Here is a great video from CHOW (an online food / drink magazine) with a barista, Arno Holschuh, from Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco. In the video Arno Holschuh talks about what makes for good coffee and espresso drink creation.
And here’s a nice video that shows you the difference between a wet and dry cappuccino.
They have a bunch of other videos about coffee on the CHOW YouTube page.
Earlier this month a coffee shop opened in Tempe that a few of you have told me about. It is called Cherubini Coffee Co. and is located on McClintock and Broadway.
I haven’t been to visit but from what I’ve heard it’s worth the stop.
Cherubini Coffee Co.
1740 E. Broadway Rd.
Ste 101
Tempe AZ, 85282
Twitter: @CherubiniCoffee
Facebook: Facebook
Avenue Coffee is having its grand opening today! If I was in Tucson I’d definitely be there.
Update: Photos from Avenue Coffee on Facebook.
Avenue Coffee
2502 N Campbell Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85716
Phone: (520) 225-0437
Twitter: @avenuecoffee
Steve from Steve’s Espresso sent me an email yesterday to let me know about some of the cool things they are doing. If you’ve never been to Steve’s Espresso, you should definitely check it out. It’s in Tempe, and one distinctive thing they do is they French Press all of their coffee (no drip coffee).
Steve added:
Last September we put in a small kitchen to bring our baking in house. We’ve still got muffins and scones, but some new additions are biscotti, flourless organic peanut butter cookies and snicker doodles. There are some savory choices too. Stuffed Brioche: Egg, Bacon & Cheese, Sundried Tomato, Ham or Turkey & Cheese, and others. These have been very popular. They are easy to eat on the go, warm up nicely in the microwave and are tasty at room temperature too. Another main item is our Frittata, similar to a quiche but with no crust. They all have potatoes & onions and include choices like Bacon & Jalapeno, Broccoli & Cheese, and Ham & Cheese. They’re also very popular to go items and can be warmed up in the little recycled paper boxes we put them in.
We’ve been making our own vanilla for quite some time and are currently working on our chocolate sauce recipe. No matter how premium and natural chocolate sauces claim to be they all have some nasty preservatives and almost always some partially hydrogenated oil. Basically, we can make a better product in house that is truly natural.
Try an Arnold Palmer made with our own frozen lemonade, or our house made granita.
Thanks for the update, Steve!
Steve’s Espresso
1801 E Baseline Rd.
Ste. 102
Tempe, AZ 85283
Phone: (480) 777-5373
Cortez Coffee Market Opens at the SE Corner of Elliot Rd. and McClintock Dr. in Tempe Arizona! Watch the video:
I was thinking about creating a blog post that matches coffee shops and restaurants to coffee roasters. I am wondering if this is even useful, though?
For example, it would show the name of a coffee shop and say who the coffee roaster is. Is that useful? Also, I don’t want to do anything that harms coffee roasters. Would that be a bad thing to basically have this info public?
Last night I heard from Charlie and Renee, the owners and operators at Elixer Coffee Solutions in Tucson, AZ. They wrote to let me know of some bittersweet news. They have sold their Studebaker (named Roscoe) and all of their espresso gear and business name to a new owner. The new owner, Keturah Havey, will maintain the Elixer Coffee brand and serve coffee in Austin, TX.
Charlie and Renee wrote this message to their fans:
Well, Cry not for me Arizona, and it is with great pride and joy that Renee and I wish the best of luck to Keturah Havey, and a Austin Texas.
Yep, Roscoe is moving to the Lone Star State. With Roscoe the Studebaker coffeemaker goes the branding, the good will, the promise of success and true sustainability, values we have had since our opening in August of 2003.
I will begin the development of the next platform tomorrow morning.
Renee and I would like to say one thing about Harlows Gardens, We Americans throw a lot of words around pretty loosely, love is one of them. We have really enjoyed our short stint at Harlows and though the word love comes to mind it is totally, absolutely, positively and completely inadequate… we need a better word. If some one knows this word please put it in the comments section, we could really use it now.
We’d also like to thank all of you who have supported elixer, and ask your patience, I’ll think of something…
Ciao,
Charlie and Renee
the artists formerly known as elixer coffee solutions
I know this is a coffee site, but when I saw these cool tea bags I had to share them. They were designed by a company in Germany, and you can see their other tea bag designs on their web site.
I’ve created a Facebook Fan Page for Arizona Coffee. If you’re on Facebook, check it out!
I learned today that Fair Trade Cafe has opened a second location in the Downtown Civic Space Park.
Fair Trade Cafe released this video about two weeks ago showing the renovations in-progress.
Michele Laudig in Chow Bella broke the news about this and says the shop opened on Friday. The Downtown Phoenix Journal also covered the news.
The new shop is a few blocks away, at 424. N. Central and is the anchor tenant in the restored 1926 A.E. England Motor Car Company building. I’m looking forward to checking it out this week!
Update: @sirobins just informed me over Twitter that the new space doesn’t open until Wednesday, August 26th.
Update 2: A few photos from Facebook.
Update 3: The new Fair Trade Cafe location doesn’t open until this Friday due to construction delays. Thanks to @sirobins and @andrewkfromaz for tip.
Update 4: It’s open.
Fair Trade Cafe – A.E. England Building
424 North Central Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: (602) 354-8150
Twitter: @FairTradeCafeAZ
I think it’s time for a reader survey! If you have some time, please answer 10 quick questions! Thank you!
David Anderson of Cave Creek Coffee Roastery was recently featured in the Arizona Republic. The profile highlights how Anderson got into the coffee business, founded and then sold Cave Creek Coffee Company, started Cave Creek Coffee Roastery, and now organizes music events.
Since his two passions are coffee and music, he books musical acts at local venues that range from Scottish-Australian musician Colin Hay with the band Men at Work, to country music duo Sugarland.
The latest act he’s booked is Grammy-award winner Shawn Colvin, who is scheduled to perform at north Scottsdale’s el Pedregal on Oct. 10.
In his leftover time, Anderson does consulting for entrepreneurs seeking to open coffee shops. He said he encounters many coffeehouses that “don’t have it right.”
“The idea is to create a warm atmosphere,” he said. “It is that ‘third place’ where people spend their time.”
Where do I begin? Winfield’s Cafe is a coffee shop in Old Town Scottsdale that opened in early 2009. The coffee shop is operated by First Baptist Church of Scottsdale (located inside a free-standing building next to the church) which operates the coffee shop as a community effort.
My cappuccino was bubbly. This isn’t how I like my cappuccino’s (again, I prefer frothy milk texture as opposed to foam that is mostly air). I’ve taken to ordering cappuccino’s after concluding it is the perfect test drink at shops I visit for the first time.
My double espresso. I just don’t know what to say about it. It wasn’t the right color. It should look like this. The coffee is roasted by Matador Coffee.
A coffee shop in New York City has a sign that says that no laptops are allowed between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekends, unless the customer is eating and typing at the same time. That’s fairly interesting. You can read about it in the WSJ.
I don’t think there are many shops in the valley that have this problem, except maybe at Lux, which is usually filled with laptop surfers day in and day out. What do you think? Have you ever had a problem finding a table? What’s polite etiquette for laptop users?
The Daily Grind in Phoenix is at the base of the Phelps Dodge building. I visited recently while meeting with some friends. It’s the first shop I’ve seen a red La Marzocco espresso machine at in quite a while, and I wondered if they had bought it from Inza Coffee (which went out of business several years ago).
Parking was easy, there are several streets nearby with meters. The staff were very friendly and the chairs and atmosphere were very comfortable. I don’t know who roasts their coffee, but they use Monin syrups.
My cappuccino wasn’t much to write home about. I’m not a big fan of foam this way (although, I understand some people are). I’m way more into frothy drinks that make me want to give the barista a huge hug.