Arizona Coffee

Wow, what a year this has been. Filled with delight and tragedy, and hopefully with some good coffee for all of the readers. I’ve decided to do my usual “Best of” post this year, like I did in 2005, 2006, and 2007. This year I posted 251 times on Arizona Coffee. Cool!

January

• How does caffeine affect you? — A discussion about headaches.

February

• Twitter — This was the year Arizona Coffee started a Twitter account, and so far so good! Almost 700 followers.

March

• Interview with Jason Calhoon — Winner of the SWRBC.

April

• Closed: The Coffee Vein — A Tucson great closes.
• SOLO Cafe Video — I got a lot of really great comments about this video.
• A visit to Next Coffee Company — By far the largest coffeehouse in Arizona.

May

• Espresso Machine Manufacturers: A List — Thanks to everybody who helped with suggesting brand names for this list.
• RIP AzBill — Bill McCauley, a regular in the AZ coffee business dies. Over 50 comments.

June

• Weather & Coffee Closes — Sparked a discussion (19 comments) about a string of coffee shop closings.
• Inza Coffee is closing… — One of Scottsdale’s finest closes.
• Phoenix Friday Coffee — A weekly Friday coffee outing.
• No Paper Cups in Italy — A few observations about coffee in Italy compared to Arizona

July

• Photos from a recent visit to SOLO Cafe — I need to plan a new trip down to SOLO. It’s a good place.
• What is Your Caffeinated-Beverage Consumption? — Readers share their typical caffeine consumption.
• Cartel Coffee Lab — I made my first trip to Cartel in July.
• Selecting Your Tea Vendor — An article contributed by Lilach Manheim about tea.

August

• Running A Successful Coffee Establishment — Austin Baker’s 5 minute talk about running a coffee shop.
• Discussion: What Are Your Coffee Shop Expectations? — A good discussion about what people want most in a coffee shop.

September

• Cartel and the Clover — Being the only shop in Arizona with a Clover Coffee Machine, Cartel Coffee Lab gets some press.
• Is now a good time to start a coffee shop? — 25 Comments answering this question.

October

• Scooters Coffeehouse in Cave Creek — Video tour of Scooters Coffee House.
• Coffee Shops in Phoenix That Stay Open Late — It’s amazing how many college students are seeking a place that stays open late, here is the list for you!
• Italy Photos — A post with photos of my coffee experiences in Italy.

November

• Photos: Scooters Coffeehouse — An intriguing coffee house in Cave Creek.

December

• Press Coffee — A new shop that opened in CityNorth (next to Desert Ridge in Scottsdale).
• Dazbog Coffee in Scottsdale — This post sparked an interesting debate about super auto machines.

We lost a lot of really great coffee houses this year due to various closings (at least a dozen). But we also had some great shops open in their place.

Thanks again for another great year! Thank you for continuing to read Arizona Coffee and for supporting my 2008 sponsors… ValleyWide Coffee Service, Intatto Coffee, Café Cortez, The Nine Bar Coffee Roasting Company, American Paper Distribution, and BuzzMug.

Goals for next year: 1. Start a marketing campaign called “Buy Local Coffee” and provide material to coffee houses who participate for free. 2. Start an annual “Arizona Coffee Readers Choice Award” where we have online voting for best coffee house (and a variety of categories). 3. Get more stickers. 4. Have more in-person events (hopefully 4-5 this year).

Happy New Year!

Light Rail is here and Jim Jeffers made a sweet map showing all of the stops along the way.

So the question is which coffee shops are on the route? Lux Coffee is directly on the route (north of Indian School Rd. on Central) and Royal Coffee Bar is at 3rd Ave. and Jackson (within walking distance). Romancing The Bean is close to Mill Ave.

Updated based on comments: Here’s a list of stops and coffee houses…

Tempe: Mill Ave. / Tempe Town Lake
eJoy
Cupz Coffee
Seattle’s Best
Romancing The Bean
Cartel Coffee Lab
Coffee Plantation

Phoenix: 3rd St.
Royal Coffee Bar

Phoenix: Roosevelt St. / Central Ave.
Fair Trade Cafe

Phoenix: Central Ave. / Campbell
Lux Coffee Bar

Phoenix: Central Ave. / Indian School Rd.
Copper Star Coffee (1/2 mile walk)

Phoenix: America West Arena or Arts District
Daily Grind

Not categorized yet, but nearby:
Drip Coffee Lounge
Hob Nobs
Cafe Istanbul

In the Forum it was suggested that we have an informal meetup at Cartel Coffee Lab and I think that’s a fantastic idea and a good way to ring in the new year (even if it’s not on New Years day).

When: Saturday, January 3rd at 9 am
If you’d like to join us, a bunch of us will be going down to Cartel on Saturday, January 3rd. We’ll be meeting up around 9 am. I’ll plan to stay for about 2 hours. Victor and I have even suggested a game of chess. So bring a game if you’d like!

What: Socializing, games, coffee
It’s a chance to say hello to old and new friends, talk coffee and check out the new Synesso at Cartel Coffee Lab (Tempe). Invite a friend!

Where: Cartel Coffee Lab in Tempe
225 W University Dr
Ste 101
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: (480) 225-3899

This may be a bit basic for some readers, but it’s a nicely produced video explaining how Gary Smith, of Seattle, roasts coffee.

Would you believe another year has gone by? That can only mean one thing. There is just 1 week left and that week is Ketchup Week. One of the most important weeks of the year because you can finally “catch up” on everything you’ve been meaning to do.

This year, we redesigned the Ketchup Week web site, integrated with Twitter and are promoting through various social media sites. Join Ketchup Week if you’re into getting things done this week.

Merry Christmas from me at Arizona Coffee!

If you can’t tell, I’ve been watching some videos lately. Completely by chance I ran across these videos of Dean Forrest of Sedona Coffee Roasters. He walks you through his roasting process, how he stores coffee, and more.

Coffee Roasting Machine – Video

Weighing Coffee Beans for Custom Recipes – Video

How to Check Coffee Beans in the Roaster – Video

Tips for Blending Coffee Beans – Video

Roasting Coffee Beans – Video

Roasting Coffee Beans: Listening to the Roaster – Video

He has a total of 16 short videos which you can watch here.

Sedona Coffee Roasters
401-A North Main Street
Cottonwood, AZ 86326
Phone: (928) 204-1500

A two-year old video about coffee and the fair trade movement.

Buying gifts for friends, clients and family this week? Don’t forget the coffee — and buy local!

For a list of roasters click here. Call ahead or pick up coffee to make sure it arrives in time.

Dazbog Coffee is now open at The Great Indoors in Scottsdale. It’s actually inside the store (a Starbucks used to occupy the same location).

I checked it out recently at the suggestion of a friend (he was actually there the day they opened).

It’s interesting but definitely not a high caliber coffee house. They don’t have porcelain cups. My mocha was actually really good (the first photo), but I’ve got to say I’m spoiled after having fantastic cappuccinos in Italy this summer.

If you’re up that way shopping it’s worth a visit, and a nice addition to North Scottsdale.

Scottsdale – The Great Indoors
16275 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Phone: (480) 991-0989

My friend Joey just mentioned Bomberos Wine Bar and Café (Central Ave, just south of Dunlap at 8801 N. Central). He says it’s really awesome and added that they have “great latte’s! Open till midnight and 1am! Wi-fi! Very professional crowd!”

Bomberos Wine Bar and Café
8801 North Central Ave.
Suite 104
Phoenix, AZ 85020
Phone: (602) 687-8466

Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans It’s the holidays and that means chocolate. Why not make it chocolate covered coffee beans. Sure, perhaps they can’t be consumed fast enough to create a real caffeine buzz, but it’s the thought that counts!

If you’ve never tried these, you’ve got to try them at least. If you’re in a pinch, you can often find them at local stores.

The average customer rating on Amazon.com is 5 stars. Yeah, seriously. You can read the reviews here. This device is essentially an espresso machine on-the-go. For about $117 you get a device that can pull shots of espresso at 9 bar pressure, and doesn’t need electricity — because you pump it like a bicycle pump. Yeah, pretty cool.

CNET did a review and called it “an answered prayer.” The only little problem I see is that it uses pods. Meh. I wonder if you can get past that… it’s such a simple product, so maybe you can. Anybody have experience with that?

Handpresso Wild #HPWILD 16 Bar Hand Pump Espresso Machine, Black

I was thinking about doing a mega-post with a bunch of sweet gifts for coffee nerds but in the end decided to just begin posting items as I thought of them. So here goes… Note that if an item is sold by Amazon.com, I’ll link to it with my affiliate link. Hope that’s okay with everyone. Also, feel free to make recommendations in the comments and I’ll post those as well.

As always, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season! I’ll be doing some linking to Arizona Coffee sponsors as well, since they have some sweet products as well.

Luz just sent me this awesome link to Re-Caf Coffee. It’s a fake poster which was posted on a blog (from the image to the left) called My Fake Posters. The whole site is filled with hilarious posters (mostly from movies).

Anyways, do check out the link.