I received an email from Chris Colossio of The Human Bean:
The Human Bean coffee shops are moving into Arizona fast. We have a store located in Chandler that is now open with free Wi-Fi. Can you list us on your website. There are a few under construction in all other zones. Please email me with any questions. Thank You!!!!!!
The Human Bean (Map)
990 E. Riggs Rd. Suite 1
Chandler, AZ 85249
Hi Chris,
Attached is a pic of latte art here at Desert Rain. Just an update after having been open for 8 months here at the Northwest Medical center in Oro Valley. Things are going well and we are competing with big green Starbucks down the street!
We are open Mon-Fri 7am-3pm. closed Sat and open Sun. 8am-12pm. If anyone is coming down from the Phoenix area on a Saturday, I can meet them at my shop and they can try out my La Victoria lever machine! Call me at 520-297-0246 after 4 pm. Thanks!!!
John Hall
Desert Rain Coffee
Oro Valley (north Tucson)
Thank you for writing, John! That’s great news that things are going well for you. Great photo an thank you for sharing!
Here’s a new one. A pizza place that has a coffee bar. Pie Zanos Kitchen. I didn’t even try the coffee during my visit, but will make a point to stop in again and give it a whirl. The pizza was pretty good, though!
Pie Zanos Kitchen
4743 N. 20th St.
Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone: (602) 955-4225
We have been sampling some of the coffees from Christopher Bean. I use the term “we” because whenever I get coffee at Arizona Coffee, the team and I at Tornado share it. We received three coffees to samples (for free) and they are:
All but the last one we had specifically requested. Perhaps most surprising was that the Sumatra and French Roast came pre-ground, and the flavored coffee was whole bean.
This presented some problems as we’re big fans of whole bean coffee and the coffees that had been pre-ground had lost a lot in the time since being ground and packaged. This is fundamental to coffee, and I’m actually quite surprised that this happened.
We share our office with some other folks and decided to experiment with the flavored coffee since they enjoy that sort. It was very strange, but the Jamaica Me Crazy smells exactly like pancakes and syrup. I am not sure how that happened, but it was exactly like pancakes and syrup.
The challenge with tasting the Sumatra Mandheling and Blues Roast French Roast was that they had lost much of their flavor since being ground weeks earlier. It isn’t fair to attempt to rate this coffee with such a poor sample.
The number of independent coffee shops currently listed on Arizona Coffee.
The number of Starbucks locations in Arizona.
The number of Starbucks employees statewide.
The number of Roasters in Arizona that are currently listed on Arizona Coffee.
The number of chain operations (three or more shops).
The number of posts on Arizona Coffee.
The number of comments left by readers.
Total estimated number of coffee shops in AZ, including chains, as estimated by Arizona Coffee.
The Arizona Republic reports on the top 100 employers in Arizona, and Starbucks Coffee is at number 40 with 3,500 employees statewide. Fairly impressive.
I’m interested in where you read Arizona Coffee from. I tend to think we have a spread out readership, with obvious emphasis on the Phoenix area… but you tell me!
I get more emails from people who are interested in finding a good place to hold meetings at coffee shops than anything else. Typically people want a big room and they want to be able to hold an event suitable for public speaking.
Most coffee shops are interested in helping you hold events. But unfortunately most coffee shops don’t have enough open space to accommodate.
If your coffee shop helps people hold events email me and I’ll update this list.
Of all of the coffee houses in Arizona, the friendly folks at Inza Coffee have been doing the best job at PR. In the past month they have been featured in The Scottsdale Times, and now AZCentral.
If you want to sip a java jolt, try out some tasty South American cuisine, or even learn the tango, you’re in luck in north Scottsdale. Inza Coffee, an independent bistro and coffeehouse that’s been open about a year, is serving up coffee and tea along with some good ethnic chow and an eclectic series of cultural events.
The interior space is cheery and appealing, with bright red walls hung with interesting black and white artwork, tables spaced far enough apart for privacy and lots of windows. When we arrived for a midday visit, about a third of the tables were occupied, and a lone server was handling orders at the self-service counter.
Besides the cafe’s signature Colombian, there are brews from Peru, Argentina and Brazil available straight up or in lattes, cappuccinos, flavored mochas and iced toddies. There’s also a selection of organic whole leaf teas, ciders, chais and imported sodas, as well as “frios,” iced frappe beverages that are more like dessert than a drink.
Read the rest of the review at AZCentral.
Inza Coffee
8658 East Shea Blvd
Suite 1 & 2
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
www.inzacoffee.com
Cave Creek Coffee Company is one of my favorite Arizona coffee shops. Here are some photos I took from a recent trip.
I found this tidbit in the Jacksonville.com web site. Thought it was worth sharing.
The enemy of fresh roasted coffee is oxygen, and as long as the coffee is desorbing CO2, oxygen cannot be absorbed. At approximately 10 days, coffee is completely degassed of CO2 and the coffee is beginning to stale. This process is similar to the yeast in bread. Once the yeast in bread degasses, the bread is stale and stiff. If only coffee would go stiff like bread, we would then have an obvious indicator of whether the coffee is stale or not.
How can you tell if coffee is stale? Once you open the bag, can, brick, pod or super-infused nitrogen hypersensitive krypton pouch and the last gasp of freshness escapes into the atmosphere, the coffee has the aroma of cocoa in a matter of hours. Not a sweet chocolate smell, but an odor of cocoa. If you brew stale coffee it has a bitter taste. Of course if you load your coffee with cream and sugar, salt and eggshells, you will never taste the stale coffee.
To hide the stale coffee taste and to give the public a consistent sameness of taste and aroma, one of the tricks of the trade is to flavor the stale coffee with a coffee flavor. This is synonymous with coating week-old fish with a fresh-caught flavoring.
This is very popular in push-button coffee operations and a few national chains.
Coffee, if roasted correctly, has a mellow, sweet taste.
A single coffee bean should yield a spark of the caramelized sugars on the tip of your tongue. The portion of the roasted coffee to test this is the kernel within the husk of the coffee.
Don’t miss the third paragraph above, it’s a beauty!
I’m heading down to Rocky Point for the weekend. Have a great weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!
