The U.S. Barista Competition will be held April 15-18 during the festivities of this year’s Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Annual Expo. Due to the Southwest Barista Competition being canceled this year, 5 spots in the preliminary rounds of the U.S. Barista Competition were held open for the Southwestern Region to send competitors. Cartel Coffee Lab is sending three baristas – Ashley, Jen, and Melissa.
This week at Cartel Coffee Lab downtown we are holding a Barista Jam to raise support and awareness for barista competitions. The jam starts at 6pm and will go into the night! We welcome coffee shops, coffee enthusiasts, and coffee friends from all over the state to join us this Thursday night at our downtown location. Other valley baristas are welcome to come give our Synesso Hydra a hand and participate in the informal latte art throwdown. There will also be a DJ at the event.
The girls will be accepting donations to help cover their expenses for competing (yes, it costs money to compete) and travel.
– Brian Clemens, of Cartel Coffee Lab, provided this announcement.
You might enjoy the new Phoenix Coffee Blog. Written by valley baristas, the site’s mission is to “support open dialog” and grow the coffee community.
Congratulations to Joe Johnston (aka @RealJoe), one of the founders of Liberty Market, for being named one of the 25 most intriguing people in the valley by the Arizona Republic.
AZ Magazine calls Cartel Coffee Lab one of the top workplaces in Arizona and says the key is “empowerment.” Congrats to their entire team.
I never knew the full story about Next Coffee, and you might not either. It was originally meant to be a student lending facility and when the lending market fell through, the owners did the next best thing — start a coffee shop!
The company, which once disbursed more than $4.5 billion in student loans, went from 900 employees to 50.
The owners quickly regrouped and surveyed what they had left: 3,800 square feet of space – and coffee. They began turning the cavernous space into an unlikely coffeehouse.
“We had to get very, very creative,” Fisco said. “It was hit or miss for a while.”
Read the full story on The Arizona Republic.
Next Coffee Co.
19420 N. 59th Ave.
Suite J
Glendale, AZ 85308
Phone: (623) 322-4852
Twitter: @NextCoffee
Interesting event featuring some of downtown’s coffee bars all in one place.
I learned that the SWRBC for 2010 has been canceled by the BGA due to lack of sponsorship funding. It’s too bad because it was going to be a great event.
Jason Silberschlag, the regional rep for the BGA, told me on Tuesday that he is hoping to organize a day or two of training for anyone that is interested. He said that could mean bringing experts from outside of Arizona, depending on interest. If you’re interested, I suggest that you follow up with him.
There is a Dutch Brothers within walking distance of my office and it has always intrigued me.
About once a month I walk over there and get something and I’ve noticed a few things I decided to share. I call these the Dutch Bros. Secrets:
- The baristas are always very friendly. So much so that you would think they’re drinking Red Bull all day long.
- They give out punch cards religiously. They ask you if you brought yours, and if you didn’t they give you a new one.
- They greet you like an old customer… they might not remember you but they treat you as a regular.
- They provide positive reinforcement. No matter what I order, they make me feel like I made a REALLY good choice. I don’t know of ANY other coffee shops doing this in Phoenix. When I order something they tell me I am winning. I believe this is their strongest secret.
- Their slogan is: Love All, Serve All.
While you may not agree with their focus on sugary drinks, you have to agree they are doing a fantastic job with friendly service.
Here’s an interesting video some fans made so you can get the feel of a Dutch Bros.
The folks at Press Coffee are at it again with plans to host an informal barista jam this Sunday. There will be a variety of coffee demonstrations including a latte art throwdown.
Tom Maegdlin is organizing the event and says you can feel free to BYOB (bring your own booze). The festivities begin at 5:30 pm. Contact Tom, or leave a comment if you have any questions.
Press Coffee Food Wine
5410 E. High St.
Suite 115
Phoenix, AZ 85054
Phone: (480) 419-6221
Twitter: @presscoffee
At what point does a coffee shop become something other than a coffee shop? This question was posed by Todd Welfelt in the forum recently. You can read his comments here (must be registered).
Todd asks this question:
This particular place serves coffee, alcohol, food, live music, comedy routines, and gives away powerball tickets on Wednesdays. With each ‘additional’ item the quality of the coffee suffers a bit more but the place seems to be more and more busy. Why is that?
It’s a great question, and I thought the readers of Arizona Coffee might be interested in helping to answer the question.
I’m pleased to introduce the newest sponsor of Arizona Coffee!
Coffee Bean Corral has been selling green coffee beans and home roasting equipment since 1994. Beyond just green coffee beans, they sell grinders, packaging materials, and brewing equipment. You can order online or by calling toll-free 877-987-1233.
Thank you for your support!
On February 16th from 5pm-9pm the downtown location of Cartel Coffee Lab is holding a grand opening party. They’ve announced that they’ll have free food and music. I’m planning to be there, and if you are in the area you should as well.
I’ve heard rumors that the hours of operation will be expanded for the downtown location. That’s something I’m very excited about. See photos from the downtown location. Download a PDF showing details of the event.
Cartel Coffee Lab
1 N. 1st St.
#107
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Twitter: @cartelcoffeelab
One of the more frequent questions I am asked is if I know of a company that does espresso bar catering. I just found Creative Cappuccino, a company that does this in Arizona.
Their menu lists a caramel macchiato made the way Starbucks makes the drink. This tells me that if you’re looking for a purely classical espresso bar they might not provide what you need. If on the other hand you’re looking for a coffee catering company that provides sugary drinks I think they may work out great.
The company has some photos on Flickr, which are interesting.
Thanks to Jason Duncan for the tip!
Creative Cappuccino, Inc.
Phone: (480) 730-8684
Twitter: @coffeeguyphx
Multiple reports coming in that Mills End Cafe in Tempe has closed (last week some time). Thanks to Meg for emailing.
I can’t say I’m sad to see it go. It served purely as a good spot to get WiFi and a lousy coffee.
I stumbled across Vintage Ad Browser today and after searching for coffee realized they have over 600 vintage ads promoting coffee. A significant number are for Maxwell House. I found this one is a good example of a campaign they ran.
The slogan, “Everybody knows the sign of good coffee,” was run on a lot of their ads and refers to the way the woman is holding the coffee cup. It looks like they were trying to start a little viral way of requesting a certain brand of coffee.
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