you make, and have a plan for the next cup of what you’d like to adjust.

There is a lot of coffee on the market, and I recommend buying small bags (10 - 12 oz), so you can introduce more variety between roasts, origins, and processing. Smaller bags also help with freshness so that you’re not sitting on beans for too long as they degrade.

You must do a lot of research and development to create your drink recipes. What’s an example of a drink that totally didn’t work and never made it onto the menu?

I had this idea for an Espresso Con Panna, which is a shot of espresso with whipped cream. I wanted to do a version with kefir. I was imagining something like a coffee drinking yogurt but…it just didn’t work.

Lastly, what’s new on the fall menu at YELLOW that you’re particularly excited about?

I love our Golden Date Latte. It hits a lot of toasty cereal notes that I find incredibly comforting. I’m also excited about our Smoked Coconut Matcha Steamer, and our Nitro Double Apple Chaider–a chai spider apple cider on nitro.

At YELLOW Georgetown we primarily work with Counter Culture, but we’re excited to introduce Habibi Coffee Club: a series where we feature local DC roasters on espresso. Think: Lost Sock Roasters, Small Planes, Others Coffee and Grace St Coffee.