As others have written and emailed me it’s become clear that by providing a responsible ratings for coffee shops, we can make coffee in Arizona better.

I’m going to be working on setting up a few things in this area. We need to definately have multiple criteria and I’d love to have a people’s choice. Some way for people to have their say regardless of what the reviewer says about a coffee house.

Thanks -
Chris

As an example, here is my father’s coffeshop rating system for coffeeshops in Seattle. You can probably tell that he is really particular about what he likes in a good coffeeshop, but for him the quality of the espresso doesn’t mean a whole lot (aside from where the bean comes from):

http://home.earthlink.net/~jimfortheearth/

In contrast, I use a rating system with categories for: ease of transport (again a more personal thing because I don’t have a car); seating (i.e. lots of big comfy chairs, or a couple of hard stools); music (loud, repetitive and obnoxious or pleasant?); overall atmosphere; espresso quality; food quality; and whether or not I will visit it again. I also have an “other” category for other comments about the place. I think the “Will visit again?” category is probably the most important for me.

Anyway, good luck with establishing a review system! I might be willing to pitch in occasionally.

I think there should be a standardized rating system in place for each shop. A friend of mind has developed what I think to be a great system. I’ll ask him if I can borrow it from him. I’ll shoot you an email if I get ahold of it.

I would like to apply it to my own review blog, but I seem to have lost the system somewhere.

If you need any help with articles on proper technique or theories, I would love to help out. In fact, I do believe I have one lined up for the not-too-distant future.